Japanese Lantern Lighting Festival

This years festival was a huge success. The weather was beautiful which helped in the amazing turn out. This years theme was 'Elements of Tea.' There were a few booths that sampled tea, hot and cold. The entertainment was on the main stage which included dancing and music. There were martial arts demonstrations through out the festival grounds. Booths showcased topics regarding the Japanese culture, ranging from games to pottery. There were also special tours to the Tea House. At dusk the lanterns were light in the Frog pond and the Japanese Garden. It was a very peaceful and beautiful way to close out the festival. Thank you to all of those who participated and attended this event.

Presenting Murry!

Murry a male Amur Tiger came to us in June from the Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth. After a mandatory 30 stay in quarantine to make sure he was free of any bugs or parasites that could be transferred to the zoo collection, he was moved to the Large Cat Building. After a few weeks of getting used to the building and his holding area, he was offered the chance to go on exhibit. The first few days he looked at the open door, but did not venture onto the exhibit. Finally on Wednesday he made his way outside, and as you can see from the picture, Murry looks quite content outside. Murry will be splitting his time on the exhibit with the female tiger, Pahstrel, until they are introduced later this year. For now, they are meeting through a mesh wall to get the scent and sight of eachother. Murry is a big guy, about 450 pounds, dwarfing petite Pahstrel by about 250 pounds! He has a mellow temperment, and we feel he will be a great addition to the cat house. Murry is being incorporated into Como Zoo's Operant Conditioning Training Program, and should learn the basics of training such as targets, paw presents, and shifting quite quickly.

Busy Days

Each day there is something exciting happening at Como Park Zoo and Conservatory. On Saturday there were two company picnics, wedding ceremonies and wedding receptions. The grounds were fairly busy with the general public because it was such a beautiful day. Almost all of the animals were outside and they were very active. Visiting the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory is a great place to plan any event or just to come for a day visit.

Sparky's Learning!

When she isn't performing Sparky VI is learning all kinds of new behaviors. Sometimes that means learning something completely new, sometimes it means building off of something she already knows and making it a little more complex, and other times it means reminding her of a behavior she already knows!




Yes, believe it or not, sea lions can forget things too! For example, Sparky VI knows how to balance a ball on her nose both on the land and in the water. At one point in her life, she also knew how to hold it on her nose while she came out of the water and onto the stage, which is quite a leap if you've seen the show! However, about a year ago she either forgot the behavior or something has prevented her from being able to perform it for over a year.




As trainers it is our job to determine why she isn't performing the behavior anymore and figure out if and how we can get her doing the ball balance again. The first thing we needed to assess was if she was still physically capable of doing the behavior. When I was 12 I could do a back-flip, but it would be unfair to expect me to do that now since I haven't done one in years and I am completely out of practice! We had to find out if the behavior have become uncomfortable to do for some reason. Did she pull a muscle? Has her muscle tone or sense of balance changed recently? As trainers sometimes we can pick up on very subtle behavioral cues which would indicate the animal might have a medical issue that would need the vets attention. We tested her balance and strength and determined none of these to be an issue. She was performing all of her most challenging behaviors without any hesitation! We also checked her weight to see if she had gained any additional poundage that would make it difficult to perform the behavior. Our pinnipeds are weight each week and she was well within her normal range, which is 130-140 lbs. Luckily there did not seem to me a medical or physical reason for why she would not come out of the water with the ball on her nose.


Hmmm, so if she appears to be physically capable then why would she not do it? Well, it could be a number of things: she could have forgetten, maybe she just doesn't want to, or maybe she messed up one time and now she is not sure she can do it! Either way to get the behavior back, patience it key. I needed to make every step towards the final behavior very rewarding which means she gets lots of fish and attention. If she forgot and isn't sure she can do it anymore then taking small steps towards the final behavior will hopefully remind her what we would like her to do. So that is what we have been doing all summer. I asked her to hold the ball steadily on her nose in the water, and gave her lots of fish! Then I asked her to come on deck and if she swam quickly towards me, I gave her lots of fish! Next I expected her to try and come out of the water, even if she couldn't keep the back on her nose, I would give her lots of fish, an A for effort! Well that seemed to fix it! Now she tries everytime to keep the ball on her nose and come out of the water. Sometimes she does it perfectly and she practically gets her whole bucket of fish! Other times she drops it, but I still feed her so the behavior stays fun and interesting for her. Afterall, one of the major reasons we train aniamls is to keep the animals mentally stimulated. In addition, this behavior is developing her muscle strength and tone and increasing her agility. Hopefully by next summer she will be keeping the ball on her nose and moving all around the stage and water easily!

The Proud Mother Jen

For the first time in the history of Como Zoo, we have a flamingo chick! Como's bird keeper, Jen, has worked diligently for the past several years, trying to create the optimal conditions needed for egg laying and chick rearing. This year was a success! Three Chilean flamingos laid an egg each which was swapped out with a false egg so the real eggs could be put in an incubator to ensure they were not accidently stepped on or broken. Two turned out to be infertile, but one was fertile and a careful watch began waiting for it to hatch. After a 28 day incubation period, the time had come. Keepers were able to hear the chick calling from within the egg and feel the movement of it trying to escape the shell. The dummy egg was replaced by the now hatching egg to allow the parent flamingos to start bonding with their baby. Early Thursday morning when zookeepers got to work for the day, they got their first glimpse of the small white chick from under the wing of the father flamingo. The first time parents have been doing an amazing job, feeding crop "milk" to the chick and keeping it warm. Now that it has started to stand and wander around the nest, the two adults are kept busy following the chick as it checks out the wide world around. The chick will continue to get braver and wander the bird exhibit more, but the parents will maintain a constant vigil. Stop by the bird yard and see the little cutie. The zookeepers are very proud of the successful hatch and have hopes of more in the future. Jen is definitely the mother hen of the bird exhibit and her hard work has paid off.

Sparky the 5th is 30 year old!

That’s right, this weekend Sparky V celebrated his 30th birthday!

He began doing Sparky the Sea Lion shows in the early 80’s with Norm Byng. He entertained visitors for over 20 years, until he and his trainer retired in 2001. Even though Sparky is retired from shows, he is still trained daily, and remembers many of his show behaviors. You may remember Sparky’s run in with the Minnesota mosquito. He used to show the crowd where the mosquito bit him, right on his rump and he would show everyone just how noisy that mosquito was! I still remember the whole routine he and Norm did because I made my parents take me to the zoo all the time. Sparky is quite a legend here at Como and we value everyday we get to work with him in our training sessions, knowing that for a sea lion he has now fully entered "Old Age." California sea lions, like Sparky, on average live 15-25 years in the wild and about 30 years in captivity. However, according to our records, the oldest sea lion in captivity has lived to be 35 years old , so we are pushing for Sparky to break that record!

To celebrate his birthday the visitors and news crews sang him "Happy Birthday!" and his keepers made a special frozen fish birthday cake just for him and one for each of his roommates. He also painted a picture to document the day. Volunteers helped decorate the island by making an awsome banner to hang on Seal Island!

Thanks to everyone who came out to help us celebrate and Happy Birthday Sparky!

Ralph "Doc" Farnsworth on Twin Cities Live

KSTP's Twin Cities Live - July 22, 2008