Bulletin From the Barn: November 30, 2011
Giant Anteater Update From Keeper Marie Magnuson
The anteaters are back! The work was completed on the new pool and the barn at the end of September. The new pool looks great and is a kind of reddish-brown, similar to the red clay which is common in this area so it looks very natural. It has a deep area in the center, but instead of the steep (and slippery) sides of the old pool it has a lot of shallow area around the sides, perfect for the anteaters to bathe in. They should be much more visible when they do bathe since they will be only about a foot and a half below the level of the surrounding yard instead of four feet below as in the old pool.
In addition to the new pool, the barn got some much-needed repairs. A comment we frequently hear from visitors who are looking at the anteaters is, “We need one of those at home!” Trust me, no you don’t. Originally the anteater barn was lined with a nice scrub-able laminate. It is now lined with sheet metal. The first law of anteater geometry is that the shortest distance between Point A (the anteater) and Point B (the ants) is straight through the wall.
But by the end of September, all the work was done on the barn and the pool and the Zoo’s Horticulture team came and really made the yard look great! They trimmed trees and laid sod and most important of all, brought in lots of wood chips. The wood chips encourage all kinds of insect activity, and the anteaters love to dig in them.
So about half way through October everything was ready for the return of Maripi, Pablo and Dante. Once again we shut them up in their crates while it was early enough in the morning that they were still pretty sleepy. Everything went smoothly, and the only thing that was different from the move up to Cheetah Conservation Station was that afterwards it was Pablo who lost his composure and needed a bath rather than his father Dante.
With the remarkably mild weather that we have been enjoying the anteaters have been outside most days. Hope you can stop by on a warm winter afternoon and see them!
