Tundra

Tundra is our resident polar bear at the Bronx Zoo. He's an older bear but that doesn't stop him from posing for pictures! Did you know a polar bear has black skin and their fur is hollow and clear like a straw?

Bear Hug

One of the courses we teach spends a lot of time discussing and teaching about different forms of enrichment for our animals - especially our carnivores. Throughout the week participants build enrichment items for some of our animals and the last day the keepers stuff these items with yummy treats and give them to the animals. I had the joy of photographing the animals and participants during the most recent run of the course. And here is the resulting photo:

Enrichment is a way to keep captive animals entertained. It takes many forms from treats hidden in something or around the exhibit to scents to simply rotating animals through exhibits. It encourages the animals to get up and move around the exhibit and exercise their brains as well as encourage some natural behaviors. A lot of times the public has no idea that enrichment is going in for an animal (it almost always is for mammals) because it can be so natural but when you know what it is you see it all around.

These are 2 of our rescued brown bear cubs (about 2 years old). After receiving their enrichment boxes they remained quite active. Here they are playing much like they would in the wild. Play like this is very important to learn about social relationships. In predatory species it also allows the organisms to practice hunting skills. It is always a challenge in zoos to keep animals active, especially as they age but so far these guys are doing a great job of staying active and keeping us entertained in the mean time!

Just Hanging Out

This Emerald Tree Boa is just doing his thing. Every time I see one of these creatures, they always seem to be in this position. It is characteristic of them to coil up this way over a branch or two. They sit this way all day and when they hunt at night they extend their head down and wait for prey to come by. I find their face especially haunting. Just above their mouth looks like a cage (they are heat seeking cells though) and their green eyes make for some creepiness. They always photograph well with their bright skin. I especially enjoy the depth of field in this shot.

This type of snake is a constrictor, meaning it wraps itself around its prey and then swallows it after it has been asphyxiated. However, this constrictor is much smaller than the more well known Boa Constrictor or Anaconda. This is probably why they have much larger fangs/teeth than a normal non-venomous snake. I think it is much prettier too - such bright green skin!

Darwin's Tortoise

These little guys are best know for being written about by Charles Darwin. They are inhabitants of the Galapagos Islands where Darwin made many of the observations that led him to publish On the Origin of Species and forever changed the field of biology. These tortoises can live over 100 years and weigh almost 1000 pounds. They obviously won't stay in this exhibit full grown - they'd never make it out! Some zoos allow people to ride them, the Bronx Zoo used to many moons ago. My mom has a picture of me on one at Busch Gardens when I was about 5. The Staten Island Zoo had one that was the first animals to receive radiation treatment for cancer. They have a statue of him on their grounds because he was so cool.

Cool hint for getting them to come close to the glass - wear pink or red clothes or nail polish. They LOVE it because they think it's fruit.

Hot Rock

The cubs are now about 8 months old. The whole family can't quite fit on the heated rock like they did in the beginning of winter. 10 minutes after I took this picture I went back and saw this. Everyone sound asleep but half the family is in the snow!

Trilobites

Trilobites are organisms that lived in the ancient seas and as you can see there are numerous fossils of all different sizes of these guys. This display is from the Smithsonian Institution.

Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History The Sant Ocean Hall

I spent the weekend in Washington DC visiting a close friend from college. I went straight from the bus to the museum of course. I bee-lined it straight to the ocean hall of course. While smaller than the American Museum of Natural History's Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, they had many real specimens on exhibit. The large blue whale at AMNH is much more impressive however. This photo was taken from the second floor of the museum.