The first sleepover.

Things are moving right along at the zoo.  I scheduled some Zoo Adventure Programs in August and now it is almost September!  I had my first Behind the Scenes Tour, Roar and Snore Sleepover and Career Day for 60 high school kids. 

The sleepover night was filled with animal encounters, enrichment making, nocturnal tour, radio telemetry, camera trapping and so much more!  The evening ended with a campfire in which all the sleepover guests were able to roast marshmallows!  I used fuel briquettes made at the zoo for the campfire.  Fuel briquettes are easily made and used as a low cost, locally made fuel for cooking or heating. Organic waste such as leaves, sticks, paper and weeds can be made into fuel briquettes.  The basic recipe is mix the waste up with water and a binding agent, use a briquette press to get as much water out as possible and then let the rest dry.  The fuel briquettes burned just as they are supposed to, like a coal briquette.  Although, for a campfire where you want light and flame they were not quite adequate.  Luckily I had plenty of small sticks and twigs to supplement the fire.  Fuel briquette technology is used in third world countries to offer a sustainable, local and cheap way to create fuel.  To read more on fuel briquettes, check out this file! Next step for the campfire is starting it with the bow drill or flint and steel instead of a lame lighter!

 Participants of the sleepover roasting marshmallows at the campfire!

My favorite part was the nocturnal room in the Asia pavilion.  The Slow Loris was so curious at night he came out of his home right up to the window to check out the humans.  Their big eyes are adapted for nocturnal living but really just make them incredibly cute!  Slow Loris' are primates in the same sub order as lemurs. 

Slow Loris; A picture taken by Paul Dumond of the El Paso Zoo.

Slow Loris' are also declining in the wild due to habitat destruction and wildlife trade.  Slow Loris' are often caught and their teeth clipped for the pet trade and medicinal uses.  When these animals are sold as pets their mortality rate is extremely high.  It is recommended to not have any exotic animal as a pet.  Exotics require more attention, care, nutrition, knowledge and a vet that specializes in exotics.  Most people can not provide this for an animal so it is best to stick to a dog or cat that will cuddle with you as well. 

Slow Loris' are protected from commercial trade but can still be found in markets in China and are often smuggled to Japan.  It is thought that they posses strange powers and can cure many diseases in traditional Asian cultures.  They are still sought after for these reasons.  Although Slow Loris' are hard to study due to their secretive nocturnal behavior, poachers are easily harvesting them using flashlights and looking for their eye shine. 

To protect the Slow Loris' out in the wild, don't buy exotic pets or support stores that offer them.  Also they live in the tropical rain forests of Asia.  In a previous post I wrote about huge areas of the rain forest being destroyed to plant palm plantations.  If you look at the products you buy, make sure they do not have palm oil in them.  Also known as palmitate, palmatine etc.  An easy way to help!

The sleepover participants woke up early for an amazing experience of a behind the scenes tour of the Asian Elephants.  A jam packed night and morning and all for half price at $20!  Next sleepover is scheduled for October 1, 2011!


The Behind the Scenes Tour and Career Day presentations were also a lot of fun.  I truly love trying to inspire kids to figure out their passion and have the motivation and desire to go out and achieve it.  I hope that I and the volunteers opened up their eyes to many possibilities that they had not even thought about. At the end of one presentation a girl reached into her bag to find out her deodorant had palm oil in it.  She shared it with the class and I bet she won't buy that brand again!  Do a little, change a lot.


Nocturnal!

Family Time

We had our first visitor to El Paso and broke some more "myths" of the area.  My mamasita came to visit for a few days and she was shocked at the size of El Paso, not just a border town.  El Paso is again over 700,000 people and if you combine the Las Cruces area it is over 1 million people.  That is not counting Juarez with over 1.5 million people. 

My mom was here for a few days and we were able to explore so many areas but our first stop was of course, The El Paso Zoo!  Pictures, Pictures and more Pictures:

 

Being so close to African lions is amazing.  You can really appreciate how large they are.  Especially when they are stalking you.

 

This Blue and Gold Macaw loves attention and he sure did get ours! 

 My mom is an amazing horse trainer and she was impressed at the training of the Asian elephants.   Love at elephant sight!  

These two old ladies (the elephants) still enjoy their behavioral enrichment and definitely enjoy scouring the exhibit looking for their produce!

After the zoo we explored the local downtown Mexican shops.  The following morning we hiked up a trail at the Franklin Mountains to one of several springs in the area.  Wouldn't it be nice if it was a huge swimming hole with crystal clear water.  What we found was a small mud puddle, but a cottonwood tree, grass, flowers, butterflies, and birds were all loving the oasis of the mud puddle!  And it is just enough water to support wildlife through a tough drought and desert habitat.

We finally reached some shade near the spring!

 

The Spring.  We jumped in and went swimming! ;)

 

Mamasita taking a break.

A lot of work was done on the trails at the Franklin Park.  They are in need of some repair but who knows what will happen now:  TPWD recently went through huge budget cuts and reduced the TPWD staff tremendously in El Paso.  The Superintendent was let go as well and now, the area is managed by someone over 200 miles away.  This is not a good thing for wildlife or parks in Texas and especially in El Paso.  The Wyler's Aerial Tramway that I was lucky enough to ride on to the top of the Franklin Mountains now only has very limited hours on Saturday and Sunday.  The Franklin Mountains State Park is the biggest urban park in the US and faces severe threats of encroachment by houses and roads along the foothills of the state park boundary.  I am worried for wildlife and the land.  It reminds me of Aldo Leopold's "Thinking like a Mountain".  Maybe we should all stop and think about what the mountain needs because in the end it will come back and bite us!  Only the mountain has been around long enough to know how to manage itself. 

Oh and by the way, you can help save the Franklin Mountains, even living out of El Paso.  You can sign an online petition.  Please click here and take a second to sign the petition to save the Franklin Mountains through Care2.  Signing petitions are a great way to support the causes you care about if you don't have financial or volunteer time to give.  So keep it simple and go sign the petition!

 Can you find the animal? 

 That hat saved my life!  So hot in the sun but plop it up on your ponytail and it allows the air to circulate but still provide shade.  I am in the market for a bigger one though. 

My mom looks so teeny in comparison to the mountain.  It was cool to walk through different habitats in the desert.  So much diversity lives here and at first it seems barren, but then your eyes start to see the differences.

A Two-tailed butterfly on a thistle right near the spring at Franklin Mountain State Park.

This beautiful species of butterfly was everywhere once we got up to the spring.  There were also a lot of dead ones there as well.  I did a little research and found out it was Two-tailed swallowtail.  While we were up there we were speculating why there were so many dead ones?  They do lay their eggs on a host tree but in the research it did not say anything about them dying after or not?  So if you know some more on butterfly life cycles please let us know!  And maybe something was eating them because only their wings were left. 

After our long hike we took the scenic road up to Mesilla, a small town in New Mexico.  Along the way there were pecans, pecans and pecans.  Mesilla was a quaint small town that had a Santa Fe vibe with adobe buildings and small shops, art galleries and local food.  Definitely a place I would like to go back and explore more of. 

 Pecan trees take over the landscape on the drive to Mesilla.

So much to do and so little time.  I am so glad my mom had the chance to come down and visit.  On her 8 hour drive home she stopped at the Guadeloupe Mountains and Carlsbad Caverns and said they were amazing!  I can't wait to visit and camp!

Visit!

Clean Clean Clean

Oh how I love the smell of a clean house.  I finally got around to buying the goods and making my own cleaning supplies and I absolutely LOVE them!  They smell and clean great. 

 My shopping cart, I felt like people might suspect me of building a bomb!

Why not try the switch to all natural ingredients which are not only environmentally friendly but also human health friendly.  A lot of the chemicals found in pre-made cleaning supplies are harsh on our bodies and can be carcinogenic.  Some of the chemicals found in cleaning supplies are chlorine, crystalline silica and butyl cellosolve which are irritants to our lungs and eyes and can pose serious health risks. 

Click here to read about a recent study that states fragrant cleaners may be bad for your health.  More than a third of products tested and some that were labeled organic emitted a carcinogen such as formaldehyde.  The article makes a great point that, if these chemicals were coming out of a factory they would be regulated and fined but since they are coming out of an air freshener there are no regulations.  

Not only is it better for your health to make your own cleaning supplies but it is better for your wallet!  It is incredibly cheap, so why would you not do it?  It is also fun to mix up the ingredients.  I kind of felt like I was making a bomb! 

So let's get you set up.  I don't follow recipes exactly to perfection.  What I like to do is research whatever I am trying to make and then use what I have read to build my own perfect recipe.  This is exactly what I did with cleaning supplies.  So here are the general ingredients, mix them up how you would like and shake up the bottle.  It really is not rocket science. 

General all purpose cleaner recipe:
- I used this to clean the kitchen, and wow it cut through grease!  I cleaned the refrigerator with a dried spill in it, cleaned the bathroom toilet, shower, sink and I cleaned the floors!
- In a spray bottle (mine is pretty small - probably only holds 10oz of liquid).
     Borax - about one spoonful
     Baking soda - about one spoonful
     natural soap (ie: Dr Bronners) - about one spoonful
     white vinegar - about one spoonful
     lavender oil - a few drops
     tea tree oil - a few drops
    peppermint oil - a few drops
 And then fill the rest up with warm water and shake!

Ok so that looks like a lot of ingredients but you really don't need that many.  I probably went a little overboard but it cut through a lot of grease and removed stains.  But all together one bottle of cleaner that I made probably cost me less than 25 cents.  The most expensive items on the list were the essential oils that were about $5 but will last a long time because you only need a few drops. 

So give it a go in your house.  Clean with items that when they wash down the drain into our rivers, aquifers, and oceans are not going to affect the quality of the water which comes back around to us and we drink.

And don't forget old rags and towels work great for cleaning, no need for paper towels!  Wash your used cleaning rag and throw it in the dryer, if it has some left over essential oils on it, it will become a great dryer sheet! 

Clean!

What is your favorite insect?

A BUG filled weekend it was!  This past weekend at the El Paso Zoo was Bugfest.

 "Mac" the Blue and Gold Macaw hanging out at the front gate of the zoo waiting for some guests.  Check out the cool BugFest sign in the background.

At the zoo, there was a chance to learn about insects, see lots of live insects (my favorite the Emperor Scorpion), play insect games, view animals that eat bugs, enjoy a bug cooking demonstration, try your own chocolate-Chirp-cookies and other insect treats, and make your own bugs with recycled materials!!  I was in charge of the insect crafts made of recycled materials and it was a hit.  Although what child doesn't like arts and crafts?  I collected egg cartons from anyone that would give them to me as well as used toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls that the zoo already had, and the kids and I turned them into caterpillars, spiders, butterflies and bumble bees!  I wish I had taken some pictures but I guess I was busy because I ended up with no pictures of the cute creations.  The moral of the story = re-use your materials at home and let your kids be creative.  One child this weekend made a praying mantis out of pipe cleaners.  I was thoroughly impressed.  If you want to find out when these events are being held at the zoo sign up for the Zoo Education email list by clicking here.

I had some great high school students volunteer their time and help me with arts and crafts.  Thank you very much to those helpful teens!  I also learned some Spanish from them.   I am working on my Spanish but it is coming along slowly.  Most people just assume I speak Spanish, and I don't blame them, I should!   Rosetta Stone here I come!

Although we did not have any honey bees on exhibit at the zoo this weekend they were still all around us outside.  I was reading a recent article that looked at the number of bees in urban areas as compared to rural.  It found that many bees were in towns more due to the plant diversity among backyards and parks.  At the zoo, the horticulture department does a great job creating lots of different sources of pollen for our friendly honey bees.  For some reason, honey bees and bees in general catch my interest.  Maybe it's their crazy social structure, or the fact that they pollinate a third of our food supply, or that they can increase the production of agriculture crops, or that we eat their throw-up (honey), or that I fancy the new country song "Honey bee" or that they are just dang cute.  Without bees we would be lacking in fruits and vegetables such as: apples, fruits, berries, almonds, melons, cucumbers, clovers and alfalfa.  I don't know about you but I could not live without fruits and vegetables! 

Also it is interesting to me, that lately it seems everyone is becoming a bee keeper and enjoying the benefits in their own backyards.  Honey bees are not native to the U.S. although we have grandfathered them in as belonging here.  I really can't think of another species that we have accepted with open arms like the honey bee.  Honey bees are so crazy and most people don't know much about them.  For example, did you know:  There are about 20,000 different species of bees.  Queens can live up to 3-5 years, while others workers, drones, etc only live for a few weeks.  Bees have their own dancing language.  When they find a good food source or a great place for a new hive, they orient themselves to the sun and do a little dance.  The stronger and more emphasis on the dance, the better the new home site or food supply is.  They can travel as far as 2 miles away from their hive in search of food.  I could go on and on but that is just a taste.  To find out more visit some bee sites here, here or here.   And of course they can be dangerous and sting although mostly they are not aggressive and harmless.  Not all species die after they sting but some do.  Their temperament is based on a few things:

• weather
• time of day
• season
• genetics
• vibrations
• colors
• odors
• how you react to them

So don't hang out near a bee hive when it's cold and rainy or in the dark or winter or smell bad or swat them away.  If you find yourself in an uncomfortable situation simply walk into some brush.  They don't like that and will leave you alone.  Also if you don't have a forest to walk into (ie: you live in El Paso), break off a branch or piece of a plant and wave them away with the plant, not your hand.  

So happy beekeeping to all you beekeepers and everyone else, don't be scared of insects.  If you are scared do some research to learn some more so you can appreciate what you have in your own backyard.



BUZZZ





 

The best way to stay cool is to think cool.

Temperatures across the country are HOT.  It has been a tough year for farmers, wildlife, and people in general.  I personally don't mind the heat but I do mind what it does to the fruits and vegetables I like to eat as well as what it does to the plants and animals I like to catch glimpses of in the wild. 

The animals at the zoo are relatively used to the heat.  The African lions are very playful and people always ask, aren't they hot?  I respond with, African lions are used to the African heat.  The four lions at the El Paso Zoo were born at the Oklahoma City Zoo but they still have the same genes.  I relate it to myself, my father is from Tunisia in North Africa and I like to say that is why I love the heat, I am half made for it! 

The African lion exhibit allows people to get face to face with the lions.  Kids and adults both love to be awed by how large these animals are.  I am fully captivated by the lions as well.  There are two sets of twins born within three days of each other.   They have different mothers but the same father.  The four resident lions are: Malaika (meaning "Angel"), Zari (meaning "Golden") and Kalliope (meaning "Beautiful Voice").  The male cub was named Xerxes, a Persian name meaning "Monarch." Here is a  quick lion picture:

100 degrees and still looking for some playtime!

There are less than 20,000 African lions in the wild and they currently listed as Vulnerable although their status is in question.  Their numbers are declining due to habitat loss and human conflict. Many farmers use cheap pesticides to poison lions to protect their livestock.  National Geographic Big Cat Initiative works locally to protect lions and solve the human/lion conflicts.  Do you have a house cat?  You can send in your picture of your cat and donate $5 to the Big Cat Inititiave and have your cat's picture on the National Geographic website!  Make fluffy famous!

I walked by the Andean Bears on Saturday and noticed they found a way to stay cool:

 Can you see the Andean Bear?  I love how I was capturing the sign and perfectly got the Andean Bear as well!  Here is a better look:

 Taken with my old Iphone so a little grainy but at least you get the idea.

A bear in warm weather?  Yup, these bears do not need to hibernate because they live in the rainforest where it stays warm year round.  It is really not the weather that makes bears hibernate but more the availability of food.  In colder climates there is not much food available during winter months so they sleep through till the arrival of Spring.  Because there is year round food in the rain forest these bears do not need to hibernate.  These bears inhabit the mystifying cloud forests. 

Not much is known on their ecology but the Andean Bear Conservation Project is working hard to study these bears.   The more we know about an animal the better we are equipped to be able to protect it.  There are also less than 20,000 Andean Bears in the wild.  An easy way to support them is to "like" their cause on Facebook.  If you don't have funds or the ability to volunteer a simple "like" can help.  When non profits write for grants and approach companies for financial support it is helpful to show how much support the public has given them.  Simple helps. 

Speaking of help, on July 28th the El Paso Zoological Society held its annual Members Night.  To become a member of the Zoological Society simply stop by their office at the zoo or go online.  With membership you receive free entrance into the zoo any day as well as opportunities such as members night.  Membership shows your support for the El Paso Zoo and its mission to celebrate the value of animals and natural resources and to create opportunities for people to rediscover their connection to nature.  We appreciate all of our members and their support of the El Paso Zoo and worldwide conservation!

Members night was a couple hours after the zoo closed, opened for members only to enjoy activities such as rock climbing, face painting, water games, ice cream, animal encounters, animal presentations, live music, dancing and so much more!  Basically it was a Zoo at the Zoo!  There were about 2500 attendees.  Here is a picture of the popular rock wall:

Rock climbing for Members Night!

Ok I am thinking I will spend the day like an El Paso Zoo Andean Bear and go hang out in the apartment pool for a while!  Oh, and my older neighbor said, "the best way to stay cool is to think cool!"  So think cool while you are sweating out their today and enjoy this day!


COOL!