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: