member's day and meeting a new friend

Member's day is a very fun day at the zoo. It is a day that the zoo would like to thank their members by having extended hours, activities, chance to see some back holdings and enrichment. For me, I helped out the most with enrichment. We made lots of ice treats that had fruit or meat. We even made new toys for the foosas that was covered in lemur scents and fish blood. The foosas were very excited for this! Not only was this fun and a learning experience for the public, but I definitely took a lot of this day.

Throughout Member's Day, we were fortunate enough to have someone who volunteers to talk about the country of Madagascar. He just recently came back to Omaha in July after spending the last 5 years of his life there. After speaking with him, I have also learned a lot about Madagascar. Something I learned was that lemurs actually can be found through fossils all around the world. However, the chimps drove them out and became dominant, except for Madagascar. Since Madagascar became an island, the chimps could not get to the lemurs, therefore, letting the lemurs thrive! Another cool fact I learned from him is that especially for the ring-tailed lemurs, they are more adaptable in all parts of the world in terms of environment the live in compared to the other lemurs. After listening to all of these cool facts, I took initiative to talk to this person and tell him about our school, University of Wisconsin-Platteville. I hope that since he would like to make programs to teach people out in Madagascar, I can try to make connections through him and our school. Hopefully something turns out!

macaques

So during Member's Day, I helped out the Jungle and close down the exhibit. During this closing, we stopped by our South America back holding. We have two macaques there. Since we were feeding out, I always like to hand feed them through the enclosure. This was a cool experience because it is not every day that somebody gets to shake hands or feet with a primate. Macaques are among one of the most intelligent primates. With some negotiation of bananas and other fruit, I was able to give a command, "hand," before I fed him. The macaque was very cooperative and gave me his hand with a good hand shake. He also gave me his foot to shake as well. This was super cool!