Zootails 52

Spring is in the air, Pesach is around the corner and for the first time in a long time the Hospital/Quarantine section is filled with babies needing to be bottle fed and were transferred to the hospital due to parental neglect or abandonment. January brought us "Sylvester" the Sumatran tiger, shortly thereafter came the Hairy Armadillo twins, later a few Pygmy goat kids and just when we thought we were getting the hang of it the Kea chicks decided to hatch. Our kitchen, which used to be a fairly organized mess of vegetables, fruits, meat, insects, and rodents, was taken over by bottles, bottle brushes, various bags of milk replacers and special soft food diets. The staff was always looking to see if there was boiled water, testing nipple sizes, recording weight and because the diets change as the animal grows, asking just what exactly should they be feeding this week??? For the first month or two "Sylvester" and the Armadillos needed to be fed every two to three hours around the clock so they would go home with staff members. These dedicated people would get up several times in the middle of the night to feed. "Sylvester" was tough at first but soon learnt to drink down his 50 or 60cc's and then wanted to play for a bit before going back to sleep. The Armadillos had to travel with their incubator to maintain body temperature. They would get their 10cc's of food a drop at a time which required lots of patience and a delicate hand. One had to be very careful that the babies didn't eat to fast or breathe the milk into its lungs. All this required a lot of attention and time and there were some very bleary eyed staff people walking around for several weeks. After four or five weeks, the kitchen began to switch from a pure bottle production center to the beginning of weaning diets and keepers would stand around mashing the food until it hits just the right consistency and adding in bits of meat (for "Sylvester") or fruits and veggies (for the twins). All three babies began to spend their nights at the zoo and someone would make a late evening run into the hospital to feed. Now, at the end of March, "Sylvester" is nearly weaned and will soon be ready to move permanently up to the Tiger Exhibit. In the meantime he takes trips up there to play and see, smell and hear the other tigers. You can see him on display daily from 9:30 – 10:30am, and from 10-11am on Saturdays. He is really cute so be sure to come and visit! He is very special not only to us, but to the entire planet as there are only about 400 Sumatran tigers in the world. We hope that "Sylvester" will become part of the worldwide effort to save this highly endangered species. The Armadillo twins aren't as endangered but are still really cute and have grown faster than we thought possible. Their appearance and size changed drastically, from tiny pink blobs to little hairy Armadillos before our eyes. We hope they will soon be on exhibit too. The goat kids came and went quickly as they do every year right back to the Children's Zoo but Shmulik, our Curator, can still be found in the hall carrying a Kea chick in a cup or sitting dripping mushy food into it's wide open mouth. We hope our whole crop of babies this year continues to do well and look forward to a healthy Pesach and summer, watching them grow and play.

We wish you all an enjoyable spring and a Happy Pesach!