At the Zoo-oo-oo

This month's leadership gathering included a session about exhibitions. The subset of our group that put this part together organized several hands-on experiences, one of which was behind-the-scenes at construction underway at the National Zoo. After all, designing exhibitions where the "objects" are live creatures is a bit different.

 This is the elephant house. The exterior is getting a bit of a facelift.

Inside, a complete remodeling! Where I'm standing will be the new (and condensed) area for visitors. Where those tall poles are will mark the front end of the new (and expanded) area for the elephants. Construction is cool.

Yup. Hard hats for everyone. Wish I could find my old one from our museum construction.... 

 This is on the American trail, and will be the new home to the seals and sea lions. It's really stunning, and will re-open in September. Can't wait!

 Back to the elephant house. Above, "browse" -- bamboo and other tasty shoots they snack on. Below, one of the doors open to their outdoor enclosure so that they can move freely in and out.

 Part of the new interior, with wider chutes and many more openings and options. Below, elephant toys. Yes, those are tractor tires and super heavy. (There's even a large stone weight in the lower one.) Yes, the lines on the wall are from the tires.

 Then, to meet the ladies! On the left is Ambika. She is from India originally, but is the matriarch of the group, now 64 years old. On the right is Shanthi, originally from Sri Lanka. She is 37 and the mother of 10-year old Kandula. Keeping a bull Asian elephant was part of the reason for renovating the elephant house exhibit -- bulls are much larger and stronger and have different needs. Ultimately, the Zoo wants to keep a small herd.

 Ambika came to explore us, then worked to peel some bark from this tree. Eventually, she heard the lunch bell, and ambled across the enclosure to join Shanthi for lunch.

This was such a wonderful experience! Like most parts of Smithsonian, staff are really passionate about what they do. The folks at the Zoo were so generous with their time. And, our group is always interested in asking more questions and having a good dialog. The result: no lunch hour! Thankfully, our next speakers were not bothered as we ate during their presentation. 


We have several more of these themed meetings to come. In July, it's all about collections. Sadly, I will miss that one because of my trip. (Although, one of the field trips is to my museum's collections facility, to discuss non-traditional collections care practices, and thankfully, I think I've got that one pretty well.) In August, we cover education, and it looks like my new space will be one of the features. Then in September, my subgroup is covering research, and we're planning a trip out to the Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal VA, so more animals there, as we talk about science and endangered species conservation. We'd also like a session on central units, but I'm not sure that we're going to be able to fit that in this time. And, we get a bonus -- next month's meeting is up in Cambridge with a visit to the Astrophysical Observatory. Cool!