Design a poster for the National Zoo!

If you are between the ages of 8 - 14 and live in the United States, consider entering the poster contest at the Smithsonian National Zoo. Copies of the winning poster will be displayed at the zoo and at schools in the DC area. You and your poster could be honored at a special ceremony and you would win a gift basket with six tickets to this year's opening night of ZooLights!

According to the website, in order to be chosen, your poster must be the best at showing these three things:

* the Zoo is a wonderful place to see animals, trees, and plants,
* does a lot to save wildlife,
* and is always FREE.

Your poster must be at least 8.5" x 11" and no larger than 11" x 17". You can scan your work and enter online, mail in your entry (you'll need to include this entry form -- this is a .pdf file), or you can hand in your work at the Visitor's Center at the zoo. Contest entries must be received by November 12, 2009 and you can enter more than once.

Good luck!

Today is Elephant Appreciation Day!

Happy Elephant Appreciation Day! Some places, like the Phoenix Zoo, are holding special elephant-themed events today. So, get out there and visit an elephant! Or, if you're stuck inside, surf over to the San Diego Zoo's elephant cam or check out the pics of the newest baby elephant at Utah's Hogle Zoo. You can even purchase trunk-painted artwork online by one of the great elephant artists at the Knoxville Zoo!

P.S. My thanks to my friend Vanessa for letting me know!


Photo credit: Brian Snelson, though a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license via Flickr.

The intelligence of animals

Yesterday, reporter Jacques Kelly ran a story in The Baltimore Sun with this opener: "It took just 10 minutes for a dozen prairie dogs to outwit the creators of the Maryland Zoo's new $500,000 habitat." What can I say? I found myself rooting for the prairie dogs.

Zoos and other controlled habitats provide an interesting opportunity to watch human and animal intelligence pitted against each other. Animal escapes aren't rare, as shown by articles like "The Great Animal Escapes of 2009" in The Huffington Post. Unfortunately, wise animals seldom fare well in these situations.

Years ago, I heard a story from a reliable source about American bison at a state park. Apparently, when these animals were introduced, there was one wily fellow who taught the others how to step over the cow grate and escape. After several escapes, this particular bison was put to sleep. Later, upon visiting the park, we were offered buffalo meat. I always wondered if it came from this particular bison.

Conserving habitat is a tricky science. Nature has a way of adapting to situations that are outside of our plans. How we adapt to those changes is just as important as our intended goals.

Photo credit: Claire Dobert, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Website of the Week: ZooBorns

Newborn Black Bear CubsPhoto credit: Mark Betram, Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge
Are you looking for adorable pictures of newborn wildlife? Drop by ZooBorns, a brand-new website from the minds behind Zooillogix. According to their website, "ZooBorns brings you the newest and cutest exotic animal babies from zoos and aquariums around the world." What a great idea!

ZooBorns already has pictures up of nineteen kinds of animal babies, with plenty more to come. The Red Panda Cubs might be cute, but my favorite is the tiny pink Six-Banded Armadillo (I wonder if that picture shows baby Beauregard or Ed?) .

Got a photo or video of baby wildlife to share? Be sure to check out ZooBorns' Submission Policy.

Website of the Week: National Zoo

Giant PandaPhoto credit: Jonathon Coombes, BurningWell.org
This week’s website of the week is the Smithsonian National Zoological Park. Visit Just For Kids and solve one of more than twenty online jigsaw puzzles, send an E-card, read fact sheets about animals and habitats (complete with photographs), enjoy a crossword puzzle, or print out animal coloring pages (including a Giant Panda Activity Book). Join the Conservation Kids’ Club and make a mask or listen to the call of a Golden Lion Tamarin. Explore the Kids’ Farm, one of the zoo’s newer exhibits, to learn about farm animals and discover where your pizza really comes from! Then Take a World Tour to learn about animals across the globe. Be sure to follow up by checking out one of the National Zoo’s more than twenty Animal Web Cams -- including two pandacams and three cheetahcams -- to meet your favorite animals up close.