Day Eighteen: the Blijdorp Zoo

Well, I meant to post this blog yesterday, but while I was writing it last night, the hydro went out from about 8-12. We didn't know how long it would be out for, so I didn't want to use up my battery life on my laptop in case I needed it later. Plus, obviously our internet wasn't working so I couldn't have posted anyway.

However, it's morning and we have power, so I will post my WONDERFUL experience at the Blijdorp Zoo in Rotterdam.

Jos and Anne's son, Raymond, is a volunteer at the Zoo on Wednesdays and is placed at info centers to answer questions and give tours to groups (mostly children) throughout the day. He also helps facilitate summer camps as a kind of camp councilor where they sleep over night at the zoo. SO COOL! Anyway, since he carries a set of keys, he was able to show me some behind the scenes stuff that most zoo-goers wouldn't get to see.

We got there for opening time (9am) and Raymond said it was his favourite time of the day because the animals are just waking up, doing their stretching, and being fed, so they're pretty active. Or, in the case of this ostrich, still sleeping. I know, he looks dead, and the zebras look a little guilty... like they know something. But no, I assure you, he's just a lazy, snoozing ostrich.

We got to see the polar bears eat breakfast. The polar bear habitat is fairly new to the Zoo, it was built about a year ago with money raised by volunteer-run fundraising group "Friends of Rotterdam Zoo". Jos is a member of the group and that's how we got the free tickets to visit the zoo. I've noticed that a lot of things like galleries and the zoo depend on volunteer work in Holland. I don't know if I'm assuming a lot here, but I don't think Canadians volunteer as much as the Dutch. Maybe we depend too much on government subsidizing? Anyway, back to the Zoo stuff!



The Polar Bears were SO CUTE, and I sat for a while watching Eric, the male bear, eat his succulent ribs.

We also saw the Buffalo, and the big guy in the middle of the pack is Clint. Apparently his last name is Eastwood. I asked Raymond if all of the animals have names, and he said no, only the big ones, because the kids would always ask what their names were! I thought that was kind of funny. Sometimes they get animals on loan for breeding projects from other zoos and they come with names, or else the caretakers will give them names.

We got to see the elephants, too. One of the females had a baby girl elephant about a month ago, so we wanted to see the baby of course. Apparently there's been quite a baby boom at the zoo this year with 2 tigers, a hyena, a zebra, giraffes, a pygmy hippo, birds, gorillas, and the list goes on. Whatever they're doing over there at the Rotterdam Zoo, it must be working! Anyway, the elephants were a little shy and I only got to see the baby from a distance. Still cute, though. Also, the male elephant had these rings on his trunk. I asked Raymond what they were for, and he told me that sometimes elephants both in domestication and in the wild deal with tusk splitting. When I got home a did a little research on the subject and found that when elephants rub their tusks on trees or walls or other tusks (as they are known to do naturally), they risk wearing down the outer tusk and exposing the pulp inside. Just like with a cavity, the pulp can become infected and could spread to both tusks, continue splitting the tusks all the way up into the skull,and in some cases, cause death. So, to keep the tusks from splitting and opening up new infection, they have formed special metal bands around the tusks. So far, it seems to be working.



Raymond also took me to the behind-the-scenes area of the elephants training and care area, where there was a set-up for kids' group tours. There was a massive elephant skull where I got to see how cool elephant teeth are! Aside from their tusks, they go through six sets of large, brick-like teeth that grow in at the back of their mouths and slowly move to the front as they are worn down. Each set of elephant teeth that grows in is larger than the last. The final teeth are over eight inches long (21 cm) from front to back and weigh more than eight pounds. SO CRAZY! I also got to put my arm up a pregnant elephants' bum. Well, not a REAL elephant bum, but it felt pretty real and I could feel the baby's feet covered by the protective embryonic sack. (see first picture)

I also got to go in a different behind-the-scenes area and hold a Rat Snake. He was super cool and totally wanted down my shirt. Raymond said it was because he was looking for somewhere warm to curl up, but I think he just wanted to get fresh with me! He ended up settling on the left pocket of my hoodie.

At about twelve, Raymond had to leave Jos and I to our own devices as he had to go man his station in the aquarium. First, though, he showed me the monkey named Niko. He was Totally putting on a show for us, and would swing right into the glass to try to touch us and let us know that he knew we were there. He was a real joy to hang around with!


We visited the tigers to try and see if we could find the babies, but alas, only the mom and dad. This is obviously a picture of the daddy!





After walking through more of the zoo, I realized how BIG it is. I've never been to the Metro Toronto Zoo, and apparently it's great, but this is definitely the coolest zoo I've been to. There's so much to see and a lot of activities for kids as well, including a HUGE jungle gym play structure with a giant tube slide and swings and monkey bars. I mean, it was HUGE. I saw the vultures, which were weird and cool all at the same time. they were fighting over a carcass... and there were these Marabou storks that totally looked like ugly old men to me... like they were cranky and wanted to yell at me to get off their lawn or something.

Later on, we went to the aquarium and watched the penguins being fed... what a frenzy! I was a little afraid for the caretaker. She was throwing fist fulls of fish out into the water, where we could see above and below water level on our side of the glass, and the penguins were not only diving in after the fish, but ganging up on the woman and her big dirty bucket of fish... but she would just shove them back into the water and everything was okay.



We also got to see the really cool underwater tunnel where sea turtles, sharks, and shoals of swirling silver fish glide over and around you from all directions. Really makes you feel like your watching them from under the ocean!

We found Raymond in the Coral Lab, an area that shows how the Zoo has been researching the growth of Coral. It's very difficult to stimulate the growth of coral, which is part of the reason why reefs are having such a hard time in the ocean right now as well (and we're not helping matters). However, in addition to all of the many breeding programs that the Rotterdam zoo has going on, they're also trying to 'breed' coral. They've developed these grid-like tiles that stimulate the growth of coral, and apparently these tiles are being used all over the world for coral research and efforts for coral growth in the oceans. Exciting stuff!

After more exploration, I settled in with the giraffes and drew a quick portrait of one of the females who was licking the door frame for salt. I gave it to Raymond as a thank you for the personal tour and I hope he likes it.

It's too bad Rob had so much school work to do that he couldn't come. He would've had a ball.