Ford the river.

Apologies, there will be no spectacular post this week due to the author being "sick as a dog". Yep, Ellie and I make quite a pair. 

Until next week, my little rabbits!

"Time is making fools of us again."

Another week has raced by and I don't even know how time could fly so fast.

Ellie is still at the intern house, and is doing ok.

Little Maximus left for San Diego yesterday, and we are all a little sad. He is in good hands and will go on to be an ambassador for his species at his new facility. We are so proud of him!

In other news, Tsavo and Enzi got to meet face-to-face with their new girlfriends as their two prides shared an enclosure on Monday for the first time. Love was in the air, but the boys aren't quite sure what to do. Watching the whole thing was like being a chaparone at a middle school dance. Boys on one side, girls on the other. You could almost hear Enzi asking his brother, "Do you think she likes me? Should I go talk to her?". Tsavo was not a very supportive brother. In fact, I think he was a little jealous. Everytime Enzi would slowly approach one of the girls, Tsavo would get all up in their faves like "HI I'M TSAVO AND I LIKE WARM HUGS!"  Needless to say the boys have different approaches to women. Tsavo may be more dominant, but who can resist a handsome, sweet, gentle lion?

Enzi's approach: "La la la, you can love me if you want to.... Oh, no? Ok, I'll go over here..."

Tsavo's approach: "YOU WILL LOVE ME NOOWWWWWWW!!!"

The girls were initially a little off put by this, more abrasive approach, but by the second day, Mtai was rubbing all over him. Unfortunately he didn't understand what this meant so he and his brother mounted each other instead. Sigh. They'll figure it out one day. They just need to let each other be for a bit. 

I don't have any good pictures of the lion intros, but one of our docent/volunteers is a great photographer and got some nice shots. Depending on privacy settings, you can see her photos on Facebook (she tagged me in a handful of Maximus feeding photos, and they are in the same album): Sheilah Forbes Swanson. 

Last Saturday we celebrated Bear Awareness week with an event called Teddy Bear Picnic. This consisted of booths where children could bring in their damaged teddy bears for a check up and repair (we had docents with stethoscopes and sewing kits at the ready), among other fun crafty bear-themed activities, and a chance to "feed the bears". Kids were allowed to decorate a paper bag, which we filled with bear food (fruit, nuts, donuts, etc), and we piled families into the encounter vehicles and took them out for a tour of the bear areas (you have to drive through most of the park to get there so its like having a personal tour guide of Wildlife Safari). Once we get to the brown bear drive through, the kids were allowed to toss the sack lunches into the bear enclosure, thereby scatter feeding the bears while simultaneously providing enrichment. Hence, teddy bear picnic! I think the whole day was a huge success, but boy was I tired of talking by the end of it. At one point, I was sitting in the dome (where the crafts and bear first aid was) explaining some bear artifacts to people, when a little blonde girl from my last tour comes up and tries to sit on the wall next to me. She was around 3 years old, and too short to easily climb up on the wall, so this didn't really work out, but she managed to get up, and kept scooting closer and closer to me. We started talking about bears and decided to name one of the bear skins on my artifact table (it had a face). She was too cute. Her mom came up and told me that she picks a best friend wherever they go and that she would be talking about that person for weeks. This week it was me!

So, its been a great week, despite how fast its gone. My weekend has almost escaped me. We have had new interns coming in all week, and more still to come for the summer. It's gonna be a full house y'all!

Until next time,

Mischief Managed.

Welcome to Ellie Watch

Apologies, this weeks post is very short. 

I was supposed to write about Saigon this week. I can tell you right now, that's not going to happen. 

Today, after an overnight cub watch, I got home at 5am, slept for 4 hours and weed eated one of the yards at the intern house. "Why on earth would I do this?" you may ask. It's all for Ellie. 

Yep, Ellie, the Anatolian shepherd that hangs out with a cheetah. Ellie had surgery on her leg and is now living at the  intern house during her 8-week recovery. So Emily and I weed eated the fenced-in yards at the house this week so she could have an outdoor area. So that's what we will be up to this week, and the next 8 weeks: making sure she doesn't get too excited, run, lick her stitches, as well as making sure she eats and takes her meds, which is tricky business. 

Welcome to Ellie Watch. 

Special News Report, Part Deux

It has come to my attention that I didn't explain WHY we have to hand feed Maximus.


Moyo, first time, hand-raised mom, had a singleton cub. If you remember from my previous post about cheetahs ("I solemnly swear that I am up to no good"), singleton cubs aren't typically reared by the mother for a few reasons. Usually, its a case of the mother weighing her options and deciding that one cub wasn't worth all the time and energy that it takes to care for their offspring. Sometimes milk production isn't stimulated, so even if the mother tries to care for it, the cub would starve after a few days because mom dries up. Sometimes the mothers even eat the cub! Additionally, first time moms who were hand-raised don't know what to do with cubs, and often reject them. If they were to breed again, the likelihood of them having a larger littler is greater (for reasons unknown to me - I will try to get more info on that!), so then they might be more likely to take care of them. However, Khayam and McHumba were rejected by mom, but their sisters from the next litter (Charo, Roni and Zuri) were all mom-raised. It just depends, I guess.

In the case of Moyo, well, we're not even sure she knew she was pregnant. One day she stops eating and maybe doesn't feel so great, and all of a sudden this thing falls out of her, and she probably thought it was just a big turd (scientific, I know). We have cameras set up in the breeding areas to monitor the cats in labor, etc., so the keepers were able to watch her when she gave birth. She apparently had the cub, wondered what the heck fell out of her, sniffed it and walked away. Cheetah staff immediately stepped in and pulled him because Moyo doesn't like other cheetahs, so we figured it was possible she would eat the cub.

So the cub was brought to the clinic, apparently not breathing, so Sarah and cheetah/carn staff worked on stabilizing him and preparing a milk replacer (we're using a KMR solution). He's since been sleeping, eating, and pooping like a champ.


So there you have it. Or not. Sorry if this post is a little jumbled. We're all tired from all the overnight feedings! But he is worth it!

Special Edition: # 174

We interrupt this program with a special news report:

As of May 3, 2014, Wildlife Safari is proud to welcome Maximus, the 174th cheetah cub born since the park's opening in 1972.

Yesterday, a media release went out announcing our newest addition, so we are officially allowed to share information and photos from our time spent with the little guy. 

Now, prepare your self for cuteness. Should you feel the need to "squee", that is 100% acceptable.

Day 1, hour 1. Welcome to the world, Maximus!

Look at that precious face!

Yes, he has a tiger. They are snuggle buddies.

Birds of a feather, purr together... wait what?

He is suckling my glove in anticipation of the bottle.

He is currently 390g, and eating about 11ml of  75% KMR formula every 2.5 hours. He is getting so big, so fast! We have been taking turns helping out with the feedings with includes overnights at the vet clinic on sight. The cub and his mother belong to the San Diego Zoo, so we don't know how much longer we get to keep him before they snatch him up! On Wednesday night, I helped with an overnight and got some pretty cute pictures (but let's be honest: any picture of a baby cheetah is a cute picture!). He is super cute, but sheesh, babies are exhausting!

We had a bet, to try to guess when Moyo (the mother) would stop eating (indicating that she was going into labor). Jordan guessed saturday morning, so he won. His prize was getting to name the cub. Thus, Maximus.

"His name is Maximus Decimus Meridias cuz he's clearly a gladiator ... and although he is adorable, he SHALL NOT be referred to as Cutias Maximus." - Bo

Yep. He has some pretty big shoes to fill.

He eats like a champ! Latches on, and sucks it dry.

And yes, we have to stimulate his bowels.

I can't wait until he opens his eyes! It should be any day now. And hopefully San Diego lags, and we get to keep him for a little while longer...

Hands down this is the COOLEST internship EVER.

And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.