Zoo Blog

This is Nala. She may look a little intimidating, but she is actually a really sweet and pleasant ball python at Blank Park Zoo.
 

Nala is not a snake you’ll typically see when you visit the Zoo, as she is used for educational programming such as Summer Safari camps, library visits, corporate promotions and more. When she’s not on a program, you may find her outdoors in the Critter Corner this summer, which is situated right by the Zoo’s gift shop. The Critter Corner is an area for the Zoo’s education animals to enjoy the outdoors in addition to providing an opportunity for you as visitors to meet them up close.
 

Nala generally has a tame disposition and is used to being handled by educators and enjoys meeting the public. She is one of our “touch” animals, and I always love seeing children get excited to meet Nala and have the opportunity to touch her smooth, yet bumpy skin. (Adults don’t seem to get nearly as excited as children do, ha.)
 

The name ball python refers to their tendency to curl into a ball when stressed or frightened, which I have yet to see Nala do. She typically wraps herself and “snuggles” around your arm. Certain staff at the Zoo, as well as volunteers, are trained to handle our education animals, learning how to hold, handle and care for them. That’s why we ask you to be very gentle and not stress the animals if you see them at a Zoo program.
 

Ball python facts: 

• Ball pythons are commonly found in grasslands, savannahs and sparsely wooded areas in western to central Africa.
   
• In the wild, they eat small mammals, birds, lizards and other snakes. At the Zoo, Nala’s diet is typically a few mice every couple weeks.
   
• They live to be about 10 years old in the wild and 20-30 years in captivity (at Zoos). Nala is 10 years old.
   
• Ball pythons are endangered. They are hunted extensively and captured for the local pet trade. They are also considered a local delicacy and killed in the thousands for their skin.
   
• A ball python’s color pattern is typically black with light brown-green side and dorsal blotches. This coloring helps camouflage against the ground. The bottom scales, or scuts, are ivory white in color. If the snake is in a tree, the white blends in with the light from the sun. This is called counter shading.

Related posts: 

Creature Feature: Tiger Salamander
Creature Feature: Alligator

Greater Prairie Chicken: Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Blank Park Zoo Partnership
by Kevin Drees, Director of Animal Care and Conservation

Because of the Blank Park Zoo’s partnership with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), I and six other Zoo staff recently had the opportunity to spend three days assisting with the trapping and translocation of greater prairie chickens from western Nebraska to southern Iowa and northern Missouri – conservation in action!



Kevin Drees, Blank Park Zoo's Director of Animal Care and Conservation

This was part of a multiple-year program to support the disappearing wild prairie chicken population still remaining around Kellerton, Iowa, with the goal that this unique “symbol of the prairie” could become self-sustaining. The species was once found across the state, but was extinct at the turn of the century due to land-use and habitat change, along with over-hunting. In the 1980s, the IDNR translocated hundreds of birds to Iowa, but by 2010 it was estimated that less than 30 remained. 
 
I traveled to Imperial, Nebraska (8.5 hour drive from Des Moines) where the IDNR had received permission to capture 50 male and 50 female GP chickens from leks on private ranchlands. 

The male bird is known for its unusual booming and dancing breeding display that it performs on these areas called leks.

Males dancing on the lek with the hens.

We had two weeks to capture and bring the birds back to the state-owned Kellerton Grassland Bird conservation Area (1,600 acres of core habitat surrounded by privately owned suitable GP chicken habitat, total nearly 70,000 acres). To better ensure survival, the birds that are captured each morning are released within 24 hours.

Our day started at 4:30am, with IDNR staff dividing up into teams and heading out to the leks with chicken wire star-shaped pens that would trap unsuspecting birds as they displayed to each other. We would set the traps before daylight, then wait for sunrise in either a turkey blind or a pick-up truck.

Blinds

While observing with binoculars, after about an hour and a half we would remove birds from the wire cages and place them in small, dark, soft cages (to prevent injury to the birds) for transport back to town. The state veterinarian and staff would draw blood for testing and band them, and they were off to their new home, hopefully before sunset!

Getting birds ready for transport

When we returned from the trip, we took the birds from that morning (one male and seven females) to the Dunn Ranch just across the border in Missouri and watched as the birds were fitted with GPS monitoring devices. They were released onto a lek with a herd of bison in the background!

The Zoo’s contribution this year went to the purchase of the GPS units and to help cover the expenses of the translocation. Jen Vogel, an Iowa State University graduate student, is monitoring the information received from the GPS data. This is the first time greater prairie chickens coming to Iowa were fitted with these…and there are some surprises already!

 Hen with GPS transmitter

Some of the birds have traveled 50 miles and have been in 10 counties in Iowa and 10 in Missouri! It is hoped we will gain information on their movements and survivability and will be able to increase the success of the project. The IDNR does have permission to move 100 birds in 2014 and 2015, provided the data shows success.
 

This “in the wild” conservation project is one way that the Blank Park Zoo can be intimately involved in assisting wildlife, part of the mission of a modern zoo.

On Monday, May 20, thirty foursomes are set to tee off at Blank Park Zoo’s second annual Gators on the Green Golf Tournament, held at the Wakonda Club. As the host of the 2013 Principal Charity Classic May 28-June 2, the Wakonda Club is giving the Zoo’s golfers their chance to play the course just a week before the pros. 

From securing golfers to sponsorships to silent auction items, the Blank Park Zoo Ambassadors have worked hard to make this fundraising event a successful one. The ambassadors are a group of professionals dedicated to supporting the zoo. They strive to fundraise and plan zoo events, participate in volunteer projects, network and socialize with other like-minded professionals and promote the zoo’s mission.

The participation of the golfers and supporting organizations in Gators on the Green helps the Zoo further our work to inspire an appreciation of the natural world. We are thankful for the support of everyone involved! 

The day includes lunch, mulligans, games, contests, prizes and post-game hors d’oeuvres. And, there will be special animal appearances including camels, a donkey – and of course, gators!

One of the Zoo’s education specialists, Kathy McKee, recently visited Moulton Extended Learning Center in Des Moines, Jill Gilmore's third grade class. As part of the program, Kathy had brought Eloise the opossum, one of the Zoo’s education animals, to the classroom that day.

Shortly after her visit, she received a special surprise as a thank you and gift to Eloise: a homemade quilt!

I asked Kathy a few questions about her school visit.

What did the kids learn about Eloise that day?

They were focusing on habitats, so I used our habitat boxes and shared an animal from each of the five habitats represented by the boxes (wetlands, woodlands, rainforests, deserts, and grasslands). Eloise was our woodland animal and I talked about what she eats, her adaptations, and the fact that opossums are North America's only marsupial. 

Eloise wrapped in her blanket

Was there a memorable moment when you were at the school?

I was impressed at how much the students already knew about animals and habitats, how well they identified what each box represented and the evidence they gave for their decisions.

What is your favorite part of doing school visits?

I enjoy meeting the students of the teachers that I have worked with in my teacher workshops and doing classroom programs that fit each class' curriculum. I love how excited the students get when they can learn about and touch the animals, and it is a great opportunity to dispel misconceptions people have about some animals. 

Eloise checks out her new quilt

What was your reaction to receiving the homemade blanket?

I was very touched by the gift Ms. Gilmore's students made. I am so glad that they enjoyed and learned from their zoo program, and that they loved Eloise so much!  Eloise is one if my favorite animals, too, and seeing her snuggled in her new quilt will remind me of a delightful class I was fortunate enough to visit!

Ms. Gilmore's 3rd Grade classroom with the homemade quilt 

Guest post by Limbe Wildlife Center

Limbe Wildlife Centre, a rescue, rehabilitation, and reintroduction/release project, is jointly managed by Pandrillus and the Government of Cameroon and is a conservation project the Blank Park Zoo supports. 

In Cameroon, one of the highest areas of biodiversity in the world, the illegal animal trade is widespread, and along with deforestation is one of the greatest threats to the survival of wildlife species. When animals are killed for meat, infants are taken and illegally sold as pets in the market. Limbe Wildlife Centre (LWC) provides a solution to the problem of what can be done with the infant primates and other wild animal species when they are lucky enough to be seized from criminal traders by customs, police, or conservation officials. In doing so, we support and encourage the enforcement of the wildlife laws of Cameroon. Without this support, confiscating agencies would soon tire of prosecuting wildlife crime as they would have nowhere to place the animals which they seize. In addition, we run a conservation education outreach program that reaches more than 1,000 children in each, and work with local communities on conservation-based projects.
 

Lolo, an orphan of the bushmeat trade, was confiscated after a hunter
tried to sell her as a pet in a hotel.She currently lives in our chimpanzee 
nursery with four other individuals.

LWC’s conservation education program includes school outreach and 
a nature club, reaching more than 1,300 children in total.          

Aframomum is an important part of the primate diet. We work to 
provide ex-hunters with an alternative, sustainable livelihood of 
harvesting aframomum, which also helps them to appreciate the forest.

Currently, Limbe Wildlife Centre cares for more than 360 orphans of the bushmeat trade, including 15 primate species native to Cameroon, such as chimpanzees, gorillas, and drills, as well as various small mammals and reptiles that have been brought in for rehabilitation and release. This year, it is clear that the environmental situation in Cameroon has reached a critical level; in only 3.5 months we have received 21 new arrivals, including 10 primates. Currently, we are working towards creating an LWC field site extension, which will provide an area for the reintroduction of endemic species currently at LWC (such as drills and Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees), protect essential habitat, and create an eco-tourism opportunity. 

Drills, before the start of Pandrillus, were thought to be extinct in the 
wild. Today Pandrillus projects care for more than 500 drills in 
Cameroon and Nigeria.

LWC employs 35 local staff to care for all of the animals at our sanctuary and run our education program. In June, Blank Park Zoo provided our staff with nearly 100 uniforms, for which they are all very thankful!

We thank Blank Park Zoo for their continued support of our work at Limbe Wildlife Centre! 

Limbe Wildlife Centre Staff

Elvis, a recipient of the Zoo's donated items