Memorial Day weekend at the Zoo

Lots of visitors came out to celebrate the holiday weekend at the Zoo and took in all that our Summer Program schedule had to offer. Our Summer Programs kicked off on May 28.

An all-bird Stage Show, animal feedings, enrichment and training were just some of the things going on throughout the day – at least nine live shows are available each and every day through Labor Day. Take advantage of these great activities that will help you and your family to learn about some of our animals, while having some fun, too!

See you at the Zoo!

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Spreading the message during World Turtle Day

Visitors enjoyed various activities during World Turtle Day today – kids could choose from crafts, Tortoise and the Hare races (dressed as turtles and rabbits, of course!), talks from one of our turtle and tortoise zoo keepers, docent touch table stations and more.

This event kicks off “The Year of the Turtle,” an effort created to inspire people to act on behalf of turtle species all across the world. Today, nearly 40% of all of the world’s turtles and tortoises are endangered and need our help, so this event was an important way to help visitors learn what they can do to aid in the conservation effort. Check out some photos below!

Photos by Kelli O’Brien

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Helping the world’s amphibians

Photo by Kelli O'Brien

Herpetologist and Director of the Amphibian Ark Kevin Zippel came to the Zoo this afternoon to talk to our staff as well as docents about a comprehensive project geared toward saving the world’s amphibians from extinction.

Kevin graduated with honors in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Cornell University in 1994 and earned his Ph.D in Zoology from the University of Florida in 2000. He currently  coordinates all aspects of the Amphibian Ark initiative and supervises the four AArk officers to address the amphibian extinction crisis; establish international communication networks and build partnerships; facilitate species prioritization, acquisition and management; run management/husbandry training workshops and lead global publicity and capital campaigns.

Photo by Jay Terkel

Kevin has been project coordinator of Proyecto Rana Dorada (Project Golden Frog) since 1999. This is a multi-institutional, multidisciplinary, international conservation program to prevent the extinction of one of the world’s most culturally significant amphibians, the Panamanian golden frog, which we have here at the Zoo (seen in the photo to the left). The project includes field studies, captive breeding and range country education initiatives.

Many thanks to him coming out to share his knowledge about the amazing amphibian!

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United Way Day of Caring helps the Zoo!

Rochester’s annual Day of Caring – the community’s single largest volunteer event – took place today (May 11). Three different departments from Bausch and Lomb came to the Zoo to help out on various projects: mulching our flower bed areas, cleaning and emptying trash cans and working on several exhibit areas for our African spurred tortoises, as well as for the impending arrival of our alligators and new Mexican wolves!

We can’t be thankful enough for the effort and time put into the Zoo today – it is greatly appreciated and it will surely add to the overall visitor experience. Check out some photos below!

Photos by Kelli O’Brien

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Live morning show here at the Zoo!

Photo by Kelli O'Brien

Channel 10 did their live morning show here today to talk about the great summer programming happening at the Zoo starting Memorial Day weekend – reporter Nikki Rudd met some of the stars from our upcoming Stage Show, Minnow our Congo African grey parrot and Oliver our tawny owl, our California sea lions Puff, Flounder, Marina and Lily and our flock of African black-footed penguins!

Check out our Facebook page for more photos!

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Happy Mother’s Day!

What a great weekend here at the Zoo!

Photo by Kelli O'Brien

Visitors took in Our Fragile World, the Zoo’s annual environmental fair on Friday and Saturday. Along with our many vendors that came to talk about their efforts to help the environment, various touch table stations were also set up throughout the Zoo by our docents to teach about how some of our animals are in danger in the wild due to humans. Friday’s event included an interactive Scavenger Hunt for middle school-aged students, too!

On Sunday, the Zoo  celebrated “Missing Orangutan Moms” during Orangutan M.O.M. Day, which is held each year on Mother’s Day. The goal of our event is to aid in orangutan conservation, raise awareness and educate the public that there is hope for these animals, with their help. Families  could enjoy orangutan-related crafts, including using sidewalk chalk to color our “orangutan” drawing in front of the Zoo, decorating ornaments and observing enrichment given by our zoo keepers. Check out some of the photos below!

Photos by Kelli O’Brien

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