Invisible Lion Cages
It looks like a lioins has jumped up on the hood of an open vehicle! Look closely, though -it’s an illusion, as the front of the car and the passenger area are separated by a sheet of glass. Invisible lion cages are the mane attraction Werribee Open Range Zoo, in Melbourne, Australia. VERY strong glass is used in place of other enclosure types more familiar in zoos – the result is stunning shots of the lions and a unique visitor experience.
This incredible Lions on the Edge exhibit, which puts you just inches from a lion’s jaws, is one of the biggest attractions at the zoo.
Kings of the jungle Tombo and Tonyi are joined by two lionesses in the exhibit. Though it has been open since 2006, the male lions were added just last month – leading to some startling photo opportunities.
Link – via cakeheadlovesevil
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Snow Leopard Cub
The Tama Zoo in Tokyo has unveiled their new snow leopard cub named Yukichi. The male cub was born on July 2nd. He is the fourth cub born to his mother Yuki and the first for his father Valdemar. And he’s adorable! Link
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New Species at the Bristol Zoo
Visitors to the Bristol Zoo can read all about the species Homo sapiens in this plaque hung by the window of the zoo’s cafe. It says, in part:
After a gestation period of nine months, humans usually live in their parents’ nest for around 16 years. While the parents are out foraging for food, juveniles are looked after in large groups by other adults.
In adolescence, the offspring adopt a more nocturnal lifestyle and engage in ritualized activities of drinking fermented liquids and dancing to rhythmical sounds, which scientists believe help them to find a mate.
Enlarge the picture at the link to read all of it. Link -via Boing Boing
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Feeding Time at the Zoo
(YouTube link)
A school trip to the zoo! What fun for the kids! You can make one of these automatons yourself with a kit for £8, plus £2 for postage. Link -via b3ta
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The Only Zebra in Gaza
After two years of economic blockade, the zoos in Gaza are suffering. Only one has a zebra, but there’s something about this zebra that seems, um, un-zebralike.
“It’s really a painted donkey,” admitted Mahmud Berghat, the director of Marah, when asked about the creature. Making a fake zebra isn’t easy—henna didn’t work and wood paint was deemed inhumane, so they finally settled on human hair dye. “We cut its hair short and then painted the stripes,” Berghat explained behind the closed door of his office.
It did the trick—if not for zoologists, then at least for legions of Gaza schoolchildren who have never seen a real zebra. When I asked him whether anyone had ever caught the ruse, the director admitted that two sharp university students had IDed the counterfeit creature. “But don’t tell anyone,” he said. “The children love him.”
Most zoo animals have to be smuggled in through tunnels, but a zebra was too expensive for the Marah zoo. Link -via Arbroath
(image credit: Sharon Weinberger)
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Giraffe Birth
Watch the birth of a giraffe at Safari West Wildlife Preserve in California. It was a surprise, as zookeepers did not know the mother was pregnant. Unfortunately, this video report does not show the six foot drop a baby giraffe undergoes, but he is a cute little thing …if you can call a six-foot, 130 pound baby “little”! Link
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Elephant Car Wash
Forget bikini car wash! The new hotness in raising money in today’s tough economy is … elephant car wash!
The elephants at the Wildlife Safari near Eugene, Oregon are fundraising and they don’t seem to mind. The safari’s three African elephants, Tiki, Alice, and George, have a job at the new "Elephant Car Wash".
For $20, visitors can have an up-close-and-personal encounter with the elephants as they wash down their car.
There’s no guarantee that your car will actually get cleaned, but hey, everybody seems to be having fun!
Link (with self-starting video)
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Prairie Dogs Escape in Ten Minutes
The Maryland Zoo recently unveiled a new prairie dog exhibit. The zoo’s prairie dogs had not been on display for four years, until a new $500,000 enclosure was designed and built. Despite a concrete base, aircraft wire, and slick walls, several prairie dogs got out of the habitat within a few minutes! None got away, as zookeepers responded with nets.
Zoo staff members say the animals cannot burrow their way out because the former Kodiak bear environment is essentially a large concrete swimming bowl. The soil depth at Prairie Dog Town ranges from 6 feet to 8 feet.
“The dirt must be deeper than 36 inches in order for the prairie dogs to make their burrows under the frost line,” Kranz said. “We took soil samples from the old exhibit so the soils could be matched exactly to what they were used to having.”
After foiling the escape attempt, zoo workers adjusted wire fencing and installed more slippery plastic on the walls.
Link -via Boing Boing
(image credit: Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun)
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Great Escapes by Animals
WebEcoist has twelve tales of animals escaping from captivity. Some were recaptured quickly; others weren’t so simple.
When zookeepers found that a Macaw had vanished, they were baffled because they knew his wings were clipped, preventing him from flying away. They later found that did not stop him from fluttering out of the enclosure and catching a ride inside an RV’s engine cabinet.
Link -via Unique Daily
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Lonely Pig in Quarantine
Due to fear of swine flu, Afghanistan has quarantined its pig. Yes, the nation’s only pig, normally on display along with other exotic wildlife at the Kabul Zoo.
The pig is a curiosity in Muslim Afghanistan, where pork and pig products are illegal because they are considered irreligious, and has been in quarantine since Sunday after visitors expressed alarm it could spread the new flu strain.
“For now the pig is under quarantine, we built it a room because of swine influenza,” Aziz Gul Saqib, director of Kabul Zoo, told Reuters. “We’ve done this because people are worried about getting the flu.”
Link -via YesButNoButYes
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Bokito Viewers
These creepy eyeshades make you appear to look away when you’re looking forward! They were inspired by a gorilla attack at the Rotterdam Zoo last May. The gorilla named Bokito attacked a woman, presumably because she had made eye contact with him. Health insurance company FBTO took advantage of the situation and issued “Bokito Viewers” to zoo visitors to protect them from gorilla attack. The glasses were conceived by advertising agency DDB Amsterdam. Link -via the Presurfer
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Bear Hugs: $2
Zookeepers in Cairo are charging visitors to actually go inside the animal cages. Hugging bears, feeding crocodiles, pestering seals and provoking lions can all be achieved for under ten bucks!
I don’t know what’s worse, the exploitation of these poor animals or the stupidity of the patrons for getting inside an enclosure with a live bear.
Photo: Nasser Nuri/Reuters
An Egyptian family asked to play with the lions. Two dollars, said the zookeeper. The mother nodded and the zoo employee motioned to them to come to a side door away from the row of cages and mesmerized onlookers.
The zookeeper looked nervous, peering up and down the sidewalk. Seeing none of the authorities, he swung the door open and beckoned the family of four inside. By the time the family had entered, the zookeeper had grabbed a lion cub and hoisted it into the arms of the startled teenage son. Another lion cub looked on from a few feet away.
The family posed for photos. The cub snarled with displeasure.
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Staten Island Chuck Takes a Bite Out of Mayor
Obviously upset about the proposed budget cuts to New York City’s zoos, Staten Island Chuck let Mayor Michael Bloomberg know exactly how he feels.
As reported by the Staten Island Advance, the mayor tried several times to lure the petite prognosticator out of his home, tempting him with delicious ears of corn. This resulted in Chuck grabbing the corn, and hastily returning to his den. At some point in their back and forth, Chuck bared his wood-cutting teeth and went to work on the mayor’s finger.
Personally, I would be upset too if some strange guy tried to pull me out of bed at 7am.
Thankfully the Mayor was not badly bit and Chuck was still able to perform his prediction duties: No shadow, early spring!
“His hand was nicked,” a Bloomberg spokesman said. The mayor is up to date on his Tetanus shot, so he simply washed his wounded finger and put on a bandage.
…
The bite happened just before Chuck made his prediction that spring is coming, as the mayor bravely reached into the groundhog’s cottage, and tried to coax him out with some of his favorite snacks.
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Gay Penguins Turned Out to be the Best Parents in the Zoo
Remember the gay penguins that got ejected from their colony because they were trying to steal eggs from other penguins? Well, the zookeepers gave the couple two eggs laid by an inexperienced penguin mom … and it turns out they became the best parents in the zoo!
‘We decided to give them two eggs from another couple whose hatching ability had been poor and they’ve turned out to be the best parents in the whole zoo,’ said one of the keepers.
‘It’s very encouraging and if this works out well we will try to arrange for them to become real parents themselves with artificial insemination.’
Wildlife experts at the park explain that despite being gay the three-year-old male birds are still driven by an urge to be fathers.
‘One of the responsibilities of being a male adult is looking after the eggs. Despite the fact that they can’t have eggs naturally, it does not take away their biological drive to be a parent,’ said one.
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Brussels Sprouts + Gorillas = Bad Situation
Chessington Zoo in London has issued an apology to guests after giving the gorillas a Christmas treat of Brussels sprouts. The seasonal sprouts are highly nutritious, but the gorilla farts caused horror among people around them.
Gorilla keeper Michael Rozzi said: “We feed the gorillas brussel sprouts during the winter because they are packed with vitamin C and have great nutritional benefits.
“Unfortunately, an embarrassing side effect is that it can cause bouts of flatulence in humans and animals alike.
“However, I don’t think any of us were prepared for a smell that strong.”
The zoo has taken the sprouts off the menu while the zoo is open to the public. The gorillas will enjoy them when the zoo is closed on Christmas Day. Link -Thanks, Rich!
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Dance of the Sugar Plum "Furry" by the Switch Zoo Critter Chorus
Remember the Christmas Song "sung" (lipsynched, really) by animals clip we just posted on Neatorama?
Well, that has nothing on this: here’s "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from The Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky, arranged by Guy Spataford and created from the sounds of the 27 animals of The Switch Zoo Critter Chorus.
Check it out, it’s fantastic! Link [embedded Google Video] – Thanks Guy!
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Sara the Musical Walrus
Walruses can be cute -if they can play the saxophone like Sara!
The flippered, whiskered creature is delighting audiences with her human-like skills, playing the saxophone, blowing a whistle, or simply adopting the universal expression for ‘I’m bored, get me out of here’.
When handed the brass instrument she gripped it with her flippers and simulated an energetic jazz performance to some backing music.
Sara is one of the star attractions at the Istanbul Dolphinarium in Istanbul, Turkey.
See more pictures and a video at the Mail Online. Link -via Unique Daily
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