This morning I worked on preparing salads until the morning break. Afterwards, I prepared the salad bin for the giant tortoises and went out to feed them. It was a fun day to feed because the public had a lot of questions about the tortoises. The questions are usually the same, but it is still fun to answer them and hear new ones that are asked. While I was feeding, Othello kept touching his nose to my leg in order to get my attention. So I gave him a couple of short neck rubs in between getting the food out to the giant tortoises that actually wanted to eat. I finished preparing the rest of the indoor salads right in time for lunch.
I then cleaned up the salads bins and did the dishes. When I asked about what one of the zookeepers was working on, they took time to really explain a paper they are writing for publication. I also got some advice on how to do group papers successfully. I then gathered crickets and fed the galliwasps, Mountain Chicken frogs, and the Hispaniolan Giant Anole. I also gave some crickets to the McCord's Box Turtles (they even eat baby mice!). It was really cool to watch a turtle go after a cricket. One of the turtles was catching crickets faster than it could swallow the one before! After break, I got to go out with a zookeeper and feed the two Asian Narrow-Headed Softshell Turtles (Chitra chitra) that we have on exhibit. Like I had mentioned earlier in the summer, the speed that these turtles can strike their prey is amazing! They would slowly come over to the fish on the pole and in a split second, they would grab the fish and swallow it down whole. It was amazing to get to feed them! I then helped the same zookeeper clear out cement blocks from an exhibit in the basement that is going to get remodeled. I then had time to gather trash and help close the building.
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| Chitra chitra with its neck pulled in |
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