Everyone Loves Fiona

Dear George,

Thanks to YouTube videos, our Cincinnati Zoo’s baby hippo, Fiona, has become the most famous hippo in all of history.  She has over half a million followers on Facebook, and views of her videos run into the millions.  Born six weeks early on Jan. 24, 2016, Fiona weighed less than half as much as the average hippo newborn, and there was grave concern about her survival.  Now her size, weight, and health status are equivalent to hippos born after a full-term pregnancy.  Katja and I check for Fiona updates every day, and I have to admit that I’ve adopted her as my muse.  Here’s my update.

Love,

Dave

      Everyone Loves Fiona

My wife says Fiona is beautiful

I myself think she’s ugly-cute

She could be hired by Looney Tunes

Such a pudgy little hippo galoot

Fiona was a six-week preemie

They doubted they’d keep her alive

She weighed only twenty-nine pounds at birth

The smallest had been fifty-five

This newborn was too weak to nurse with her mom

The humans took over her care

She got early food through an intravenous tube

For months it was scare after scare

Twenty-five people joined Fiona’s team

Keepers, techies, and vets

They called her “Little Spoon” from snuggling

Perilous work but they had no regrets

Fiona gained pounds, got ready for her pool

She learned how to climb down the ramp

Soon she was paddling from side to side 

As though it were summer camp

Now Fiona’s at home in the water

She glides along the bottom of her pool

Then she’ll come up for a quick snootful of air

Dive back down through her own whirlpool

Fiona’s been learning to run here and there

She’s speedy though not a gazelle

Curious about every new plaything

Which she seeks out to nudge and to smell

This baby is such a good eater

All day long she has formula and hay 

This week she reached over two ninety pounds

She will wind up three thousand, they say

Her parents are Bibi and Henry

Together they weigh three point five tons

This youngster must get bigger to be with them

So she won’t be squashed by their buns

We keep a close eye on Fiona

Her YouTube videos are grand

This hippo’s the source of our smiles and laughs

When we meet her we’ll do a handstand

Cincinnati Zoo Nanny Blakely Retires

Dear George, 

We’ve lost a chum at the Cincinnati Zoo.  After six years of duty as the zoo’s nanny for a wide variety of baby animals, Australian Shepherd Blakely is retiring.  Blakely was recruited for his job when zoo staff visited a local dog shelter to find a dog who would be a gentle caretaker for other animals.  Only eight months old at the time, Blakely fit the bill from the start.   

The zoo’s executive director Thane Maynard explains: “When mom can’t take care of them, they need all the help they can get.  In essence, Blakely is a nursery worker, helping interact and play with baby animals. It’s cute and fun, and yet in terms of those babies growing up, that socialization is an important thing.”

Blakely’s first charge was a tiny cheetah named Savanna.  When Savanna’s brother died, her mother ignored her, and zookeepers put her in the nursery with Blakely.  Blakely responded immediately in a nurturing way, letting Savanna climb all over him, snuggle, and play together.  

When babies don’t know how to eat, Blakely dips his snout into a bowl of milk and lets the baby lick the milk off of his fur.  As the babies get old enough to eat from a food bowl, Blakely teaches them to eat by going to the bowl first, leading the baby to run to it before their big competitor eats up the food.  In his time at the zoo Blakely has taken care of newborns from numerous species: a skunk, cheetahs, a bat-eared fox, a warthog, a takin, an aardvark, brother wallabies, and a baby ocelot.  

Because they were ignored by their mother, Blakely most recently has been taking care of the zoo’s three Malayan tiger cubs: Chira, Batari, and Izzy.  Dawn Strasser, head of the nursery staff, explains: “Blakely is the adult in the room.  He teaches them proper tiger etiquette by checking them when they’re getting too rough or aggressive.  This is something that their human surrogates can’t do.”  As the cubs have grown larger, they’ve outgrown the nursery and their nanny, moving to the Night Hunters building.    

When Blakely’s not on duty, he frequently goes for a walk around the zoo with a staff member, and he’s just as friendly to little kids as he is to the zoo animals.  Last year the City of Cincinnati proclaimed October 19 to be Blakely Day in the city.  In retirement Blakely will go to live on a farm with nursery head, Dawn Strasser.  However, if the occasion arises, he may be called back into nursery duty. 

Love,

Dave

Autumn at the Zoo

Dear George,

There are many beautiful places in Cincinnati, but the zoo in autumn has to rank near the very top.  Here are some photos that I took this week.

Love,

Dave

A Festival of Tulips

Dear George,

Spring is at its peak wherever you go in Cincinnati.  The zoo’s flower show is one of the very best places.

Love,

Dave

Monti Carlo Tulips

Monsella Tulip

Golden Apeldoorn Tulips

Banja Luka Tulips

Cherokee Princess Dogwood

Negrita Tulips

Monti Carlo Tulip

Apeldoorn Tulip

Monti Carlo Tulips

Negrita Tulip

Monsella Tulips

Daydream Tulips

Monsella Tulip

G-mail Comments

-Jennifer M (5-4):  When did you take these photos?  They’re beautiful!

-DL to Jennifer (5-6):  I took them on Wed., Apr. 30.  Actually they were at their peak about a week earlier, though the photos turned out o.k. 

-Linda C (5-4): You must be a month ahead of Lansing, how fun to see all the tulips and their names.  Going to CA Thursday, they had such a warm winter flowers are out earlier.