I don’t really have much to report this week. Steve has been working hard in the lynx enclosure and I have been training the elephant, doing some data analysis and other paperwork.
The elephant training is going very well and he works very hard for his little bits of apple rewards, even when there are a few whole apples in his feeder, he still wants to work for the small pieces. He’s very vocal when I arrive for a session, and if I stop to prepare some more rewards for him he grumbles and blows dust at me until we start again.
The elephant keepers have been very busy with elephant enrichment this week; they seem to have been suddenly inspired to give their animals even more activities. The rhino has been given a hanging tyre which she loves to hit with her horns before her mud bath. The elephant has some chunks of tree trunk and had a huge plastic barrel filled with water which he enjoyed squashing. They have also given him a very long log (it’s the same height as him), he likes to roll it around, pick it up and drop it onto the concrete and wedge it against the bars and kick it. It keeps him extremely busy.
One night this week Steve and I were walking through the zoo and saw a little hedgehog out for a wander. We quite often see hedgehogs as the zoo has a lot of suitable habitat for native species. This little one was taking a walk along the edge of the camel enclosure. Our camels are curious about everything and three lolloped over for a closer look. The hedgehog also decided that he wanted to get a good look at the camels and headed in their direction. The camels were not too impressed by this and ran away, closely pursued by a little tiny hedgehog!
Kyiv has a lot of horse-chestnut (conker) trees – the leaves are one of the symbols of the city. Unfortunately they all seem to have some sort of tree disease, the leaves have died far too early and the conkers are starting to fall. The conkers from these trees are really small compared to the size they should be. Anyway, there are lots of conkers everywhere and no one seems to know how to play conkers with them. We’ve seen a few kids pick them up and throw them at each other or play football with them. We have decided to buy some string and bring the ancient English tradition of conker smashing to Ukraine. It’s ok to play here we think as Heath and Safety regulations seem to be a few years behind the UK and we won’t be forced to play wearing goggles or any other silliness.
Steve is going away tomorrow for a week. He’ll be in Denmark for the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria AGM, which is being hosted by Copenhagen Zoo. He’ll be going with the Director, Deputy Director of Zoology and Larissa the translator, which unfortunately for me means that I won’t be able to speak to anyone for a week!
I will hopefully be able to learn some more Russian as I have to cope on my own for the week. My Russian language skills are currently appalling, as we discovered in a restaurant this week. I tried to ask the waiter for the bill (pronounced “Shot” in Russian) but actually asked him if he had “Spit” – I inadvertently asked him if he had AIDS. They are used to the “strange English people” in that restaurant, but I was still mortified and hugely embarassed and consequently that waiter earned himself a large tip.
I would have gone with Steve to the conference, but they could only send four people and I am going away on business in November to Elephant School, so couldn’t go this time. In preparation for the conference, we have all had new business cards made (I got some too even though I’m not going), and very nice they are too – Russian on one side and English on the other. I’ve put pictures of them on here, but the writing seems to have mysteriously vanished!
Our little cat is doing very well; she and Steve have a new game which they play every night just before bed time. Steve puts on my work gloves and the cat launches herself across the room at him and they have wrestling matches. She is a feisty little beast!
The elephant training is going very well and he works very hard for his little bits of apple rewards, even when there are a few whole apples in his feeder, he still wants to work for the small pieces. He’s very vocal when I arrive for a session, and if I stop to prepare some more rewards for him he grumbles and blows dust at me until we start again.
The elephant keepers have been very busy with elephant enrichment this week; they seem to have been suddenly inspired to give their animals even more activities. The rhino has been given a hanging tyre which she loves to hit with her horns before her mud bath. The elephant has some chunks of tree trunk and had a huge plastic barrel filled with water which he enjoyed squashing. They have also given him a very long log (it’s the same height as him), he likes to roll it around, pick it up and drop it onto the concrete and wedge it against the bars and kick it. It keeps him extremely busy.
One night this week Steve and I were walking through the zoo and saw a little hedgehog out for a wander. We quite often see hedgehogs as the zoo has a lot of suitable habitat for native species. This little one was taking a walk along the edge of the camel enclosure. Our camels are curious about everything and three lolloped over for a closer look. The hedgehog also decided that he wanted to get a good look at the camels and headed in their direction. The camels were not too impressed by this and ran away, closely pursued by a little tiny hedgehog!
Kyiv has a lot of horse-chestnut (conker) trees – the leaves are one of the symbols of the city. Unfortunately they all seem to have some sort of tree disease, the leaves have died far too early and the conkers are starting to fall. The conkers from these trees are really small compared to the size they should be. Anyway, there are lots of conkers everywhere and no one seems to know how to play conkers with them. We’ve seen a few kids pick them up and throw them at each other or play football with them. We have decided to buy some string and bring the ancient English tradition of conker smashing to Ukraine. It’s ok to play here we think as Heath and Safety regulations seem to be a few years behind the UK and we won’t be forced to play wearing goggles or any other silliness.
Steve is going away tomorrow for a week. He’ll be in Denmark for the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria AGM, which is being hosted by Copenhagen Zoo. He’ll be going with the Director, Deputy Director of Zoology and Larissa the translator, which unfortunately for me means that I won’t be able to speak to anyone for a week!
I will hopefully be able to learn some more Russian as I have to cope on my own for the week. My Russian language skills are currently appalling, as we discovered in a restaurant this week. I tried to ask the waiter for the bill (pronounced “Shot” in Russian) but actually asked him if he had “Spit” – I inadvertently asked him if he had AIDS. They are used to the “strange English people” in that restaurant, but I was still mortified and hugely embarassed and consequently that waiter earned himself a large tip.
I would have gone with Steve to the conference, but they could only send four people and I am going away on business in November to Elephant School, so couldn’t go this time. In preparation for the conference, we have all had new business cards made (I got some too even though I’m not going), and very nice they are too – Russian on one side and English on the other. I’ve put pictures of them on here, but the writing seems to have mysteriously vanished!
Our little cat is doing very well; she and Steve have a new game which they play every night just before bed time. Steve puts on my work gloves and the cat launches herself across the room at him and they have wrestling matches. She is a feisty little beast!
Camel chasing Hedgehog
Steve's card
My card
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