Oh look. This exhibit is a pile of hay.

This past weekend was so relaxing. Not too hot. Not too cold. It was just right.

I was able to get some much needed pond cleaning and exhibit maintenance done. And I went into one of our most comical (at least in my opinion) animal's exhibit for some conditioning, Gus the groundhog.

At first glance, visitors may think we have put a pile of hay on display. But deep within that pile lives a slightly lazy and particular creature. Gus has been at the zoo about 3 years now and demands peanuts on a daily basis. The intern and I went in with him over the weekend to clean up some leftover peanut shells, cardboard box remnants, and mix up his dirt pool. While we were doing this, he rummaged through his food bowl, looking for all the peanuts, which we had cleverly buried in the dirt pool. :)

Finally, after realizing what we had done, he gave us a very disapproving glare, picked up his ear of corn and started munching away.

We continued to clean, watching him nibble his corn. The visitors that walked by kept commenting how adorable he was and how they never see him. Lucky for them, they came by at the right time on Sunday. Once we finished our task, we left the exhibit to clean more houses. Later in the day, I returned to check in on Gus and needless to say, that big hay pile was back on exhibit. Only now, there were peanut shells and a nibbled-on ear of corn in the dirt pool.

Posted by Lynsey