Exclusive Members-only Behind-the-Scenes Information

November – December 2009

By Brianne Schwantes

NEW TOURS:

Want ideas for how to tour the Zoo in winter? Check our Web site at www.zoosociety.org/Visit/ and look under Planning Your Visit. We have new self-directed tours with color maps and recommendations from Zoo Director Chuck Wikenhauser. Pick from snowy-day tours, a route to see playful animals, tours with hands-on fun and more! You can print out tours and maps from your computer and bring them to the Zoo. Or you can purchase inexpensive specific tours and maps from the Zoological Society’s Guest Services desk when you walk into the Zoo through the U.S. Bank Gathering Place atrium.

FLORENCE MILA BORCHERT BIG CAT COUNTRY [Lions, tigers, jaguars, cheetahs, snow leopards, hyenas]

Big paws, little whiskers, extreme cuteness! That’s how best to describe the Milwaukee County Zoo’s newest feline residents. This summer, we were excited to welcome two new Amur tiger cubs, Tula and Nuri. The female cubs were born to Mom Amba and Dad Bachuta. Zookeepers are pleased to report that both cubs are doing well, and they continue to draw visitors with their playful antics. Tula and Nuri can be seen most days on exhibit in the Florence Mila Borchert Big Cat Country, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Their dad, however, is leaving our Zoo Dec. 29 for the Big Apple; he’ll head to the Bronx Zoo for breeding. “We will eventually get a new male to breed again,” says Neil Dretzka, feline supervisor.
The Zoo held a special naming contest for the cubs, and the winner was Ashley Goffin, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She suggested the names Tula and Nuri. The name “Tula” means “quiet” in the language of Zulu. It can have multiple interpretations such as “all is quiet,” inferring a great sense of calm with the birth. The name “Nuri” means “my flame,” and is Hebrew in origin. The name is appropriate since the cubs are a flame orange in color.
Check out the Winter 2010 issue of Alive magazine for stories and photos of these adorable cubs. Nuri is our cover girl! For more photos, videos and fun facts about the cubs, go to: zoosociety.org/tigers as of January 2.

PACHYDERMS

Happy the Hippo
Photo by Dale Gray

The Milwaukee County Zoo just got a little “Happier.” This fall, we welcomed Happy the hippopotamus to the Milwaukee County Zoo from the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Happy is 28 years old, 11 feet long, and weighs 5,500 pounds. He turns 29 on Jan. 4, 2010. As Dr. Bruce Beehler, the Deputy Zoo Director for the Health and Management of Animals so eloquently explained, "Happy is humongous." He is actually bigger than both of the resident female hippos, Patti (age 38) and Puddles (age 32), combined. Happy's head is at least twice the size of Patti's head! You can sponsor this bigger-than-life hippo as part of our centennial celebration in 2010 (stop in our office or go to www.zoosociety.org) starting January 2.

Visit Happy in the new Dohmen Family Foundation Hippo Home, located between the pachyderm area and the Florence Mila Borchert Big Cat Country. Check out hippo-themed kids’ activities at www.zoosociety.org/kidsstuff.

WINTER QUARTERS (Off-exhibit area in lower level below feline exhibits)

Winter in Wisconsin usually means cold temperatures and snow or ice. Some of our animals, like the polar bears and the caribou, love this weather. Animals from warmer climates, such as ostriches and antelope, “vacation” in an indoor facility called Winter Quarters until the weather warms up again. The African zebras might surprise you, however, when they appear outdoors in winter in the African Waterhole Exhibit. They are cousins to the horse and are hardy enough to handle our cold weather as long as it’s not icy or snowy; their hooves are not designed for ice.
In 2009, all the tortoises had to come indoors to Winter Quarters earlier than usual. October was unseasonably cold, and December started out cold. So the tortoises will be off exhibit until spring.

OTTO BORCHERT FAMILY SPECIAL EXHIBITS BUILDING

Our special summer exhibit, Wings from Down Under, sponsored by Lowe’s, has flown south for the winter. The next touring exhibit, summer 2010's Adventure Dinosaur!, will be outdoors, behind the Small Mammals Building. Get ready for towering, life-size dinosaur replicas roaring and moving their heads to look at you. Meanwhile, in the off-season, we’re putting the Otto Borchert Family Special Exhibits Building to good use as a warm, spacious place for school groups to eat their bag lunches during their visits to the Zoo.

AFRICA [elephants, hippos, rhinos, warthogs, giraffes]

Check out this video on the Zoological Society of Milwaukee’s YouTube page. It shows many of the Zoo’s animals having fun in the summer. You can also see our reticulated giraffes being fed by zoogoers in the MillerCoors Giraffe Experience yard. Visitors can feed giraffes May 15 through Oct. 1.

HERB AND NADA MAHLER FAMILY AVIARY

This fall, the Humboldt penguin habitat (located in front of the Peck Welcome Center walkway) was closed for renovations. But now the transformation is complete and the penguins are finally back home! Watch the penguins explore the new rockwork. Look through the new, clear windows to see them swimming under water. The penguins aren’t the only ones enjoying the new and improved rockwork. In the morning, you often will see a couple of peafowl perched on the highest rocks in the habitat.
There is a cute video of the Humboldt penguins “taking a bath” on the Zoological Society of Milwaukee’s YouTube page.
Visit other feathered friends in the Herb and Nada Mahler Family Aviary. This winter, you can see new birds such as blue-bellied rollers, blacksmith plovers, and laysan teals. For more on new animals, including trumpeter swans and the blue-bellied rollers, go to www.zoosociety.org/gnu as of January 6.

PRIMATES OF THE WORLD [Diana monkeys, mandrills, spider monkeys, orangutans, siamangs, Goeldi’s monkeys, colobus monkeys]

Want to help spice up the lives of Zoo animals? The Zoo is displaying a special Giving Tree in the U.S. Bank Gathering Place through Jan. 4, 2010. This tree features handmade ornaments that have names of enrichment “toys” the zookeepers have requested for Zoo animals. Enrichment activities and “toys” help keep animals stimulated and healthy. For example, for the Diana monkeys and the orangutans, zookeepers are asking for small samples of perfume. The keepers rub the perfume on trees to keep animals busy searching out the smells. Perfumed pieces of paper also entertain the orangutans as they try to figure out what other animal might have such a smell. You can bring items and donations to the Zoo, or send them in. Please see milwaukeezoo.org for directions (scroll to Giving Tree).

HOLZ FAMILY IMPALA COUNTRY [AFRICAN SAVANNA: impalas, gazelles, vultures, stork & bongo exhibit]

BRRRR! Due to an early cold spell, the king and cinereous vultures went into their winter barns a little earlier than normal this year. Zookeepers hope that both pairs of the highly endangered cinereous vultures will lay eggs again this year. Keep your fingers crossed for lots of chicks next spring!

AQUATIC & REPTILE CENTER (ARC) [fish, frogs, snakes, lizards, turtles, octopus, spiders, scorpions, etc.]

In September, the Zoo received its latest batch of ornate box turtle babies gathered in Wisconsin by the Department of Natural Resources and its volunteers. Zookeepers care for these 24 turtles (the largest of which is just 13.8 grams!) during fall, winter, and part of spring, until they are big enough to survive in the wild. Ornate box turtles, once a common sight in central Wisconsin, are now a highly endangered species. Zookeepers in the Aquatic & Reptile Center (ARC) are working with herpetologists from Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources to help save these turtles from extinction. Each fall, zookeepers from the ARC and DNR staff collect ornate box turtle eggs from fields in central and southeastern Wisconsin. The eggs are incubated and hatched at the DNR in Madison and then shipped to the Zoo. Here, they thrive in a safe, warm environment, off exhibit. When the turtles are 10 months old, they are released back into their native habitat to give them a head start on life in the wild.
While the ornate box turtles are not on exhibit, you can view the other new ARC residents: a giant Pacific octopus (female) and several large catfish called the kumakuma and the granulated catfish. We're sure that these guys will get in the "swim of things" in no time!

AUSTRALIA [Red kangaroos, tree kangaroos, emus, Great Barrier Reef aquarium]

In summer 2009 the Zoo welcomed Banjo, an 8-year-old male red kangaroo to our mob (a mob is a group of kangaroos). Before long, this very calm male began showing a lot of interest in the female kangaroos. With any luck, the keepers hope to see some joeys (baby kangaroos) bouncing around the kangaroo yard by mid-summer!

NORTH AMERICA [Wolf Woods, moose, mule deer, elk, Dall sheep, Alaskan brown bears, grizzly bears, black bears, prairie dogs, caribou-reindeer]

Who’s a fan of cold weather? With two layers of fur, the Zoo’s reindeer and caribou are especially suited for winter. Their other cold-weather adaptations include: an excellent sense of smell to help them find food, antlers on both males and females for protection, and large hooves that spread apart for easy walking through snow and for digging for food. December is always a good time to visit the reindeer.
And while you’re walking through the Zoo, stop to see our new moose named Robin. See her in the moose yard with the resident male moose Clifford and his grandson, Finn.

SMALL MAMMALS [Otters, bats and other nocturnal mammals, and diurnal mammals]

The Zoo’s lemurs have a new outdoor home. For years, the lemurs couldn’t use their outdoor exhibit because wild raccoons on Zoo grounds could access it and potentially spread disease. Last August, however, Steven Nowak, 16, offered to “raccoon-proof” the outdoor lemur yard as part of his Eagle Scout service project. Steven and fellow scouts from St. Veronica Parish Troop 208 helped construct a raccoon-proof fence and a roof to go around the old structure and deter unwelcome critters. The Zoological Society of Milwaukee financed $2,000 worth of materials for the project. To see photos and videos of the scouts in action, go to zsmke.com/SCOUT.
Recently, two red-ruffed lemurs, Oscar and Marombe, moved into the Small Mammals Building. These lemurs will be able to use both the indoor habitat and the newly improved outdoor lemur yard.

ON THE WEB [Online-only stories, photo galleries, videos and special projects]

Our Web site has Web-only animal stories, photos, videos and special features such as our bonobo conservationist’s field diary from Africa. See the “Hot Topics” section of the site for interviews with Samson the gorilla’s longtime keeper and with current gorilla keeper Claire Richard. You’ll also find a photo gallery of flowers at the Zoo and a slide show celebrating 20 years of our Animal Ambassador education program. The Hot Topics will be changing again in January.
We invite you to connect with us on social networking sites. We share daily ZSM tidbits on the “micro-blogging” site Twitter, twitter.com/ZooSocietyMKE. Our YouTube channel features fun videos on everything from Zoo jaguars to ZSM summer camps, youtube.com/MilwaukeeCountyZoo.

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