Zookeeper's Journal

The animals that I choose to include in the Species Fact Profiles are a mixed-bag.  By rule, most of them aren't the most popular, well-known zoo animals, such as lions, giraffes, and gorillas; instead, I like to draw from the ranks of the obscure.  In many cases, they are animals that you may see at many zoos, but with names that go unrecognized by many visitors.

For the most part, these profiles have been about the natural history of the animals - where they are from, what they eat, how many young they have, etc.  While writing yesterday's article about zoo animal diets, however, I realized that I was leaving out one of the most important aspects of these animals - what it's like to work with them in a zoo.  And so I'm adding a new feature to the blog, the Zookeeper's Journal.  It will appear at the end of certain Species Fact Profiles to recall some of my personal experiences with the animals.

There won't be one for every animal - some of the species featured are ones that I haven't worked with or interacted with, but am interested in nonetheless.  For those that I can, however, I'll try to share some personal insight into what it's like to work with some of the most amazing animals in the zoo.