The holidays are upon us!

I have this thing with wrapping paper. It only exist to wrap gifts, to conceal the contents. Yes it's pretty, yes it's shiny but reeeeally it exists to exist. It's a waste of resources and there are plenty of other materials you can use to cover presents so what's inside remains a surprise.

I use

Newspaper
IKEA instruction manuals
IKEA paper that comes with the furniture you buy
Magazines

I re-use

Bags
Boxes
Wrapping paper

You can get creative this season and think of fun ways to wrap gifts that doesn't involve buying brand new wrapping paper. With newspaper, it's easy to save the comic section. Or you can be a Christmas troll like me and wrap some gifts using the obituaries.

My second hand Christmas tree with my IKEA paper gifts.

Here's my robot-voice recording of my thesis that I completed in September for my Master's of Global Wildlife Heath and Conservation Biology at Bristol university.

I looked at the breeding success of hand-reared vs. parent-reared big cats.

Some of you may have heard of animals referred to as “critically endangered” or “vulnerable.” But what does that really mean? Where do these statuses come from?

The IUCN has a “Redlist of Threatened Species” which is where the official classifications of species comes from. Species are classified in this way:

But what's the real difference between a critically endangered animal and a vulnerable one? Well I'm glad you asked. Animals are categorized based on:

1. Population decline
   
2. Geographic range
   
3. Population size
   
4. Number of mature individuals
   
5. Probability of extinction
   

There are more specific subcategories within all these but we won't get into that today. Here is a comparison between critically endangered and vulnerable species:

	Critically Endangered	Vulnerable
Population decline	Reduction of more than 90% over the last 10 years or three generations	Reduction of more than 50% over the last 10 years or three generations
Geographic range	Occurrence = less than 100 km2	Occurrence = less than 20,000 km2
Population size	Less than 250 individuals	Less than 10,000 individuals
Number of mature individuals	Less than 50 mature individuals	Less than 1000 mature individuals
Probability of extinction	Probability of extinction in the wild = 50% within 10 years or three generations	Probability of extinction in the wild = 10% within 100 years

As you can see, species with a much smaller range, population size and a much higher chance of extinction are classified as critically endangered. Many species remain to be evaluated because doing in-depth analysis of species requires time and resources.

Hopefully I've helped you understand the these terms! You can look into the statuses of local animals in your community by visiting the IUCN Redlist.

Hippo (Hippopotamus amphibius) - Vulnerable

The day in the life of a zoo keeper:

7:00 - Arrive at work. Get changed and talk to co-workers about their weekend/life/need for coffee

7:15-9:00 - Morning health checks. Feed baboons, lynx, caracal, coyotes, cheetah, cougars, eagles, Arctic fox, Arctic wolves, and any other wildlife that steals your food

9:00 - 9:30 - Coffee break. For me, since I don't drink coffee, it was a granola bar break

9:30 - 11:30 - Feed jaguar, clean baboon stalls, feed bears, projects! (project include: cleaning beds, pooper-scooping, trimming blackberry bushes, weed-whacking, organizing the cat house, or enrichment)

11:30-12:30 Lunch. Unless it's Wednesday then I would be with the vet out in the field, not eating and frowning

12:30 - 15:55 Grab food for the afternoon.

13:00 Lion and Tiger feeding/pubic talk. Feed baboons, bears and bat eared foxes. Projects and afternoon health checks.

16:00 Home time! (Unless there's an animal emergency, then I'm still here.)

That's pretty much how my days goes but everyday is different depending what the animals want to throw at you - both figuratively and literary. My schedule also varies depending on the time of year. In the winter I have more project time because the bears are sleeping (I only have to check on them every 2 days), no blackberries growing like weeds and no Lion and Tiger feeding. In the summer I run around like a maniac trying to fit everything in but I get to talk to public after my shows and that's always lovely. Sometimes I also have committee meetings which I have to make time for so I go twice as fast.

And that's my day!

Happy national zoo keeper week! Go hug a zoo keeper near you!

Remember that zoo keepers work hard - rain or shine - to provide the best care possible to animals that need a home in captivity.

Really cool video of what the inside of a wolf's den looks like! I've always wondered what Brutus and Cleo's den is like. Theirs has 3 entrances and could go just as deep as this one. Incredible.

What IS this?

What are you animal friend?

It's a mara (Dolichotis patagonum)! A mara is a South American, herbivorous mammal that is common in Argentina. They are the fourth largest rodent in the world and they can run at speeds up to 29 km/hr.

I often tell our guests that maras are like jackalopes without the horns since most people know about the mythical creature rather than the real animal that inspired it.

Same thing right? (Art by VisionCrafter)

They are monogamous - meaning they have one partner for their whole lifetime. Males mark their chosen females with urine. Sexy!

Today I'm going to introduce you to ethograms. I think they're a fun activity to do at the zoo for those of you who have young, budding biologists or if you're a science nerd yourself.


An ethogram is inventory of behavior exhibited by an animal. To get started, list behaviors and describe them accurately. You can do this by observing animals at the zoo first and writing down what they do; or looking for examples online or in textbooks. Here's mine for the pigmy hippos at Bristol Zoo:

Then go to the zoo an observe the animals. There are different kinds of sampling methods, but lets just pick between two of them. You can 1.) either watch the animal(s) and record every time they do a behavior or 2.) you can record behavior at time intervals – like every 5 minuets. If you're doing this with young children just cater to their attention span. If 10 minuets of watching animals and writing down behaviors is enough then awesome.


If you're super enthusiastic, you can even make charts and graphs! Here's mine for the pigmy hippos.

They did a whole lot of nothing and that's to be expected with hippos. If you're doing an ethogram for the first time, especially with a child, pick an animal that's active - like pretty much any species of monkey.


And have fun! Feel free to share your results with me :D

[1] Bowers, T. E., Waterman, J. M., Kuhar, C. W & Bettinger, T. L. (2010). Social behaviors within a group of captive female Hippopotamus amphibus. J. Ethol. 28: 287–294. DOI 10.1007/s10164-009- 0184-6

Here's a decent article about zoos - their role in conservation and what they do for animal health and care. Worth a read!

During my Master's degree overseas, I went home for the holidays and had the chance to see my tiger, Sweetie, one last time. I actually saw her the day before she was euthanized. The moment I saw her I knew she wasn't doing well. Keepers always know how their animals are feeling just by looking at them because we spend so much time watching over them during our shifts. Sweetie lived to be 18 years old which is way up there even for captive cats. She was also living with a life long hiatal hernia so it was amazing for her to survive for one year let alone 18.

Work it girl.

Sweetie was the kind of cat that didn't like a lot of fuss. She preferred to either be away from the public or terrorizing them. She was strikingly beautiful - and she knew it. Sweetie was only friendly to keepers when she was in heat or when it suited her. Even though she put up front I think she enjoyed being acknowledged and told she was beautiful. I would always say good morning to her and she would stare back at me like she preferred it if I would roll over and die. But I said it anyway because it would have annoyed her even more to be ignored.


I should know better than to look at the comments on online articles by now but once again there were people claiming that she was better off dead than in a zoo. These people have mostly likely never even met Sweetie and yet the feel like they can speak about her life. She wasn't unhappy. She rarely ever displayed any stereotypical behaviour and her keepers never forced her to do anything she didn't want to – except vet check ups. She was a great cat and I can say that because I knew her personally.

RIP Sweetie. You were the definition of fierce.

 Honor Sweetie by educating yourself on the plight of Siberian Tigers and take action towards conserving this beautiful cat.

I have been a little less active lately and that will most likely continue until August. It's because I'm doing a masters degree. Whoa! I'm doing a Master of Global Wildlife Health and Conservation Biology through the University of Bristol. Some of my courses are taught through Bristol Zoo Gardens. It's been fantastic so far.

Here's a another comic. For those of you whole aren't keepers, this might not be that funny but for those who are, you know exactly what I'm talking about. That darn hose. It gets caught on everything!!