Baby Luv!

Twenty five days ago, a new baby giraffe was born at the zoo. Hmmph! Apparently, My BOYFRIEND has been busy reproducing! Actually it was suspected that one of the females was pregnant for months but until the keepers could get a good ultrasound no one could be sure.

The full gestation period is about 14-15 months. Ladies, can you imagine? I visited the mother around Thanksgiving time and looked at her tummy up close. Though the baby she was carrying had indeed been conceived close to a year before, she just didn't look like it. I tried to picture a that long baby neck and 4 even longer, delicate legs and how they could possibly be folded up inside of her. It just didn't look much different than the soon-to-be-auntie's figure who stood beside her back then. So I was amazed as well as delighted to see this little one enjoying the sun for the first time yesterday morning.

I offer you this rather fuzzy picture, as I was just a little too far... but I saw this perfect profile shot and snapped it.

This is the baby with his keeper, so you can get an idea of just how tall he is... I'd say she is at least 5'7". (I just looked it up and he's 5' 9 1/2 and 110 lbs -- the stats of a supermodel to be sure!)






At the same time, he is just so small compared to the one year old baby from last year, let alone the grown ups! He doesn't even match the full length of the legs of the giraffe's surrounding him.



Here's a little better view of the size difference between the new baby and an adult female on the right.

How adorable is that???


WELCOME TO THE WORLD!!!!!

Getting Busier

Tomorrow I start and intense 4 day class taught by the woman who trained me to be a docent over the last 8 months at the zoo.  This class will actually get me a certification in interpretation and few, authoritative initials after my name, if I were to make up a card.  Interpretation can be applied to any kind of thing, so while it's taking place at the zoo, it does not have to mean I will go on to interpret wildlife or animals (which is what I tend to do a bit of on this blog)... but certainly it could be.

We go from 8AM -5PM and by Wednesday I have to have a 10 minute presentation prepared on any topic. Thursday we do a big exam, which we have to have pretty high marks on to pass and get the certification.  It just adds something more official to what I have been doing and learning to do better due to their excellent educators and opportunities I've enjoyed this year at both the zoo and Wildlife Center.

It seems I've been doing some kind of study non-stop in the last two years, and I'm so ready for a little break, but I am going to get a little breathing room come March 1 -- just 6 days from now.  I do love walking into our beautiful zoo early in the morning, before the people are there, when the sunlight is slanting through the treetops and the air is fresh and still a little crisp. The birds are all singing and the animals are perky and sharp, looking forward to seeing their humans and getting some breakfast. It reminds me of Disney's tag line -- I feel like it's the happiest place on earth.

Yodelhe Yodlehe Yodle-le he Hooooooo

Here we have the little goat from the zoo that I mentioned in this last post. He was born last spring (I've had these photos sitting around!).  By now his little horns must have come in and he's grown big and strong. They named him Domino, a fitting choice, indeed.

He was taken home each evening by the keepers and bottle fed all through the night. They said they were tired, as all new mom's are -- but it's clear that they wouldn't trade the work in for the world! Domino just charmed the heart of everyone he met... mine included.

Isn't he just adorable? I totally envied this keeper who could pick him up like this and take him to her house to sleep! He'd come back in to work with her at the zoo all day, so she could be near to feed him as often as his own mother would.  While he got to follow her on some of her rounds, he got more and more time in the hoofstock pen to become acclimated to his real home -- the large yard where the other goats and sheep live.  There he'd make friends and learn how to do goat things.

At the time I was fairly new to the zoo and aching to be able to hold him and feed him a bottle. But that is the job of the staff caregivers. Little did I know that I would get the chance at the Wildlife Center almost a year later.  A good lesson in life.  When you really want something, wait a little.  It often is just around the corner, and will happen in it's own time and it's own way.  

If A Pelican, We All Can

OK, I don't have anything witty to go with that title, but there it is... It's just an excuse to show you the comical little vid of three pelicans we're getting nice and strong at the Wildlife Rehab and Education Center.

There's a lovely, gentle man who comes in on morning I volunteer there (which soon will become morningS because it's mating time... and soon there will be many baby birds, squirrels, opossum, owls etc that have fallen from their nest or lost their mother).

I'll call him Bob. While all of us pitch in on whatever needs to be done, Bob loves to do the outdoor stalls, which these days hold mostly waterfowl. The 19 baby ducklings are all growing wildly, and run around when he comes to feed them and refresh their water. The other pens hold larger ducks in groups, a lone egret, a new pelican and at the very end are these fellas below.

He has befriended the big one with the yellow head, and they have a ritual where he waits for Bob to toss him a snack. The others hide behind the big one, though the middle one has personality and occasionally tries to show he can snap the air with his big bill. Take a peek:




What's particularly endearing to me is that to look at you straight on, they have to bow their bills straight down and it gives them a whole different appearance -- rather streamlined.

The last pelican we had in there had a goofy walk, which, though I caught only a snippet of it (CLICK HERE to see) and posted it cracks me up every time.

I WANT ONE!!!!

Thursday at the Wildlife Center, a woman in a business suit and heels brought in a baby goat, who we figure was no more than 2 days old. She told of how it sat on her lap as she drove all the way in, snoozing peacefully.

She cooed as she handed him over to the two women who run the Center. The goat had lipstick on his nose, and everyone laughed, not sure if it was from the lady who brought him to us or those who had received him. I figured it was a normal drop off, as we get them all through the day from folks who find hurt or abandoned wildlife. But I heard that she had already adopted the little guy and we were to care for him during the day. Clearly not the norm, I couldn't quite figure that part out.

She'd also brought him in an animal crate, like someone might use to carry their small dog on a plane, and had a bottle and formula all ready for us to feed him. I later learned that she is the head of the SPCA and had found the baby goat in the middle of the road when she was driving home the night before! The guess is that he was being transported with other livestock (including his mother) and had somehow fallen off the truck or through the slats (apparently such transportation has wooden slats -- oh this city girl has much to learn about country life).

She named him Teddy. Forget the term lucky duck... What a LUCKY GOAT to be found by her of all people! So, we will babysit until he's big enough to live at her farm. He needs lots of love, attention, room to play and multiple feedings -- and he's gotten it.

I took four little movies of this darling boy, and could barely decide which to show. This first one is of him playing as I kneeled to take a video. You can hear the tiniest little bleat at one point in the middle.



What surprised me was how acclimated to people Teddy is. In the movie below you might be able to make out that his umbilical cord is attached. He prances around and follows you like a puppy. This was also true of a baby goat born at the zoo who was rejected by the mother, that 2 young caregivers were raising. From day one, baby goats come when you call, scurry after you when you walk to another room, love to sit in your arms or in your lap and let you pet them. They even wag their tail in response when you talk to them. And they seem very happy indoors as if it were totally natural. WHO KNEW???


(WARNING: Goat leaps WILL cause your vocal chords squeeze out impossibly high notes)
I KNOW you want one too!


CLICK HERE and HERE for Teddy updates

Only In Memphis

If you've ever been to Memphis, then you must have heard of the Peabody Hotel. It's an old beauty, kept polished and lush and is the place in town to stay.

If you're not staying there, then you can always eat at it's restaurants, browse it's shops and have a drink in it's famous lobby.

Over the many years I was involved with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, I had the pleasure of staying there. Twice a day there's an amazing crowd, pressing forward, camera's poised, that gathers to see a one-of-a-kind sight: The March of the Peabody Ducks.

In the lobby there is a small but beautiful stone fountain in the center of the room. At 11:00 AM people enmass line a carpet rolled out from the elevator to the fountain and marching music begins to play (loudly!). The elevator opens up and a man -- The Duckmaster -- steps out, dressed in a red uniform jacket with pressed black pants and shiny black shoes. Everyone's eyes have to drop to see who he is escorting... a group of ducks! Calm and confident, they waddle out one by one and follow each other to the fountain. They hop up a little step or two and jump into the water. There they stay all day, enjoying cracked corn, naps and play until 5:00 PM when the whole shebang is done in reverse.



Their website tells the story behind this best:
"Back in 1933 Frank Schutt, General Manager of The Peabody, and a friend, Chip Barwick, returned from a weekend hunting trip to Arkansas. The men had a little too much Jack Daniel's Tennessee sippin' whiskey, and thought it would be funny to place some of their live duck decoys (it was legal then for hunters to use live decoys) in the beautiful Peabody fountain.

Three small English call ducks were selected as "guinea pigs," and the reaction was nothing short of enthusiastic. Soon, five North American Mallard ducks would replace the original ducks.

In 1940, Bellman Edward Pembroke, a former circus animal trainer, offered to help with delivering the ducks to the fountain each day and taught them the now-famous Peabody Duck March. Mr. Pembroke became the Peabody Duckmaster, serving in that capacity for 50 years until his retirement in 1991. Today, The Peabody Ducks are led by Duckmaster Jason Sensat.

The original ducks have long since gone, but after 75 years, the marble fountain in the hotel lobby is still graced with ducks. "

There are even a few delightful books written on the subject. So the next time you're in the mood to visit Graceland, Beale Street, the home of the old Sun Records, BB King and some damn good Barbecue, stop by the Peabody and see for yourself. Or maybe you already have. Please tell us if you did!

Would YOU like to be a Duckmaster? I know I would.