A Christmas Eve Surprise

'Twas Christmas Eve night, and all through the zoo,

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Not a creature was stirring, not even the kangaroo.
The apples were given to animals with care,
Anticipation of presents was thick in the air.

The animals waited, sure something was new,
Excitement was clear as the snow piles grew.
And I in my galoshes, and he in his coat,
Had just finished stashing the last gondola boat.

When out in the entrance, there arose such a clatter,
We sprang from the dock to see what was the matter.
Away to the entrance, we ran a 60-yard dash,
Anxious to discover the source of the crash.

The snowmen stood proud in their posts by the gates,
Welcoming guests to their first stop: the primates.
And how could we guess what would come to us next.
But something so unexpected from Santa: a text!

"I'm sorry for all the commotion we'll cause,
Rudolph's nose has gone out, and has given us pause."
And there Santa stood, looking ready to cry.
"I'm not sure at all how we'll continue to fly."

There came an idea, to my mind swift that night.
"Santa, there's a solution to your current flight plight.

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We'll gather some magic from our best wishing well,
You can use it and store more in your biggest sleigh bell."

"Alas, the idea to use wishes to fly!
I can't believe I didn't think to give it a try.
So away to the well, quickly Santa did go,
Pulling a rope from the bucket with a great big "heave, ho!"

Up came the bucket, with great circumstance,
Santa got so excited, he started to dance.
"The children who visit, with their heart full of gold
Are giving us a chance to try something quite bold."

With no time to waste, we gathered loose change
And tried to decide how the elves could arrange.
The bells among reindeer and around Santa's sleigh,
While Prancer stood by, calmly munching some hay.

And in the great bell, we stuffed every wish penny,
while the zookeeper, Dave, helped an elf named Ben Benny.
"We just need to make sure all the ropes are stretched taut,
If anything comes loose, he'll be so distraught."

We jockeyed and put all the reindeer in line,
But from way in the back, Rudolph started to whine,
I don't understand how the magic will make it okay,
My nose won't light up, and we can't see the way.

Santa smiled ever so sweetly, and calmly explained
This is something you'll get when you've been fully trained
The wishes have magic, which makes the bells glow
And lights up our path as we fly over the snow.

So with everything ready for them to take off,
Santa turned to us now with a throat-clearing cough.
I cant tell you exactly how much all your help really means,
These wishes are more magic than the most magic beans.

As he sprang to his sleigh, and his elves got tucked in
He turned and exclaimed: to Zoo Mark goes the win

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Away the group flew, to continue their quest
The sleigh turned its coursers so they were headed due west

We couldn't quite decide if it had all been a dream,
As the sun slowly rose, and we fixed coffee with cream.
I arrived back at home, heard my husband was snoring,
And from the front porch, I saw Santa's sleigh soaring.

Course Reflection

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At the beginning of this class, I was nervous about what we were going to learn- I was worried that i wouldn't be good at social media platforms. I came in with a lot of nerves, but also a lot of excitement, because my gut told me that I was going to like doing this kind of work, no matter my actual skill level.

I was expecting to learn about Facebook and Twitter, and Instagram, but my expectations of learning anything really super new was pretty low. I wasn't expecting to learn anything audio-related, or about blogger. I was really dreading the audio stuff, purely because I hate the sound of my own voice.

During the course of the semester, I learned that I'm a lot more creative than I thought. I never expected to be successful in blogging or anything recorded. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there is a rhyme and reason to everything we do, when we do it, and why we do it.

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Overall, my favorite experience throughout the semester was the creative process. I love siting down and coming up with a clever blog, finding cute pictures, and seeing how many corny animal-puns I can get away with before it turns into cheese whiz.

This turned out to be my all-time favorite class.  

Who wears it best?

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No Shave November is in full swing, and we'll be a monkey's uncle if the facial hair around here isn't looking positively lumberjack. Walt kicked us off on November 1 by getting a good look at all the clean-shaven, but soon-to-be-hairy, hopefuls so we could get a fair comparison of the before and after shots, but I don't think even he expected such wildness.

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No Shave November started out as a way to raise awareness and money for men's health, and has since become a national phenomenon. Men nationwide shave their faces on the first, and then give up their razors in the race to be hairiest in the land, all in solidarity of men fighting illnesses that rob them of their hair. Since then, it has evolved to include "movember", which is a contest to grow the best mustache only. We may be biased, but we feel that young Jack Sparrow had a firm lock on that particular title.

As firm supporters of any fight for a cure, we challenged the men in our little corner of the world to do their hairiest in support of No Shave November, and they're certainly following through. We never expected the sheer number of dapper beards and mustaches that we've witnessed, and we're certainly excited to share their progress with you! we've voted on the top two bearded bragsters, and we need you to help us choose the king of the beards.

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Who's who at our favorite zoo?

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There's a lot to love about a zoo as busy as ours. On average, we see about 3,200 visitors a week. So it's only natural that there's a few exhibits that happen to be Zooligan favorites. We've put together a list of the top five favorite places to be at Zoo Mark.

5. The Toucan Towers. This doesn't really surprise us, since we know our Toucans are bright, smart, and...chatty. Sometimes too much so. No whisper is safe from Tyga's ears; she once repeated a dad's little secret about a surprise Backstage Paw Pass for the whole crowd to hear. Including his twins. Whoops, sorry dad!

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4. Manatee Bay. These easygoing, gentle giants are pretty laid back and don't mind hanging out for photo opps and the wayward treat, so it's only natural that these guys are the stars of their own show.

3. Gorilla Mountain and Panda Pagoda tied for the number three spot on our countdown to number one. Gorillas are playful and curious, making them super popular with our younger zooligans looking for a new friend and playmate through the glass. Our Matriarch, Tur, took part in our Zooligans Read program a couple weeks ago, and she was the perfect hostess. And who doesn't love pandas? their playful antics are always fun to watch.

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2. Tiger Tundra. We love every animal here at the zoo, but the tigers hold an extra special place in our heart since we're working so hard to rebuild the population and protect them from extinction. This year we were excited to welcome a new member to our tiger clan. She's doing well, and we love her to pieces, so the fact that you guys love them as much as we do is super special to us.

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1. Rock-a-Bye Nursery is by far our most popular stop, and who can blame you? Our state-of-the-art nursery is home to a dozen or so babies at any given time, growing big and strong until they can rejoin their families in the habitats we've created to make them as close to home in the wild as we can. Our babies are monitored closely by highly skilled staff to ensure that they stay on track developmentally and can be safely transitioned back to their families without becoming to reliant on their human nurses. As much as we love them, we know that their best chance is with their own kind.

Well, that's a wrap on this year's top five list. Be sure to stop in and see us, and keep up to date on zoo happenings through our Facebook and twitter accounts linked to the right. ==>

Check out our special commercial tribute to military animals in honor of Veteran's Day, right here: Zoo Mark Military Animal Commercial

All things autumn-festy

Calling all Zooligans!

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Raise your paw if you love animals. Now raise your other paw if you like apple orchards, pumpkin patches, and anything autumn. Are both hands up? Good, you're invited. To what, you ask? Only the biggest, bestest, apple and pumpkin spiciest Fall Harvest Party, ever! We're about to be the best part of your entire autumn.

We're pulling out all the stops this year. We've invited Wyatt from Rocking-M Horse Farms and Kylie of Apple Smash Apple Orchards for horse-drawn hay rides, apple picking, and Granny's Kitchen pie and ice cream specials, all at half the price you pay when you go to their home bases. I can't even...I just...There's so much...CIDER! Auggie and Obie will be on site to test out the product line, but they aren't coming alone. There's going to be all manner of monkey business going on. We're bringing in a Fall harvest farmer's market, a carnival with games (tickets 10 for $5), prizes and pony rides ($2); it's gonna be huge, Zooligans! With all this going on, can you imagine anything else you'd rather be doing? We can't. We've gone bananas, and we're taking you along for the ride.

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Did we let you in on the best secret of all? During the party, admission to the zoo is...Free. Yeah, we went there, it's free. Grab your kids, grab your sweaters, and meet us at Zoo Mark next Saturday, November 12, 2016. You absolutely can not miss this one!

See you at the zoo!

A Fishy Fact

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It's Trick-or-Trunk weekend at Zoo Mark, and in honor of our celebrations, we thought we'd share a "spook-tacular" animal fact on this week's blog posting.

Great White Sharks, one of the ocean's most feared predators, can smell blood from up to three miles away. That's quite a ways away to be sniffing out sushi!

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We were looking at introducing a Great White into our shark exhibit recently, but our research revealed that they are one of the only animals that truly cannot flourish in captivity; the longest one has ever survived outside of their natural habitat is six months. The jury is still out on exactly why that may be, but we're chalking it up to the fact that sharks of that size need several hundred miles to travel in order to find prey and enough oxygen to breathe properly, and no tank exists that can provide that. It's the same for most whales- they are simply too big to be in captivity. There is a lot of debate regarding captive orcas- many say that they are also too big to be in a tank, and stories of orca-related trainer deaths seem to support that idea. The other big reason Great White Sharks may not do well in captivity is that they are solitary animals; they don't always play nice with the other animals and humans. The opposite may be why dolphins do well in captivity- they are naturally very social creatures, engaging with humans even in the wild.

No matter how ferocious an animal may seem, we believe that every one- feathered, furry or finned, deserves their best chance to flourish, and therefore we at Zoo Mark will be leaving Great White Sharks in their ocean homes.

For updates on Zoo Mark shenanigans, check out this week's podcast at: Zoo Mark Podcast

Also, don't forget to stop in to Treasure Cove for your Buy One Get One stuffed Halloween-themed animal. We're running the special Friday, October 28, 2016 through Monday, October 31, 2016, while supplies last.

Pink is the new black!

At Zoo Mark, we love pink, especially when it represents something as important as Breast Cancer Awareness. In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we will be featuring Fanny, our Pink Flamingo, at our Wildlife Education Class this week (October 22, 2016), and Dorian, one of our rare Pink Dolphins next week (October 29, 2016). We think it's important to get the word out so everyone stays as protected as possible.

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It's not just humans that get breast cancer, either. Any animal with breast tissue runs a chance of getting it. We take care to make sure none of our furry or finned mammal friends go unchecked. Part of every animal's annual health check includes blood work and physical examinations to insure that we catch anything out of the ordinary as soon as possible. We take this especially serious with our hybrid friends, since they are genetically at a higher risk for any cancer, even breast cancer.

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This week at Zoo Mark, we are donating 30% of our ticket sales to the National Breast Cancer Foundation in honor of the brave mammals (because men can get it, too) who have fought the battle against breast cancer. Together, we can fight for a cure. Do it for your family; do it for your friends. Do it for the tata's!

For more information on the cause, the cure, and so much more, go to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc. web page.