The End

Wow the week moved so quickly.  And what a week it was.  It was one filled of training, X-rays, cleaning, and just loving on these creatures that have been my closest allies the last few weeks! I have finally figured out why I love giraffes so much.  THEY ARE LIKE DRAGONS WITHOUT WINGS!  Seriously think about it.  

A huge (giraffe huge) shout out to head keeper Allison Kao.  She has an amazing talent at training and working with these awesome animals.  Plus she has been wonderful to work with in some of the most unfavorable situations.  She doesn't know it but I got her some sushi for tomorrow as a thank you.  We are going to picnic on the Safari trail in the giraffe exhibit; hopefully far enough that the giraffe's tongues can't reach it!  

I am going to miss living and breathing giraffes.  Period.  And yes they still are my favorite animal for those of you still wondering.  They are simply amazing creatures and I cannot wait to work with them again, which happens to be tomorrow.  Yes, though my hours have been reached, I am going to try and stay in the barn as much as possible these next two weeks before I leave the Zoo.  I am also planning on following the veterinary staff for a couple days; I am really excited about that!  

I have learned so much.  This has turned out to be an amazing adventure (Tom quit counting the times I write amazing)--but it isn't over yet.  I will continue to try and update my experiences in the zoo for the rest of the month.  Thank you faithful readers.  Here, someone else wants to say goodbye!

The Fray Live @ Red Rocks 

I went to Red Rocks this weekend to see The Fray--it was definitely the best concert I have ever been too.    The venue in the middle of nowhere outside of Denver and is simply a beautiful venue.  You can see the Denver skyline below.  There was a torrential downpour for the opening acts and I was beginning to think it was going to be a long evening of being soaked.  But amazingly, the rain quit when The Fray took the stage; it was definitely an answered prayer!  

  

We arrived pretty early to the concert and I got to meet Isaac Slade, the lead singer!  It was so cool that the band took the time to meet some fans and there is something neat about being able to tell an artist that you think their music is awesome.  I gave my camera to a random person and had them take this picture; I had to have something to prove to my twin I wasn't lying!

Here are some more pics:

The band at the end of the show.

Amazing night.  This one is going down in the books.

Giraffe Tongues and Jazz

This is Mawimbi our 12 year old bull.  I spent a lot of time hanging out with him today.  He makes the funniest expressions:

How can anyone refuse giving him a cracker when he looks at you like that?

This is Ajali.  She has shoes on her feet because her front hooves were giving her problems.  She gives a whole new meaning to high heels!

And Mawimbi again shows off his long tongue.  I was standing right here the other day and almost ran right into a tongue hanging down above my head!

I had a great night in down town Colorado Springs.  One highlight was getting to see this great jazz band perform at an Irish pub with my friend Emma!

The upright bass player was amazing.  It was a little weird that there were bouncers outside the pub; they take their jazz seriously!

Friends visiting the zoo and Redrocks tomorrow in 40 degree weather! Bring it on Colorado, you forget I am used to Iowa weather!

The questions of visitors

I have found a pattern or maybe a correlation between our giraffe arrangements during the day and the questions visitors ask.  Well because in some indirect way you guys are visitors to this zoo, might I even go so far as saying "backstage, VIP visitors", I thought I would give some answers to the most common questions.  

The number one question asked is: Why is that guy in his own pen outside?

Answer:  He is a male.  We are selective on who we let him breed so he does not have full access to females all the time.  You can tell he is a male by the bumps on his face which leads to question two.

#2. Why are there bumps on his face; is he sick?

Answer:  No he is not sick or being punished.  Those bumps are calcium deposits and they get those when they reach sexual maturity. So Mahali, a male who was castrated when he was young, does not have those.  

#3.  Why are there giraffes inside during the day?

Answer:  Becky, the white one is usually inside because she is old and we do not force her to go outside.  She often remains inside and chooses to do so.  Every once in a while, once this week, she goes out for the day.  This is related to question #4.

#4.  Why are there giraffes in stalls inside?

Answer:  There are giraffes in inside stalls because they are limping and need to rest and have a soft place to stand and lay down; the sand stall is a perfect fit.  

#5 Has a giraffe been trained to catch a frisbee? 

I tried to answer to this crazy question as logical as I could:  No, they are hoove stock animals meaning they would be scared at something flying at them.  He went on to tell me that if I wanted to get ahead as an intern I need to bounce off ideas like that.  I think Allison has enough on her plate as far as training goes with 20 giraffes and all, as it is.  

And the list goes on! Really though, I have been having a great time meeting people from all over.  It is so cool to see how excited they are about the zoo and the giraffes specifically.  I have some help me do the draw bridge or medicate giraffes to make their experience even more defining.  

Today we did more X-rays on two of our giraffes today and did some training again:

Kahlid doing his neck stretches!

Allison rewarding Kahlid for targeting and following her around the yard.

The coolest thing ever.  

Night.  

I tried a giraffe cracker and I liked it.

After feeding many to the giraffes, I decided it was time I try one.  The verdict: it was actually good.  I would compare it to a wheat thin.  And with banana on top of it, I can see why they go crazy for them! 

It looks like there will be more for me now and less for them! 

I skyped my twin in Alaska today so I didn't have as much time to blog tonight.  So to make up for it, enjoy this video of Kahlid getting his enrichment in his stall.  

Tetanus Shots for the Giraffes

When I think about getting shots, I go back to my childhood when I received the whole rabies series.  Now since then, I have grown to not care about getting them, but there was a brief time when I was afraid.  Most of the giraffes are in this stage and are scared of needles and the vet tech who routinely "sticks" them!  So as they were going outside, we would give them the vaccine in the butt from a long pole.  A couple managed to dodge the whole endeavor and probably bragged to the others the rest of the day--but tomorrow they will get theirs.

20 giraffes = a ton of needles and vaccines!

Here is a picture of the majority of the herd.  Today I accomplished something I am very proud of--I was able to identify all of them today.  I believe that is Betty Frances in front and Tamu on the left.  Betty is the youngest and Tamu is 26 years old.

Want to know just how long a giraffe's tongue is?

Their tongues range from 18-21 inches in length!

So there is a picture above our restroom door in the giraffe barn that I thought needed to be shared:

Only in a zoo.  Night.

I thought the snow was long gone.

Today it snowed.  

This meant that the giraffes stayed indoors.  They only go outside if the ground is dry and the temperature is above 40 degrees.  It was difficult today because it is hard to shift and separate the giraffes and the Okapi into the six stalls.  The weather's implications left little time for training and other extras today.

I have a video of the training that is done with Kahlid.  You will see the keeper Allison using her target stick to get him to stretch his neck.  You also get to see Kahlid crouch down like he is taking a drink of water! Enjoy:

I went down the mountain

That's right; I did it.  I left the zoo for a very refreshing weekend.  I stayed with an awesome Eagle Lake family for a couple days and was relieved to not be woken up by a peacock or a snow leopard.  So instead of boring you with the details of my weekend I give you a condensed 10 second version:

Sleep; fellowship; shooting hoops; throwing the pigskin; pole vaulting; more fellowship; kentucky derby; bike riding; Wii; sleep; laundry; sky ride.

After I wrote down "laundry" above, it occurred to me that my clothes were still in the dryer and needed picked up.  So 15 minutes later, I have returned.  

Here is where the track meet took place.  You can see Pike's Peak in the upper left.  

This was the view on the sky ride that goes across the whole zoo and up the mountain.  

Another picturesque view from the lift.  

So I thought it would be interesting on Friday to take some pictures of how I medicate the giraffes:

This is the banana paste that I have to mix some medication in to give to the giraffes; only some of them like banana and can get medicated this way.  

After I make the paste, I put them on the giraffe crackers and make a "giraffe smore." 

After this is done, I load up my pouch and head outside to the herd!  It is key to note here that this is where being able to identify the giraffes is a must.  When I hand the crackers out, I have to make sure the tongue and neck is attached to the body of the one I am supposed to give the medication to.  You think this sounds crazy, but I assure you, when there are six tongues outstretched and trying to get the cracker, it gets confusing really fast! 

It has been sunny with highs in the 80s here so that means v-neck season has officially begun.  

More to come.  Keep checking in.

Oh and Andy, I have something for you:

"Chuck Norris has a grizzly bear rug in his room.  The bear isn't dead, it is just afraid to move." 

Today is about Mahali

Mahali has been having some issues with his hooves lately and today the veterinary staff came down to take x-rays.  Wow, that last sentence made it sound so simple.  Getting x-rays on a giraffe are very difficult and requires extensive training.  Yesterday I helped with this training which involved Mahali lifting his right and left legs, putting it on a wooden platform, holding it still.  He was doing very well with his right leg, but his left side needed some work.  We ended on a good note in training but didn't know what to expect today.  

The x-ray procedure ended up going great.  Mahali cooperated with the vet staff and allowed pictures to be taken of both legs.  

Here is a picture of the veterinary staff and I on the receiving end of the images being taken within the stall.  Hopefully these images will be able to aid the vet staff in their treatment of Mahali.  I was fortunate to hear the veterinary staff's year in review presentation today and learned about all the major animal cases in the last year! 

Today I medicated giraffes after making up each one.  One way we deliver medication to the giraffes is through giraffe crackers and bananas.  But boy do they get pretty good at finding the pills in these "giraffe smores."  Becky, on the right, has figured me out.  She will find the pill in the banana and spit it out! Now, when I offer her banana, she refuses because she knows what I am up to.  After many failed attempts, I disguised the pill as a giraffe cracker sandwich, with banana in between, and was able to get her to take it.  I have a feeling that this technique will only last me so long; tomorrow will tell.  

Life is officially good now because I have found FROYO nearby.  FROYO stands for "frozen yogurt" and it is just starting to make its way into Iowa.  If you are wondering, that is a Vanilla Pound Cake Red Velvet mix with caramel chocolates, gummy bears, and coconut--or "The Bowl of Awesome."

That's it on this end.  Hope you enjoyed the video of Grom, if you haven't seen it yet, go to the last post.

Good night!

ZooDoo Baby

So I found this on top of a freezer here:

I opened it and yup, I found frozen poop that is sold to the community for fertilizer.  Evidently, this stuff also keeps animals away from your garden; I mean, if you smelled lion poop, you'd run too!

I also helped out with the night keeper rounds this evening again:

This is one of the girls.  

I brought them some dinner.  

More on giraffes later.

But what I am really excited to share with you this evening is video of Grom the tiger playing with his enrichment! Enjoy!

A giraffe conspiracy

This poster describes today perfectly; the giraffes were just plain ornery today.  Many refused to go outside or to be shifted to their stalls.  Some even spit out lettuce treats!  But, aside from that, training actually went pretty well.  We worked with two giraffes to train them to allow blood to be drawn; there seemed to be progress made in this, according to Allison, which was really rewarding.

The enrichment used for the herd today was really fun--bubbles!  We blew bubbles into their exhibit and watched them react to this novelty.  Some were really intrigued by them and others ran away when the bubbles came too close.  I was able to contribute to the enrichment today too:

This is a kong toy with banana smeared on it (if you look right, you are staring directly at a giraffe's butt).  I took one look at my bananas this morning, which were getting past ripe, and decided I could either try to eat all of them quickly or donate them to someone who would enjoy them a little more--the giraffes!   

Today we also had a giraffe weigh-in.  I knew my wrestling skills would come in handy somehow in this internship and this was it.  I recorded the weights from the scale and was amazed at just how large these animals are. One weighed in at 1,850 lbs, and that is equivalent to about 7 heavy weight wrestlers. 

Everyone, meet Mahali.  He is the man.  He has been on sand recently because he has had some hoof issues, but he is getting better.

I spent this afternoon hanging out with the Amur Tiger, Grom.  His name means "thunder" in Slovic languages.  

He kept jumping in the water and playing with his drum; I have some video footage of it and will get it uploaded soon.  

Tonight I ventured farther from my apartment than usual.  I noticed that a couple snow leopards were stalking me as far as they could in their enclosures.  I visited Grom again and climbed the tower that overlooks the whole zoo.  The city lights below were a sight to behold.  

In the day.

From the tower at night.  

Another day gone.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring.  Good night.  

And More Giraffes 

Today was just another day in the life of a giraffe zookeeper.  I learned two things: 1. Always put hay in the feeder before you clean the whole stall 2. Zebras will charge you, but not that often.  

This is the stall where the majority of the herd stays at night.  We clean it every morning until it is spotless.      As you can see, being a zookeeper isn't glamorous, but if you can get past clearing drains with your hands and letting alfalfa cake in your hair, it is AWESOME.  See the woman with her thumb up?  She loves her job because she gets to work with giraffes; plus hippos and penguins.  This cleaning is hardly a setback to her day.  It is amazing the obstacles the zookeepers here at the zoo overcome each day, all for the love of the animals they take care of.  Zookeepers like Nikki and Allison here in the giraffe department are what make the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo what it is.  

This might be a link to the picture above:

This is about 600 lbs of food that the 20 giraffes eat each day.  I know this first hand because I load this lift every day! 

This is some training that was done with Mawimbi today. He is the tallest giraffe of the herd and is a bull.   You can tell when a male giraffe is mature when he gets little bumps on his face, which are calcium deposits.  The stick in her hand is a target stick.  The giraffe is trained to follow the ball and put its nose to it; when he does, they get a treat.  This basic training helps us maneuver the giraffes and is the foundation that is built off of to specifically train them to do things like stretch their neck or soak their feet.  

This is a picture of Khalid.  He is a four year old male that was born with a crooked neck.  He has been trained to receive chiropractic adjustments and to stretch his neck; so in other words, he is super smart.  I wanted to capture the height of these creatures, they make you feel so small when you are near them.  

No hippos tonight but just some frozen milk.  Apparently the fridge got too cold and froze the milk; needless to say, cereal has been interesting.  And on that note I leave you.  Night.