Happy 2015!

How is it possible that 2015 is a few days away?! This year the biggest change in my life was a new job, which brought me back home to Washington, DC around this time last year.

Here is a nice little video put together by the Zoo's Communications Department to commemorate our 125th anniversary: 125th Anniversary Video

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas in Washington

This was the first Christmas I have had back in DC for many years, since my parents always came to me during the holidays when I was living in the Philly suburbs. This year I was able to spend Christmas with my parents, just across the Potomac. Since I live in a small apartment, my holiday decorations are simple:

Unique Bathroom Reading Material

Whenever I visit my parents over the Potomac in Falls Church, VA, I am reminded of just how unique my parents are…here is the collection of books in a guest bathroom at my parents' house (my father works for EPA in the Office of Wastewater Management; not pictured, an "Outhouses of the World" calendar is hanging in the same bathroom):

ZooLights at NZP

I couldn't resist a photo op with Panda Claus when I passed by Panda and his FONZ escort on my walk home from work tonight. 

Starting Nov 28th, ZooLights has returned to the National Zoo - whether you are local to the D.C. area or are in town visiting, or work in some other area of the Smithsonian, you should check it out--there's nothing quite like it: ZooLights

ZooLights runs from Nov 28 through Jan 1 (all nights except Dec 24, 25, 31) from 5-9pm. Admission is free and includes over 500,000 environmentally-friendly LED lights, tubing down Lion/Tiger hill, and lots of other events. We are even keeping some of the animal buildings open each night for evening visitors.

Check out the ZooLights commercial: ZooLights commercial

Among my favorite of the ZooLights are the gibbons and naked mole rats:

Animal Artwork

My collection of animal artwork is expanding…

ARTIST: Vietnamese potbellied pig Humphrey, Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo

 ARTIST: giant otters, Philadelphia Zoo

 ARTIST: polar bear Klondike, Philadelphia Zoo

ARTISTS: top - Western lowland gorillas Kwame & Kojo, National Zoo 

middle - aye-ayes Tolkien & Smeagol and Malagasy giant jumping rat Claudia, Philadelphia Zoo

bottom - Western lowland gorilla Baraka, National Zoo

ARTISTS: left - Red pandas Sumo and Shifu, Sequoia Park Zoo

right - Bornean orangutan KJ & African elephant Tanya, Cameron Park Zoo

ARTIST: Western lowland gorilla Baraka, National Zoo

And here is some other artwork made by some of our apes at the National Zoo:

 ARTIST: Bornean orangutan Batang

 ARTISTS: various NZP orangutans

ARTISTS: various NZP orangutans

ARTIST: Lucy the orangutan

ARTISTS: various NZP Western lowland gorillas

Orangutan & gorilla artwork in the office

Gorilla footprint (from one of the gorillas I worked with in Philly)

 A beautiful 3D rhino my mom gave me and just framed; will hang above my bed

I made this metal hippo as a kid; my mother recently found it and had it framed

Chinese Fortunes

I started saving the little slips of paper from my Chinese fortune cookies a few years ago...

"The time is right to make new friends"

"It is better to be an optimist and proven a fool than to be a pessimist and be proven right"
"To understand is hard. Once one understands, action is easy"
"You are one of the people who 'goes places in life'"
"Serious trouble will bypass you"
"An unexpected relationship will become permanent"

Autumn in Rock Creek Park

I got in one last autumn hike in at Rock Creek Park, this time with my mother, before the weather started getting cold. My mother made me hug a few of my favorite trees, bringing back memories of the local "Hug a Tree Club" that she led at our house when I was 4.

New Hobby! Paper Mache

Now that it is getting colder, I have stopped geocaching for the winter and decided to take up paper mache as newest hobby. My first creation was a blue-footed booby that I made for my father's birthday. Here are a few pictures; for more, see entry on page "Proof I Have a Right Brain":

32 Pounds of Feline Awesomeness

Niko and Chewie, my two 16 pound cats, are having a lazy day of adorableness on the couch after a long night of mischief. Niko wishes to inform you that he has his own blog, though sometimes he is a little lazy about updating it: Niko's Blog

Here is a preview of what you can find on Niko's blog (he is abnormally technologically advanced for a cat):

Another Reason I Love DC

This happened on my walk from the Chinatown Metro stop to the movie theater a few weeks ago (check out the kid with the red trombone!):

Fragility of Life

When I hear devastating news about anyone, especially someone I knew, it makes me pause and think about the fragility of life. But this is a case where after hearing the news of yesterday's tragic accident I have no words other than to say that this former co-worker of mine was someone who greeted everyone with a smile and was a lovely man who I just can't believe is gone. R.I.P. Jim. You will be dearly missed.
http://6abc.com/news/worker-killed-at-the-philadelphia-zoo
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140930_Zoo_worker_killed_by_golf_cart

AZA 2014

Just back from the AZA conference in Orlando:

Downtown Disney (where many things are made of legos…)

Selfies with goats and sheep at Animal Kingdom

Gorilla habitat at Animal Kingdom 

Various animal habitats at Sea World and Animal Kingdom

Evening view from conference hotel

Animals made out of flip flops washed up on beaches in Africa

Another Year Older

Having left social media nearly a year ago, I didn't expect to hear from anyone other than my parents on my birthday. So I was very touched when I received several cards in the mail and a few incredibly thoughtful gifts.

Although I took the day off to spend in the forest, Kojo (painting on the left) and Kwame (painting on the right) the gorillas and my primate keeper team made me the most unique birthday gift:

My friend Ruth sent me this painting, made by a red panda at Sequoia Park Zoo in her new home of Eureka, CA (which adds nicely to my animal painting collection - so far I have paintings from an orangutan, 3 gorillas, and aye-aye and giant jumping rat, giant otters, a pot-bellied pig, a polar bear, and now read panda and have plansto paint with naked mole rats):

My friend Virginia, who also recently moved to CA, sent me this wonderful owl scarf. Anyone who knows me well knows that I love brown and there are two taxa of birds that I absolutely adore - shoebills and (as any Bryn Mawr alumna should) owls:

I turned another year older today - so time to contemplate life and be thankful for living another year. No better place to do that than in two of my favorite, most beautiful places in the US - Luray Caverns in Luray, VA and the Rock Creek forest, right here in DC:

LURAY CAVERNS

ROCK CREEK FOREST

Melvin Hazel Trail (Rock Creek Park)

Western Ridge Trail (the "strenuous" fork)

Missing Asia

Among the gifts I was given for participating in a tour of the Zoo for some visitors from the Taipei Zoo was this charming but somewhat odd tote bag, which really makes me miss Asia…not quite sure what this bag is supposed to depict. Clearly it involves a panda and a tapir, but what the tapir has done to the panda is not at all clear. 

Schuhschnabel

When I was a kid I loved penguins. Then while in undergrad at Bryn Mawr I started to love owls, which I have collected ever since…

Not much is more amazing to me than an owl in flight

A few of my owls

…but it was on a trip to the Zurich Zoo when I was living for a few months in Switzerland writing up my dissertation that I fell in love with the shoebill (even better, "Schuhschnabel" in German). I am pretty sure that the shoebill in Zurich stared into my soul: