We're going to the Zoo, zoo, zoo? How about you, you, you?

Looking back at old posts, you would think that all I do is a. travel to East Coast cities or b. have visitors from out of town here in DC. While I will admit that these are among my favorite things to do, I have seriously neglected one of my other favorite parts of my life here in DC -- volunteering at the National Zoo! (note: this post is long, but if you get to the bottom, you will be rewarded by more sloth pictures!)

I've been an "Interpreter" (the museum term for educator) in the Amazonia exhibit for the past 6 months, and have been loving every minute of it. "Interpreter" is actually a familiar term for me -- that was my job title when I was working full-time at the Franklin Institute Science Museum in philly right after college. While I didn't love that job (it wasn't the most challenging experience in the world), there are parts of it I really really miss, like teaching and interacting with the public about science and helping people to make connections to nature/science.

I realized that this was a gap in my life shortly after moving to DC, and decided to fill it by volunteering at the U.S. Botanic Garden. Although I truly LOVE the botanic garden, their focus is much more horticulture/how-to-grow-plants, and I was looking for something more ecological/how-plants-fit-into-the-bigger-picture. Anyway, it wasn't my thing, so I quickly abandoned that in search of more interactive volunteer work. I immediately thought of the Zoo, but had to wait a while until a training was taking place. Training itself was one of my favorite things about volunteering at the Zoo -- it was like being in a hybrid of Tropical Ecology and Field Bio all over again. Ed, our teacher for much of the training, and a curator?keeper? for the exhibit, is chock-full of fascinating tidbits and stories about the Amazon and its ecology.

And the exhibit itself is heaven on earth. They turned what used to be the Polar Bear exhibit into a two-leveled house of wonders. The bottom floor represents the Amazon river and contains freshwater stingrays and arapaima and lots of other wonderful fish, and the tanks are open on the second floor, which represents the Amazon rainforest itself. So you get to see all of these wonderful interactions between the birds and plants up top with the fish and turtles on the bottom -- it's kind of amazing, and there's always something interesting to talk about.

Up top, there are lots of exciting plants -- my personal favorites are the jaboticaba, the model kapok tree, and the cecropia (which makes me think of Costa Rica). I also love observing and talking about all of the canopy-level plants, like the orchids, aroids, and bromeliads -- they're a great touchstone to talk with visitors about where the biomass is in a rainforest (hint: not the soil!), and how agricultural practices influence conservation . . . amazing.

There are two monkeys (Dusky Titi monkeys), who are very active and a crowd favorite, and lots of different types of birds. I must admit, before volunteering here, I was NOT a bird person. Not anti-bird, like a camper of mine one summer who was tragically frightened of birds, just not that excited about them in general. Anyway, I love the birds in the exhibit -- there are Roseate Spoonbills (they're pink!), a White-Tailed Trogon (who I think is just the prettiest thing), Sunbitterns (they look unassuming until they feel threatened, and then they open their wings to reveal beautiful feathers), and lots of others.

And last, but very not least, there is a Two-Toed Sloth. She's very old (more than 40 years old!), and very often hidden amongst the trees (in the photo below you can sort of see her hanging out in the Mahogany tree if you look realllllly closely), so it's VERY exciting when you can see her, and I have been fortunate enough to see her a few times (see other pictures below). My favorite of her behaviors is when she climbs on the railing on top of the exhibit and scoops condensation from the ceiling to drink (sadly, I do not have a picture of it). Needless to say, one of my fellow volunteers claims he is the "Sloth Whisperer" because both of the great sightings were when he was volunteering, but all I'm saying is that I was there both of those days, too . . .

There is much more to say about the wonderfulness of volunteering at the Zoo, but I will cut myself off for now, except to say that you should visit when I'm volunteering! And I haven't even mentioned the Science Gallery! Ah me, next post . . .