zoos
zooillogix | September 29, 2009If you are unfamiliar with South Korea's Everland Zoo and their ridiculously talented photographer who goes by FloridaPFE on Flickr, time to make a new friend.
zooillogix | September 9, 2009Sure you could watch your cat sleeping or your TV while it was turned off, but we here at Zooillogix prefer to stare blankly at this shrew not moving for 1:16 minutes.
Thank you Philadelphia Zoo.
zooillogix | August 18, 2009Who, I ask you, is the coolest human being on the planet? Well yesterday (continuing through today and possibly tomorrow) it was Beth F. for sending me this rocking shot glass from the Oakland Zoo.
Awesome things in this photo include: Oakland Zoo Shot Glassitude, my thumb, waffle-weave polyester couch.
Additionally, I also recently acquired a Honolulu Zoo shot glass. So that brings the collection up to 39! I'll tell you this... whoever supplies me with my 40th zoo or aquarium shot glass will get something really special. I won't divulge exactly what it is, but it will involve glitter and…
grrlscientist | April 24, 2009tags: Bronx Zoo, Wildlife Conservation Society, NYC Life, economic hardships
Asia Entrance to the Bronx Zoo.
Image: Stavenn/Wikipedia.
New York City's Bronx Zoo, the largest metropolitan wildlife preserve in the United States, is being hit hard by the economy. To prevent a $15 million budget shortfall, zoo officials are closing four exhibits and evicting all their occupants, estimated to number in the hundreds of animals.
Zoo officials admitted in a New York City Cultural Affairs Committee meeting today that they are forced to relocate the suddenly homeless deer, bats, foxes, antelopes…
zooillogix | April 19, 2009New giftuses from Zooillogix readers and friends and, I must say, they are freakin outstanding. First and foremost, a long long overdue thank you to Liz of Surplus Cats who sent a Pittsburgh Zoo shot glass so long ago Ben hadn't even had his "operation" yet. It's an instant classic if I do say so myself, and I do.
Secondly, reader Emma has really outdone herself, and pretty much everyone else (except Liz who is exempt from being outdone) by sending four separate Vancouver Aquarium shot glasses and, as if that was not enough, a letter with shiny bird stickers!
Check out this sick letter…
zooillogix | April 6, 2009I have had this picture for a while just waiting for groundbreaking news about Bat-eared foxes. Well it never came but I can't just stare at the little guys any longer and not post them.
Photo credit Floridapfe of South Korea's Everland Zoo
They aren't babies and therefore not ZooBorn's fodder, but they are pretty ridiculous. Insects make up 80% of the Bat-eared fox diet. The other 20% comprises rainbows and Hello Kitty memorabilia.
zooillogix | February 22, 2009As many of you know, I collect zoo and aquarium shot glasses. I have the world's largest and probably only collection and it is my pride and joy. When I die, my children will most likely be left poor in "money" but rich in shot glasses. A legacy we can all be proud of.
I have two additions to announce. First and foremost, this beauty sent by Beth F from the awesome Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco. For those of you unfamiliar with this fine institution, you should know that it is the only aquarium with sevengill sharks (I think) and it has the most fancy pants website this side of not-…
zooillogix | December 14, 2008When I found a package on my doorstep last night from Kevin Z, I was worried. Was Kevin hitting on me again despite my many rejections? A single rose perhaps? Or maybe he was trying to cut things off. Yet another dead squirrel?
Well boy did I feel like a jerk when I opened the box to find the greatest gift I have ever received in my entire life: two zoo and aquarium shot glasses! Check check it:
Kevin is an invertebrate nut and world famous musician. Definitely check out his invertebrate blog, The Other 95%, and his big time Deep Sea News site, cleverly entitled - Deep Sea News.
If anyone…
zooillogix | December 3, 2008Ring in the holidays with yuletide logs... courtesy of the reindeer at the Miller Park Zoo. By combining two Christmas classics, reindeer and ornaments, and adding a twist - fecal matter - the zoo's marketing department may of stepped in retail gold!
In a nutshell, or a nugget if you will, keepers collected reindeer poop balls, rolled them in glitter, and allowed them to dry. The final product was then packaged in little boxes and sold with a certificate of authenticity, a move straight out of the Danbury Mint's playbook. Explains Susie Ohley, Marketing Director of the Miller Park Zoo, "Each…
zooillogix | November 19, 2008If you are one of the 10 or 20 people in the world living outside of the Zooillogix bubble, you might not know that I collect zoo and aquarium shot glasses. If you send me a new one (scroll down on left sidebar), I will shower you with love and praise. For example Miriam Goldstein of the inimitable Oyster's Garter sent me this awesomeness from the Birch Aquarium at Scripps.
I suggest you all go check out the Oyster's Garter immediately because anyone cool enough to send me this obviously also has a cool blog.
zooillogix | October 31, 2008The Tokyo Zoo is prepared for anything. In this case, they foil the escape attempts of two employees in a giant paper maiche rhino outfit.
(fyi - this video is in fact still available, just blow in it a few times if it gives you trouble)
Via Arbroath via BoingBoing. From the YouTube comments and also pointed out by BoingBoing - Any simple task in Japan requires the effort of tens of aging men dressed in fluorescent jackets and hard hats.
Thanks Bill K.
zooillogix | October 30, 2008I'm trying to keep my ZooBorns plugs to a minimum, but thought readers might enjoy this series on animals eating, shredding, and staring confusedly at Halloween pumpkins on my other website.
zooillogix | October 26, 2008Thanks to a few recent generous donations, the World's Largest Zoo and Aquarium Shot Glass Collection is coming along quite nicely. I know you were all burning to know. Below is a picture of the fabulous collector's case I have stuffed most of them in. You will see it doubles as a shrine to lobsters.
Please remember, I happily accept donations and will thank you in the sidebar leading to certain fame and fortune. So here's the count:
Adventure Aquarium
Baton Rouge Zoo
Bronx Zoo
Brookfield Zoo
Cincinnati Zoo
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
Florida Aquarium
Georgia Aquarium
Knoxville Zoo
Lincoln Park…
zooillogix | October 17, 2008If Zooillogix had a child, one might have assumed that it would be a hyperactive know-it-all with a weird sense of humor that just made other people uncomfortable. Who would have guessed that it would be a bouncing bundle of innocently adorable joy!!!
Please check out the newest Bleiman creation - ZooBorns - that just went live today!
Come see baby red pandas in abundance at ZooBorns!
zooillogix | September 16, 2008I'm sitting in the keynote speaker session listening to Nigel Martin, host of Prehistoric Park, Penguin Safari, Shark Week and other Discovery/Animal Planet shows, discuss the parallels between his job and that of zoo and aquarium employees.
He offered a number of examples including figuratively transporting people to places and introducing them to animals they could never have met otherwise. Without knowing these animals, viewers and visitors won't support conservation efforts, so the logic goes.
Listening to him speak, I could not help but also notice contrasts between his work and that of…
zooillogix | September 16, 2008You may have noticed a dearth of Zooillogix posts over the last two weeks. This is due in large part to Benny buying a bar, and me buying a puppy. They are the same amount of work. Well I aim to make it up to you today and already I have forced myself out of bed at 5:00 AM and boarded a train to Milwaukee to spend the day covering the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Annual Conference.
I'll do my best to make the posts real-time but this might not always be possible, as is the case at the moment, sitting on the train, surrounded by loudly snoring sales guys. They probably think I'm a sales…
zooillogix | August 28, 2008Imaginative but effective ads from the Buenos Aires Zoo. Via Toxel and thanks once again to Kevin Z.
"Get Much More for Less" Ads
"The Kangaroos Have Arrived" Ads
Many more below the fold
"Now We Are Open Late" Ads
"115 Years" Ads
Together Video (note that we cannot endorse the historical accuracy of this friendship...)
Argentine readers please take note: I still do not have a shot glass from this zoo and Labor Day is coming soon, which is a HUGE gift giving holiday up here in the States.
zooillogix | July 24, 2008Outside of Zooillogix, I serve as the moderator for a zookeeper listserv. 75% of my job seems to be approving or disapproving of classified ads for sugar gliders... I no longer find them cute. Not at all. But the other 25% comprises Q&A between zoo folks about dizzy tapirs, unenriched African porcupines, promiscuous honey badgers and the like.
Recently though I received an email informing me that our listserv's use of the compound word "zookeeper" in our name, as opposed to "zoo keeper," "gave us away as novices." Now I am a novice. In fact, I've never kept a zoo in my life, so "novice"…
grrlscientist | June 21, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, quaternary ammonium compounds, fertility problems, repoductive problems, zoos, aviculture, medicine, disinfectants
I know a fair number of zoos and aviculturists who disinfect the premises occupied by their breeding flocks of birds with quaternary ammonium compounds to prevent the spread of diseases, especially viral disease. But according to a story that just appeared in the top-tier journal, Nature, exposure to the quaternary ammonium compounds, ADBAC (n-alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride) and DDAC (didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride), could cause a sharp…