I forgot to add, on my second trip around the gorilla exhibit I saw a volunteer taking notes on what looked like a study sheet on a clipboard. Not sure why, but they may be still trying with Rigo.
I didn't want to start an entirely new thread as I am not sure if I mentioned it already here. Anyway, just before Valentine's Day 2013, we did the seal encounter at the zoo. The voucher was actually a Valentine's Day gift from 2013 that we had to use before it expired. Anyway, this is a wonderful experience. We got to go behind the scenes in the holding areas and help to prepare their fish meals. Then we got to be 'on stage' when they were doing the seal show, and we held the pole for them to jump out of the water, the ring for them to jump through, and I got to throw a plastic bottle in the water for a seal to retrieve. (The show is conservation-based and encourages people to discard of their rubbish correctly, and to not leave nets on the beach blah blah.) Then we went behind the scenes again and each got kisses from a seal, and we got to pat him. All in all, it was well worth it, and I definitely recommend it to anyone that enjoys animal encounters.
I thought Thylo taught you about the difference between seals and fur seals? Perhaps they should have included some messages on taxonomy too? Was the encounter with both species of Fur Seals?
Yeah taxonomy aint my bag, baby! Here is what their website says, so who needs the lesson now? Seal Behind the Scenes | Zoos Victoria I remember my wife tweeting something about a sub-antarctic fur seal, so let's go with that one. All the seals were part of the show, but we only got kissed by the one.
They have one male Sub-Antarctic Fur Seal, and three female Australian Fur Seals. I hope they pointed this out to you and the show audience (at least that they have two species).
Yeah they did a great job. Zoos Victoria staff are fab. I just couldn't remember what they said. They were all 'seals' to me. I forgot to mention that there is a staff member that is a paparazzi, and they basically take loads of pics during the encounter. The photos are available for sale after - something like $80 for all the pics on a flash drive. The pics weren't stunning, but at least they captured the moment. I'll have to post a couple some time. I have a favourite.
I like the concept of this pic. We ended the encounter with front row seats to the seals being fed the fish we had prepared earlier.
So you spent an extra $80 for photos? That seems like a lot. Are you allowed to take your own photos or not? The cost of the encounter isn't bad though, at $100.
Hehe. Yes, you are allowed to take your own photos to your heart's content. You are so engrossed in the encounter that you either forget to or don't get the opportunity to though.
