Bowling for Rhinos and Spring in the Zoo

On May 14th the zoo will be hosting Bowling for Rhinos fundraiser at Tropicana Lanes in Clayton. Team registration is due May 5th, so hopefully we can get some teams of interns collected. If there is anything the zoo interns love, its bowling. Nothing has bonded us more than a couple of games of bowling. We had played around with the idea of starting our own bowling league, called "Zoobots", but this fell through. This is a great way to help the zoo, and I really hope a lot of people come out for the event. Interestingly enough, this past weekend is the first time I've gotten a good look at the rhinos here at the St. Louis Zoo. In fact, the animal I see most often in their yard is the groundhog that has burrowed its way in and makes frequent appearances out and about the exhibit. It's almost a lesson in surrealism; immersion offset by the realization you are still in the Midwest when a local critter is hanging out with the exotic wildlife. When the weather gets warmer I think I'll enjoy walking through Rivers Edge a little bit more. The Dwarf Mongooses are out (yes, mongooses. I checked) again; you can see them sunning themselves in their little yard in front of the Cheetahs. I wonder if sometimes the cheetahs curse fate for being so close to tasty little morsels and yet are so far away.

Over in Red Rocks the two infant Takins are the stars of the area. They are beyond ADORABLE.
The littlest one is constantly being bullyed by the older one, and they often tussle with each other. They run through their mother's legs and hop up and down the cliffs with such ease. Takins look like bears with hoofs but they are actually more closely related to goats than they are to cows (I have overheard several people make the mistake of assuming they are as such. I'd like to see a cow get up those rocks!)

Across from the Takins, the SWAs are growing up. The plan is to eventually divide the mothers/foals into two herds as they will be weened completely soon. It's weird to think of them as little adult asses...they'll always be infants to me.

Reading back over my posts, I've realized I have plenty of great pictures to post with them. Hopefully I can figure out how to post pictures at the bottom of posts and get some of those up!

EDIT: big brother Andrew helped me out with this :) thanks!