First two days at the El Paso Zoo!

 

Drive by picture of the entrance sign. 

Well I am now an Education Specialist at the El Paso Zoo!  My first two days on the job were full of meeting lots of employees and trying to remember names and keep everyone straight.  Not only meeting lots of people but also meeting lots of animals.  There is so much to learn and I am excited about filling my brain with it all, although I am definitely going to need some time.  I am also a huge fan of learning things together with kids and visitors to the zoo.  Nobody is going to remember or know everything and learning is half the fun.  I have a quote over my bathroom mirror that I read everyday, "Everyday you don't learn, means there is more you don't know."  So be inspired and be curious and go find out the answers!

And now for some more pictures:  I ran into one of the keepers of the Malayan Tigers at their outdoor exhibit who just so happened to have interned at Turpentine Creek in Northwest Arkansas where I drove by everyday on my way to work.   Small world.   Anyway, the tigers have only recently been introduced to each other in the hope that they will reproduce.  The male, Wzui, is six years old and his chosen mate is Seri, only three years old.  Today was an extremely hot day and Wzui enjoyed much of his day swimming in his pond playing with a plastic container and splashing in the water.

The female, Seri stalks her boyfriend Wzui. 

Malayan tigers are Endangered and recent counts showed there are 600–800 Malayan tigers in the wild.  The Malayan tiger is found only in the Malay Peninsula, southern tip of Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia.  Until 2004, it was not considered a subspecies in its own right.  To find out more about the Malayan tiger visit the El Paso Zoo Malayan tiger fact sheet here.  To find out ways you can help support tigers in the wild and protect their environment, like become a Tiger School or Holiday gift wrap for tigers click here.

I also peeked into the Asian indoor exhibits and snuck up on someone that was sleeping:

A cute sand cat was awakened by an annoying picture taker, me.

The sand cat is distributed over arid deserts in Africa and Asia.  Apparently they are even found in Tunisia!  For those of you who do not know, my dad is from Tunisia and I recently visited with him in May 2010.  Sand cats inhabit the most arid regions on Earth and can survive months on only the water in their food.  They retreat into burrows to survive conditions from 23 degrees F to 126 degrees F!  And I thought 110 was hot here in El Paso.  Sand cats are considered Near Threatened due mainly to hunting.  Support the Sahara Conservation Fund which works to protect wildlife of the Sahara and surrounding grasslands. 

I have so much more to chat about!

But for now you can also "like" the El Paso Zoo Facebook Page. 

Learn.