Fozblog

Tuesday Trivia Answer - True

FACT SHEET
MOUNTAIN LION

Scientific Name: Felis concolor

Range & Habitat: Forests, mountains, swamps and dry scrubs of Canada, Western United States, Central and South America 

Size: Weigh 80-200 pounds with a total length of 6- 8 ½ feet

Life Span: 12-18 years; over 20 in captivity

Gestation: 90-96 days; 3-4 young

Wild Diet: Small rodents, rabbits, deer, elk and other large animals

Zoo Diet: Carnivore diet, rats, mice, hard boiled eggs, bones

Habits: The mountain lion is also known as the cougar or puma.

Mountain lions are large, powerful cats with muscular limbs and large feet.  Their tails are long, cylindrical, and about one-third of the animal’s total length.  They can leap up to 20 feet in a single jump.

They are typically a solitary animal, with the exception of mothers and their young.  Abundant prey allows cats to survive in smaller areas.  Where ranges overlap, mountain lions rarely use the same localities at the same time.  They advertise land occupancy largely by the depositing of urine, feces, and making scrapes on the ground.

Make many sounds, including a humanlike scream when courting, but cannot roar.  Males and females pair only during breeding seasons.  Litters range from 1-6 spotted cubs.

Status: Absent from Missouri for decades, sightings in the Ozarks have been increasing in recent years where deer, their primary prey, are abundant.

Missouri Department of Conservation's Mountain Lions in Missouri Web site.

Tuesday Trivia

Today's "Tuesday Trivia" animal is the largest cat native to the United States, and can be found in the "Missouri Habitats" exhibits.

E-mail your answer and mailing address to trivia@dickersonparkzoo.org by midnight tonight for a chance to receive two free admission passes to Dickerson Park Zoo.

Check out FOZblog.org tomorrow for the correct answer and more information on this week's animal.

True or False: Mountain lions cannot roar.

Tuesday Trivia--False

Zookeeper Patti Rader feeds Dickerson Park Zoo's kangaroos their zoo diet.

FACT SHEET
RED KANGAROO

Scientific Name: Megaleia rufa

Range & Habitat: Australia; plains and open forest country

Size: 6-8 feet; may weigh up to 200 lbs.

Life Span: 15-20 years

Gestation: 35 days

Wild Diet: Grasses and succulent plants

Zoo Diet: Mazuri kangaroo diet, apples, carrots, lettuce, alfalfa hay and sweet potatoes

Habits: The giant red kangaroo is the largest member of a group of pouched mammals in the order Marsupialia.  They live in groups called mobs, traveling great distances with no fixed homes.  The males, called boomers, are larger and redder in color than the females, called flyers. 

At birth, the young joeys are less than an inch long, naked and blind, and weigh about an ounce.  Immediately after birth the joey finds its way to the pouch where it lives for the next four to six months. 

The kangaroo's normal rate of travel is 5-10 mph, but can reach speeds of up to 30 mph.  The broad, heavy tail is used as a prop when sitting or moving slowly to give impetus to hops, and it gives balance and control to the body during flight.  Kangaroos enjoy "boxing" matches with each other and will balance on the tail while boxing and kicking.  If cornered or frightened, the kangaroo will balance on the tail and kick with both feet in an effort to kill or injure the attacker.

Status: Threatened

Tuesday Trivia Answer - C. South America

FACTS ABOUT BLUE & YELLOW MACAWS

Scientific Name: Ara ararauna

Range & Habitat: Swampy areas and forests near rivers from most of northern and central South America to Argentina

Size: 34 inches

Life Span: Up to 60 years

Incubation: 24-26 days

Wild Diet: Seeds, fruit, nuts, berries and vegetation

Zoo Diet: Mazuri parrot grain, assorted fruits and vegetables

Habits: Nests are found high above the ground in hollow trees of dense forests. Their strong beaks are able to crush hard seeds and nuts. Young are fed by parents’ regurgitation of partially digested vegetable crop contents. Young macaws leave the nest 13 weeks after hatching. Macaws are generally seen in pairs or small flocks of up to 30 birds. Screaming is used to mark territories, locate other macaws and play.

Tuesday Trivia Answer! - D. loud songs

FACT SHEET
WHITE-CHEEKED GIBBON

Scientific Name: Hylobates leucogenys

Range & Habitat: The high canopy of tropical rain forests in Southeastern Asia

Size: Head and body length is 18-25 inches and about 12 ½ pounds.Extremely long arms and legs

Life Span: 25 years or more

Gestation: Approximately 7 months.  Single births; year-round breeding

Wild Diet: Fruits, leaves, insects, eggs and nestlings, plant shoots

Zoo Diet: Assorted fruits and vegetables, leaf-eater biscuits

Habits: Gibbons travel in small family units.  At night they sleep in the center of their territory, huddled together on a branch.  Vocal sounds establish the limits of the territory, warn others to stay out, and keep the family unit located. Their tremendous voices can be heard up to a mile away.

Here is a sample of our gibbons' duet:

Gibbons are arboreal, although they come to the ground often, walking upright. Gibbons are the only apes that habitually walk upright. They are extremely fast and agile in trees, using a hand-over-hand movement (brachiation) made possible by ball and socket wrists and traveling up to 35 miles per hour.

The infants develop slowly, clinging to the mother for the first six months, and then gradually learning to walk and care for themselves. They are born a beige color and then develop their black and white color at 1 ½ years old.  They mature at six to seven years old; the female will turn a beige color again at sexual maturity.

Pictured below are Olive, Dickerson Park Zoo's female white-cheeked gibbon, and Mickey, our male.

Tuesday Trivia

It’s “Tuesday Trivia” time, and for this week we have chosen the white-cheeked gibbon.

E-mail your answer and mailing address by midnight tonight to trivia@dickersonparkzoo.org for a chance to win two free admission passes to Dickerson Park Zoo.

Check out FOZblog.org tomorrow for the correct answer and more information on this week’s animal.

Mated white-cheeked gibbon pairs mark their territories with _________.
a. urine
b. shedding fur
c. a heavy musk scent
d. loud songs

Three elephants celebrate milestone birthdays in 2009

Three of Dickerson Park Zoo’s elephants will celebrate milestone birthdays during Zoobilee on Saturday, May 30. Ol’ C.C., the zoo’s oldest elephant, is estimated to be 60 years old this year. The herd matriarch, Pinky, turns 45; and Patience will be 35 years old. Dickerson Park Zoo’s elephant herd comprises four adult cows (female) and one adult bull (male).

C.C. was wild-born in the Assam region of India in approximately 1949 and came to Dickerson Park Zoo from the Dusit Zoological Park in Bangkok, Thailand, in May 1954. Although she has never given birth to a calf of her own, she has many years of experience as an “auntie” to calves both here and at other zoos. She spent many years in the role of herd matriarch but recently “retired” from that position.

Pinky was wild-born in approximately 1964. She came to Dickerson Park Zoo on November 25, 1981, from the Abilene Zoological Gardens in Abilene, Texas. Pinky fulfills the role of herd matriarch. She gave birth to a stillborn calf in 1985, Kate in 1991 and Asha in 1995. Asha lives with her half-sister Chandra at the Oklahoma City Zoo (currently on breeding loan to Tulsa Zoo).

Patience was born in Thailand in 1974. She arrived at Dickerson Park Zoo from Brookfield Zoo in Chicago in October 1990. Patience gave birth to Kala in 1998 and Haji in 2000.

Golden eagle takes flight after rehab at DPZ

With anxious onlookers representing Dickerson Park Zoo, the Springfield-Greene County Park Board, Missouri Department of Conservation and the general public watching, a golden eagle took flight back into the wild after a month and a half rehab stop-over at the zoo's raptor rehabilitation center.

Zoo staff veterinarian Erica Wilson, DVM, opened the kennel, and the eagle - a rare site in Missouri - took off and never looked back.

The bird was injured and brought to Dickerson Park Zoo by residents of Dallas County. Fortunately, the injury - a broken wing tip - did not require surgery.

Golden eagles are rarely seen in Missouri. Their typical range is the western United States. More commonly during winter months, reisdents will see bald eagles roosting near waterways.

For more about golden eagles in Missouri, visit Missouri Department of Conservation's Web site.

Zoo staff selected Lake Springfield as the release site for the eagle because MDC and Parks staff regularly monitor eagles roosting here.

  In this image, note the characteristic golden feathers on the back of the head. As the bird looked around this morning, the golden coloring caught the sunlight. 

Commentary highlights struggles for elephants in the wild

emagazine.com published Samantha Grasso's commentary "The Plight of the Elephant. She describes challenges facing wild elephants in Africa and Asia. While poaching remains a serious threat, disease, loss of habitat and human-elephant conflict all affect populations of wild elephants.

According to Deborah Olson, executive director of International Elephant Foundation, of all of these challenges, human-elephant conflict may be the most widespread and difficult to manage. Dickerson Park Zoo proudly supports conservation efforts in Sri Lanka to reduce human-elephant conflict.

Welcome Friends of the Dickerson Park Zoo's Elephants

Tonight (March 31), during the City of Springfield's budget hearing, one of the speakers was Stephanie Stenger Montgomery. Besides representing her family, which are long-time donors to Friends of the Zoo, the zoo's non-profit support organization,Stephanie represented the newly formed Friends of Dickerson Park Zoo's Elephants. We are grateful for the support from this group and look forward to working with them in the future.