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!!

 The holidays are upon us! If you're thinking about getting one of your family members a pet this year make sure you do your research.

Let me tell you a little Christmas story about Optimus the Sulcata tortoise. Optimus was donated to our zoo when her family could no longer take care of her – in fact our zoo has never really had to pay for reptiles because there are plenty of people who buy them with out knowing what they're getting themselves into. Optimus is half the size she should be for her age. This is because when her previous family purchased her they didn't want a pet that would get very big. Sulcata tortoises grow to 18 inches in carapace length and can weight 70-100 pounds. The pet shop owner told the family to feed Optimus once a week to keep her from getting too large, and it worked. Sulcata tortoises are grazers and they eat constantly through out the day. Since Optimus was only fed once a week, her growth was stunted and she will never grow to her full size.

Here's Optimus enjoying some tasty rose petals with our junior zoologists. Notice how bumpy her shell is, this is a sign of nutrition deficiencies in tortoises and turtles.

Never buy a pet that you are not willing to take care of. For example, ball pythons can live for almost 50 years. Same with Parrots. They can live for 50 -100 years depending on their species and that, combined with their intelligence, means you're stuck with a 3 year old that will most likely out live you.

Once you've done your research about the animal itself and you're sure you can give it adequate care, then make sure you're getting the animal from a human source. Many small exotic pets are smuggled into the country using inhumane methods. See the pictures below.

Remember that no wild animal makes a good pet. If you're interested in owning an animal, go down to you local shelter and adopt a cat, dog or bunny!

Happy Holidays!

Images from: The Huffington Post

It's international cheetah day!

Our resident cheetah is Duma. He's 5 years old. Duma's claim to fame is that he was featured on cheetah diaries. At that time he was called Yankee.

Duma eats about 2 Kg of meat six days a week. He enjoys purring and being told that he's gorgeous - he already knows it but it's nice to have a daily reminder.

 

 

 

Duma's cool with having a day dedicated to him

I often get costumer complaints along the lines of “I didn't come all this way to see the animals lay around and sleep.” I find this very entertaining. There's a huge possibility that people have been watching nature shows – where it's all action all the time – and then they come to a zoo only to be disappointed not to see the same thing. Actually, animals spend a lot of their time resting.


Cats sleep 13-14 hours a day. They do most of their moving about and hunting during the night.

I'm pretty sure she snores

 Canines sleep for 16 hours a day.

Zzzzz

Bear hibernate in the winter. If you come to the zoo in December, you will not see them. Grizzly bears even give birth during their winter nap. No big deal, right?

Shadow prepares for her winter nap

Ironically enough, it was hard for me to find pictures of my animals sleeping. That's because I'm their keeper and when I'm around, it's food time and that's worth being awake for. If you want to make the most out of your zoo experience, attend shows and talks to see the animals in action!

Say good night to the hippo bums!