Darien Executive gives $5M to Maritime Aquarium

NORWALK - The Maritime Aquarium got an early - and large - Christmas gift last night as Darien tobacco executive William Ziegler donated $5 million toward its $50 million makeover.

Ziegler, the longest-serving member of the aquarium's board of trustees, donated the money to pay for the first round of changes called for in the aquarium's master plan, aquarium spokesman Chris Loynd said.

MORE: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-
aquarium5dec20,0,4304849.story?track=rss

Georgia Aquarium now hosting sleepovers
Overnight programs give kids and adults opportunity to sleep with the fishes

ATLANTA ? Georgia Aquarium is now giving families and organized youth groups the opportunity to see what goes on when the lights go out at the world?s largest aquarium with new overnight programs.

The Aquarium is offering two programs, ?Great Aquarium Adventure? for family groups and ?Ocean Odyssey on the SS Star? for youth groups. Aquarium Adventure takes families on a scavenger hunt through the Aquarium as they learn about the different habitats and animals. Ocean Odyssey takes youth groups on a cruise on the ?SS Star? to the deep waters of the Atlanta Ocean and its coral reefs. Scout troops can even work toward earning badges during the night of aquatic exploration.

?Sleepovers will give families and youth groups an exciting and rare look at the Aquarium they haven?t seen before,? said Jeff Swanagan, president and executive director, Georgia Aquarium. ?They will view different behaviors gain valuable knowledge from their guides that will make them see these amazing animals from a whole new perspective.?

MORE: http://www.theweekly.com/news/2007/December/19/
Georgia_Aquarium.html

Ocean Critter Flashlight Tours for Children

Waikiki Aquarium will open its doors after dark Thursday.

Kids will get a flashlight tour of the aquarium and get a chance to see how ocean animals spend their nights. The tour runs from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Tickets cost $10 for adults or $7 for children.

Aquarium members pay $8 for adults and $6 for children.

Pre-registration is required.

Children must be 5 or older to participate, and be accompanied by an adult.

MORE: http://www.waquarium.org

Oregon Coast Aquarium Throws out the 'Claws' for the Oddwater

Lionfish, one of the freaky fish that will be featured in 'Oddwater' in summer of '08

(Newport, Oregon) ? The Oregon Coast Aquarium's "Claws" exhibit of crusty crustaceans is soon coming to a close, and something odd will take its place. Staff will begin dismantling the Claws exhibit on January 7 to make way for a new exhibit, Oddwater, slated to open Memorial Day weekend, 2008.

As that name implies, Oddwater will feature encounters with the strange marine life that lurks beneath the waves of the Oregon coast. There are many unique and wonderful life forms that live in the ocean, and Oddwater will take a look at some of the more fascinating among them and show how their unusual adaptations help them survive.

MORE: http://www.beachconnection.net/news/
oddwat122107_1047.php

Frogs hop into Maritime Aquarium

Frogs!

They croak, they jump and in fairy tales they turn into princes, but if we heed their warnings they might also help save the planet.

A new permanent exhibit that has jumped into Norwalk's Maritime Aquarium not only features a host of real life frogs and their salamander relatives, but also teaches visitors how these creatures have been threatened by global climate changes, and how they may serve as an early warning sign of the probthe hot tropics of South America to the changeable weather of New England and the Long Island Sound watershed.

Visitors get to see these croakers up close and personal in a stunning array of sizes, shapes and colors. They range from the obese, Jabba-the-Hut-like African bullfrog -- whose large fat reserves allow it to go up to a year without eating -- to the tiny but deadly Yellow-Banded Poison Frog -- whose bright plastic looking colors warn predators to stay away. (In the wild, one of these inch-long frogs has enough poison to kill 50 people.)

Visitors can compare frogs from the tropics (like the poison dart frogs, tomato frogs, horned frogs, Surinam toads, and fire salamanders), with more familiar species found in and around Connecticut, such as northern leopard frogs, American bullfrogs and American toads.

MORE: http://www.newstimes.com/ci_7776696

WINTERTIME Visits to the Detroit Zoo

When the mercury dips, many of the Zoo?s animals become more active. The Japanese macaques, or snow monkeys, can often be seen enjoying their outdoor hot tub. The tigers, wolverines, red pandas, Asian wild horses, elk and bison also adapt well to colder temperatures.

A popular attraction in any type of weather is the Arctic Ring of Life with its 70-foot underwater Frederick and Barbara Erb Polar Passage providing spectacular views of swimming polar bears and seals. For a more tropical experience, visitors can head for the Butterfly Garden where the temperature is always a balmy 75 degrees and enjoy over 40 species of butterflies as well as the habitat?s newest residents, five Peruvian hummingbirds.

Other indoor experiences at the Zoo include the National Amphibian Conservation Center, Penguinarium, Holden Museum of Living Reptiles and Mardigian River Otter Habitat. In addition, the Great Apes of Harambee, giraffe, white rhino, lemur and farm animal habitats all have indoor viewing areas.

The Detroit Zoo is open daily year-round except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year?s Day.

The Detroit Zoological Society is a non-profit organization that operates the Detroit Zoo and Belle Isle Nature Zoo. Situated on 125 acres of naturalistic exhibits, the Detroit Zoo is located at the intersection of Ten Mile Road and Woodward Avenue, just off I-696, in Royal Oak. The Detroit Zoo is open daily 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. November through March and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. April through October. Admission is $11.00 for adults 13 to 61, $9.00 for senior citizens 62 and older, and $7.00 for children ages 2 to 12; children under 2 are free.

MORE: http://www.detroitzoo.org

PHOENIX ZOO names new CEO

The leader of Oklahoma City's Zoological Park and Botanical Garden has been named president and CEO of the Phoenix Zoo.

Bert Castro, 46, has led the Oklahoma City organization since 2001 and will take the helm of the Phoenix Zoo on Feb. 1.

He will succeed Jeff Williamson, who has held the positions since 1996.

Williamson, 60, is taking a new position as president of the Arizona Zoological Society, which owns and operates the Phoenix Zoo. In his new role, Williamson will work with community, government, and trade and tourism groups to build and promote the zoo.

MORE: http://www.phoenixzoo.org

ONE HUMP OR TWO?

Dromedary or Bactrian? One Hump or Two? If you have not seen a real camel, now is your chance in Western North Carolina. Come to the WNC Nature Center, 75 Gashes Creek Road in East Asheville and pick which camel suits you!

The Dromedary Camel, Camelus dromedarius, is between 5? 5? to 7? 5? tall to shoulder, weighs 650-1600lbs. It?s a herbivore and an opportunistic eater. These camels can live 40-50 years, are found in Middle East and Northern Africa and Australia (where they were introduced). They may also in Namibia, Africa where they were also introduced.

The Bactrian Camel Camelus bactrianus is 6? to 8? tall to shoulder and weighs 1300-2500lbs. It is also an herbivore and an opportunistic eater. Its lifespan is 40 years. These camels live in the Gobi desert in China and Mongolia.

On display at the WNC Nature Center is one male single humped Dromedary Camel who is 5 yrs old (Hank) and one female double humped Bactrian Camel who is 3 yrs old (Arlene).

MORE: http://www.wildwnc.org

Facing a serious jellyfish shortage, Blank Park Zoo officials devise unique breeding program

What does a zoo do when it runs short of jellyfish?

It grows its own.

Officials at Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines have developed a method for restocking their supply of jellyfish for a 2,500-gallon exhibit and providing replacements for other U.S. zoos in the process.

It involves a bathtub and a little patience.

The zoo's exhibit, which opened in 2002, had dwindled in January to 13 moon jellyfish, senior aquarist Kirk Embree said.

The jellyfish were able to release fertilized eggs, called planulae. But the baby jellyfish, called ephyra, were too often sucked into the tank's filter before they could mature.

"We couldn't get any more jellies" from other zoos, Embree said. "There was a real shortage."

Embree, who earlier worked at Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, was convinced that a system could be created to safely collect the fertilized eggs. The problem was Blank's limited budget. Everything had to be built from scratch. A fiberglass tub would cost $600, which was more than zoo officials wanted to spend.

MORE: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
AID=/20071224/NEWS/712240318/-1/SPORTS01

FLOCK OF DETROIT ZOO CHICKS PRETTY IN PINK

ROYAL OAK, Mich. ? The Detroit Zoo is tickled pink with the addition of three Chilean flamingo chicks hatched via artificial incubation in September and October. The chicks? arrival marks the first successful flamingo rearing for the Zoo in 30 years.

Flamingo hatchings are rare in captivity as flamingos usually lay eggs every year but often only successfully rear chicks every four to five years. The Detroit Zoo?s flamingo chicks are three of only 56 captive hatchlings in the U.S. this year.

The one male and two females are being hand-reared by zookeepers off-exhibit. The chicks are fed a specially formulated ?milkshake? of fish, krill, vitamins and Gerber baby oatmeal, made fresh daily and fed with syringes.

Chilean flamingos (Phoenicopterus chilensis) are born with grayish-brown down feathers which gradually turn pink, a result of a diet high in beta carotene. Adults measure 42 to 44 inches from the bill to the tip of the tail and weigh 13 to 16 pounds.

In the wild, the social birds live in flocks numbering in the thousands. They occupy the wetland areas from central Peru to the southern tip of Argentina and live anywhere from sea level to 14,000 feet in elevation. Chilean flamingos can live over 20 years in the wild and more than twice that in captivity.

The Detroit Zoo currently has 26 adult flamingos in the South American habitat across from the binturongs. The chicks will gradually be introduced to the rest of the flock over the next several months and will make their public debut in the spring.

MORE: http://www.detroitzoo.org

Zoo director discusses his great job, unique on-the-job injuries

BLOOMINGTON -- John Tobias walked into his career as a zoo director through the side door.

He was working at a tire plant when he decided nature photography would be more to his liking. He became enthralled with zoos during visits to take pictures of animals at a facility in Topeka, Kan., where he lived at the time.

He eventually was hired to work at a zoo in Denver. He transferred to the Minneapolis State Zoo in Apple Valley, designed his own college major in zoo management, graduated and worked at zoos in Indianapolis and elsewhere. He moved to the Twin Cities to become director of Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington in 1991.

It's been a great life, said Tobias, 64. But it's one that has its own unique on-the-job hazards.

"I've been swatted by an elephant and kicked by a camel," said the soft-spoken Tobias, a grin appearing on his bearded face.

MORE: http://pantagraph.com/articles/2007/12/23/
go/doc472f7b7b5640c208006710.txt

Hogle Zoo has plans for animal health center

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Hogle Zoo will build a $3 million animal health center with a grant from the Salt Lake City-based ALSAM Foundation.

The foundation awarded the zoo $1.5 million. The health center will be named for ALSAM founder and grocery store magnet L.S. "Sam" Skaggs.

The facility will include new surgical and quarantine units, diagnostic and treatment centers and office space for veterinarians and staff.

MORE: http://news.aol.com/story/_a/hogle-zoo-has-plans
-for-animal-health/n20071211123509990026

Des Moines zoo uses worms to compost waste

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Imagine all the junk the Blank Park Zoo produces every day, from animal hair, old banana peels and piles of cardboard. How does the zoo get rid of all that gunk?

Worms.

The zoo received thousands of red wiggler worms about a month ago. They feed on organic material and have eaten about 16 cubic feet of animal hair, waste, food scraps, paper, cardboard and leaves. They also have started to reproduce.

Officials at the zoo turned to the worms to naturally break down what otherwise would be sent to a landfill, said Kevin Drees, the zoo's director of animal care and conservation.

"Many of the items we're using for worm food could not be disposed of in any other way," he said.

Food scraps, cardboard, paper and old newspapers are thrown into a wooden bin, where the worms eat the waste.

The worms, estimated to repopulate to as many as 175,000 by spring, will eat 9 tons of waste a year, said Robert Lees, of Arpeggio Farms in Mingo, which supplied the worms to the zoo.

MORE: http://news.aol.com/story/_a/des-moines-zoo-
uses-worms-to-compost/n20071211010909990005

Take the Test

The Alliance of Marine Mammals Parks and Aquariums (AMMPA) would like to test your marine knowledge. Its fun and a few of the answers are sure to surprise you. To participate, go to:
http://www.zoomerang.com/recipient/survey-intro.zgi?
p=WEB2275FJEHTDB enter AMMPA as the referral source for question number 20.

Animal Jokes

Animal Super Bowl
During the Super Bowl, there was another football game of note between the big animals and the little animals. The big animals were crushing little animals and at half-time, the coach made a passionate speech to rally the little animals.

At the start of the second half the big animals had the ball. The first play, the elephant got stopped for no gain. The second play, the rhino was stopped for no gain. On third down, the hippo was thrown for a 5 yard loss.

The defense huddled around the coach and he asked excitedly,
"Who stopped the elephant?"
"I did," said the centipede.
"Who stopped the rhino?"
"Uh, that was me too," said the centipede.
"And how about the hippo? Who hit him for a 5 yard loss?"
"Well, that was me as well," said the centipede.
"So where were you during the first half?" demanded the coach.
"Well," said the centipede, "I was having my ankles taped."

Leopard Spots
Why do leopards have a hard time hiding?
They are always spotted!

Penguin Ride
A police officer sees a man driving around with a pickup truck full of penguins. He pulls the guy over and says: "You can't drive around with penguins in this town! Take them to the zoo immediately."

The guy says OK, and drives away.

The next day, the officer sees the guy still driving around with the truck full of penguins, and they're all wearing sun glasses. He pulls the guy over and demands: "I thought I told you to take these penguins to the zoo yesterday?"

The guy replies: "I did . . . today I'm taking them to the beach!"

Occupying Children at a Family Event
Materials needed ? adjust depending on number of children present.

Poster board
6-8 old magazines
4 pairs of scissors
List of adults present
Adults with a sense of humor

Instructions

Place all of the children in a room or area by themselves. Give them the list of adults present.

Place an older child in charge and explain that you would like to have them accomplish the following:

Have them find the letters that make up the name of each adult and paste on posterboard. Leave lots of spacing near each name. Look through the magazines for animal pictures. Cut out the animals and paste an animal next to the name of each adult. When completed, gather all of the adults and let the children present their work and name each adult and the animal placed adjacent to their name. Guaranteed to bring lots of giggles and create a few memories.

Contest Winners
The winners for our first eNewsletter subscriber contest were picked by computer at midnight December 10, 2007. They were:

Grand prize. Tim Gray, Mystic, CT

First Prize. Solveig Thorsrud, Las Vegas, NV

Second Prize, Emily Volgelgesang entered on behalf of Proctor & Gamble and donated the prize to Children?s Safe Drinking Water http://www.csdw.org for an upcoming auction.

Stay tuned. We will have other contests for subscribers to this newsletter. Winners will not be disqualified from future contests.

MORE: http://www.zandavisitor.com/page-229

Foreign Zoo Profile

German History Spanning 100 years
Introducing a company soaked in tradition...

Hagenbeck ? a name known to the world. One hundred years ago Carl Hagenbeck revolutionised zoo architecture, invented the art of animal training and a new form of zoological garden biology. His modern ideas brought the company worldwide fame. At that time there were three arms to the Hagenbeck trademark: animal trading, the circus and the zoo. The circus was closed in the fifties and trading in exotic animals is no longer carried on today. But the zoo still remains with its wonderful park and its famous panoramas.

100 years after founding the zoo, the family led enterprise again created the basis for another mainstay of the business ? by opening an all-year-round attraction in May 2007: the Adventure Aquarium with Tropical World. This new, weather-independent attraction not only offers an exciting journey through the tropics for day visitors, it also has an events areas with the most up to date infrastructure for private functions. In just the first few days the Tropical Aquarium had become the new crowd puller of the north. It will contribute to conserving the long-term future of the heritage protected zoo and enhance the cultural and touristic significance of Hagenbeck. In the spring of 2009, a third mainstay will follow in the form of the Hagenbeck Park Hotel before the gates of the zoo.

A family business

The Hagenbeck family heads up their zoo in its sixth generation. This establishment, which has been nonprofit making since 1989, occupies a special place in the zoological landscape: the Hagenbeck Zoo is the only family led, non-profit making zoological garden in Europe which receives no state subsidies for the on-going operation. The daily running costs of 24,000 euros have to be covered by the gate money alone. This has to be compared with other German zoos such as the one in Hanover or the Berlin Zoological Gardens which receive state benefits running into millions. They need more public money than the zoo sales make.

Hagenbeck Zoo

Hagenbeck's zoo has been providing this unique mix for a hundred years: a beautiful park with its botanically interesting trees and plants from all over the world, authentic, cultural and religious buildings and sculptures, open-air enclosures and panoramic views as well as the 1,850 animals from 210 different species, many of which are threatened with extinction. The park extends over an area of 25 hectares and has 4 miles of pathways. Among the special attractions of the zoo are the feeding of the elephants and giraffes, the exotic animals and free-flight shows, the innovative orangutan house, numerous feeding demonstrations, the free -roaming elephant hall, pony riding and horse drawn carriage trips, the petting zoo, the big children's playground and the fairyland mini-rail.

The Hagenbeck Tropical Aquarium

The new building situated next to the zoo shows the biodiversity of the tropics and sub-tropics on land, in water and in caves. Sea creatures, amphibians, reptiles and mammals all await the visitors. At around 8,000 square meters, it is the largest aquarium in Germany and one of the biggest in northern Europe. It has huge appeal in the metropolitan region of Hamburg and also draws many tourists from other regions to the Hanseatic city. Hagenbeck reckons on some 500,000 visitors annually to the Tropical Aquarium.

Hagenbeck events

As well as a fascinating insight into the fauna and flora of the tropics, the Hagenbeck Tropical Aquarium also offers a generous event area with a unique African-style atmosphere. On this 1,280 square meters of event area, the possibilities for private functions for up to 1,000 people are infinite. There are eight different event rooms which can be combined with each other. Situated in the middle of the "tropics" they nonetheless house the latest conferencing technology. The food and drink is provided exclusively by the catering company Stockheim's gourmet specialists.

The Hagenbeck Park Hotel

In the Hagenbeckstrasse, directly at the entrance to the zoo, a four-star hotel is emerging. The building will boast five stories and 150 rooms. The outward appearance and especially the interior decor will be determined by the use of much wood, warm tones and exotic ambience. Families, city tourists and business travelers alike should all feel at home in this theme hotel where they can avail themselves of the unique opportunity of combining their stay with the Zoo and the Tropical Aquarium. Hagenbeck will be operating the hotel jointly with the Lindner Group. The opening is set for the spring of 2009.

Magazine vs. eNews Content

Zoo and Aquarium Visitor eNews will bring you summaries of recent news releases and items that are of interest to zoo and aquarium visitors.

Our monthly magazine which will premiere in late summer, 2008, will profile zoos, aquariums and animal attractions in a specific geographic market. We will include at least one international facility in each issue.

In addition to profiling four zoo and aquarium facilities, we will have monthly features to educate and entertain our readers.

Monthly features will include:

• Upcoming exhibits
• Upcoming fund raisers
• New openings and major renovations
• Animal profile - one featured animal
• Feathered profile - favorite bird at a park
• Aquatic profile - dolphin, shark, whale profile
• Meet the keeper - profile of an animal caretaker
• Meet the director - profile of a zoo or aquarium director
• Veterinarian's column
• Favorite zoo and aquarium photos - sent in by readers
• Ask a zoo - answers to readers' questions
• Ask an aquarium - answers to readers' questions

Each U.S. zoo and aquarium has been assigned a subscription code. Use of the subscription code entitles all employees, season ticket holders, and donors to a free one year subscription.

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