Birthday (Fish) Cakes for the Spectacled Bears

Got to see Nikki the Spectacled Bear for the first time since his arrival. I'd heard he was overweight and I found today that people were not exaggerating!! He's already lost about 8 pounds and has maybe 100 more to go. I was rather shocked to hear that a large part of his diet at his previous home was made up of marshmallows!!! I don't think he'll be seeing many of those any time soon. There was a birthday celebration for the other spectacled bear - she got a nice birthday cake full of veggies and fish. Nikki, next door, got one, too, though not as large.

Weasy, the small-clawed Asian otter received some presents from a concerned zoogoer, a couple of little beds. She remained at the small mammal house for some time to see if the otter would make use of them but it wasn't until she left that the otter climbed into one.

I saw that there were a couple of Meerkats in a separate enclosure than all the rest. It turned out that, similar to what happened in Meerkat Manor, one of the secondary females had given birth to an offspring and the others went after her. So she and her young one will be off to another zoo soon.

Was happy to see Luke the Lion again. Got some video of him playing along the trough near the moat.

Thanks to the cheetahs, I noticed that the Maned Wolves were out and about. They are so often sleeping in their houses that I don't usually even walk by their enclosure. But seeing that two cheetahs were lying right by the fence near the zebra, I knew they were watching something other than the zebra. I got a treat and found all three of the maned wolves out and running around their area. I even got to play peek-a-boo with one behind a big tree.

Rokan, the Sumatran tiger, had recently had some dental work and needed to be kept under observation as he had had some anesthetic for the procedure. This left his normal enclosure available for Luke. Luke was very active, following visitors in his enclosure as they walked along beside it. He was quite vocal and seems determined to learn to roar. He was probably confused about being in Rokan's space. Not only could he smell the presence of a different species, but in the regular Lion area, he's able to watch the keepers in their offices which look right out into the lion enclosure whereas he can't see them in the Tiger area.

I happened upon feeding time for Martina and Kiguru, (sp?) the two Caracals. It was bone day for them. They get a big bone once a week. Another day is bunny day, while on other days they get mice and other special treats. The keeper entices them into their indoor space and them closes them in there while the keeper then enters the outdoor enclosure placing food in different spots around the enclosure. The male has only been at National for about a year. He came to replace Bob, in hopes of having the two breed. Apparently Bob and Martina did not get along.

I also made a point to visit the Great Ape House to see Baraka, recently returned from four years in Omaha. It appears that his half-sister Kigali is very happy to see hi back in the group as she had been facing harassment by a couple of the young males in the group. Now she has a protector.

Keeping Track

No, this is not zoo-related.... I thought I'd just stash this info here.

I just ordered a pedometer today, to replace another I had for a couple of years but which broke. I was given another one but it was too hard to set up and I never got comfortable with it. Buying the pedometer got me thinking about the history of the device and if one were to just look about the net a bit, one might come to the conclusion that it's an item invented by Thomas Jefferson. However, this is not the case. That's not to say that Jefferson didn't have his own pedometer. Apparently he did, having acquired it in France. In some February 1786 correspondence with James Madison, after having offered to purchase a watch for him for 24 louis, Jefferson goes on to say "For 12 louis more you can have in the same cover, but on the back side & absolutely unconnected with the movements of the watch, a pedometer which shall render you an exact account of the distances you walk. Your pleasure hereon shall be awaited." It took over a year for Jefferson to write that "By the next packet I shall be able to send you some books as also your watch & pedometer. The two last are not yet done." However, a couple of months later a P.S. was added to another letter saying the items were still not ready.
(Maybe Jefferson's pedometer was made by Breguet or Recordon?? See: this page.)


A number of websites give Leonardo DaVinci the credit for designing the first pedometer. Apparently after earlier developing a wheeled device which would drop a pebble into a box with every revolution, he improved it so that it only dropped a pebble once every mile. This led him to a device which used a pendulum resting on the thigh to keep track of the number of steps taken. It could be used not only on humans but on horses as well. And in the 21st Century there is at least one company that sells Petometers, designed to keep track of your dog's activity.

A number of pedometers from the 16th century and forward are listed in the Online Register of Scientific Instruments, with those from the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford having pictures.

Surprisingly there is no mention of pedometer in the index of the Encyclopedia Britannica, and no discussion of its history in Wikipedia. Someone has come up with an online pedometer based on Google Maps.

Poor Little Otter

I learned that poor little Weasy (not sure of the spelling),the Asian Small-clawed Otter, has had to endure not only the loss of her longtime companion, Bert, but yesterday had five teeth extracted!!

Coatis Going Nowhere

The zoo has three White-nosed Coatis which can sometimes be found taking turns on their exercise wheel. They live down near the big cats, pretty close to the Creek and far from Connecticut Avenue. I taped them on Christmas Eve.

Great Blue

A lot of folks looking for lions got a surprise when they saw a great Blue Heron wandering about the lion enclosure. Luckily for the bird, only sleepy Lusaka was in residence. The heron stayed for more than half an hour, trying unsuccessfully to fly out at one point. The bird walked along the edge of the water until it was within view of the place where Lusaka still slept. And then went back in the other direction, eventually flying up to a spot overlooking the enclosure before at last soaring off over in the direction of Rock Creek, watched by the now awake lion.

A short time later the two new lionesses traded places with Lusaka. Nababiep, born January 2004, and Shera, born in November, 2004, came out and put on a good show for the zoo visitors. They are quite playful, unlike the three young tigers next door who - at least this morning - only wanted to sleep.

Last week, the female Clouded Leopard, Mook, escaped from her enclosure apparently chewing her way through the fencing. She was noticed by a keeper to be sleeping a few yards away from her enclosure and the zoo was immediately shut down while they tranquilized, captured and returned her to the interior of the exhibit. Currently the Clouded Leopards are off-exhibit.

The two young Golden Lion Tamarins which were born in mid-November seem to now be more independent than not. Previously, they were always seen clinging to one of their parents or siblings. This is the family group that has been allowed to roam outside the past couple of summers. A sad situation however is in the enclosure right next door. The male Asian Small Clawed Otter died recently and left behind his long time companion. When I was in the house today, I was surprised to see one of the keepers sitting in the otter enclosure with his hand resting on a blanket and the remaining otter clambering back and forth across his arm.

(This is really dated December 30 but I wanted it to appear in 2007 instead of all by itself in 2006.)