After a busy weekend with the fundraising event and shows, the animals like to take a little time to themselves and catch up on their sun. When its warm enough we try to give every animal some time to spend outside so they can get some exercise and a couple of hours in the sun. Today, was a perfect day for the animals to take a break from their ambassador jobs and hang out in the outside breeze. They seemed to enjoy themselves.
After the holidays, the animals appear to have as much energy left as us humans. I went to visit some of them and they had the right idea of how to spend the day.
We have two six-banded armadillos, Armando and Annie.
Annie and Armando sleeping
They have separate enclosures, but we put them outside to play together during the day. They make such a cute couple! They are almost spooning in this video! Watch Armando’s feet, he’s moving them like a dog does when it’s dreaming. I wonder what he’s dreaming about. Annie’s hand is even on his head. They were sleeping so soundly, that I was standing right above them without them noticing.
Juli and I did a show in San Diego for a preschool on Wednesday. The kids were adorable and very young. The first program was for toddlers age 12 months to 2 years! I’m not sure if children this young realize how special it is to get to see and touch these animals up close. They did have a great time though! The kids were really well behaved for their age; it was a nice surprise. We brought Sandy the Boa, Timmy the tortoise, Latte the hedgehog, Dulce the alligator, Sleepy the opossum, and Armando the armadillo. I held all the animals while Juli gave a wonderful presentation.
Casai holding Dulce the baby gator.
One of Juli’s favorite animals are armadillos. She is so happy to get to work with them and hold them!
Juli holding Armando the armadillo
Armadillos are difficult to hold. They’re very wiggly, and have sharp nails. You have to hold them by their plates. A lot of our animals don’t stay still, and we have to hold them in one spot long enough to let the kids touch. It’s trickier than it sounds, but we manage to do it without stressing the animals.
When it gets hot during the summer, we have to keep the animals here at Zoofari/Wild Wonders cool. We mist them with cool water, make sure they have shade and plenty of water to drink. For the cooler climate animals we give them ice bottles and ice cubes. Luckily, most of our animals can tolerate the heat pretty well. As I walk around the compound, a lot of the animals are sprawled out in the shade to stay cool.
The armadillos often lie on their backs to let the heat from their warm tummies dissipate. Armando was sleeping upside down with his hand on his face, looking adorable!
Armando sleeping on his back!
Another animal that knows how to stay cool is Princess Pea, a porcupine. She loves frozen water bottles! I put one next to her, and she went over and gave it a hug! She held it for hours. She is so cute cuddling with her bottle!
Princess Pea loves her ice bottles!
On a hot day like today it’s even harder to take care of the animals because it involves a lot of physical work out in the sun. We have to drink lots of cold water to stay cool and hydrated. This was a nice break being inside for a bit, but now it’s time to get back to work in the sun!
Today I went to a show in Chino with Brian, one of our keepers and educators at Wild Wonders. It was a long drive (more than an hour) but it was a fun day. We did one show for a community center. There were about 60 people there, mostly kids, with about 20 parents. The kids were really well behaved. I had fun talking with two cute little girls before the show. I told them we brought an amphibian. They thought that just meant animals that can swim and go on land. I explained that amphibious animals or vehicles go on both land and water. However, Amphibians are a taxonomic group of frogs, toads, salamanders, and caecilians.
We brought Mika (kinkajou), Baba (ball python), the new argentine horned frog, Cajun (alligator), Misto (hedgehog), and Roly Poly (armadillo). Unfortunately, Howard couldn’t come with us. I held all of them except Mika and Roly Poly, while Brian talked. Check out the video of Roly Poly at the end.
Kinkajous have a prehensile tail. They can use it to hang from a branch if they need to!
Mika can hang upside-down!
Casai holding Creole for the kids to touch.More kids touching the gator
The hit of the show was Roly Poly. This little armadillo is so cute and makes a really funny noise when he’s picked up. In the wild this can be used as a defense against predators. Listen carefully to this video!
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