Monday, April 30, 2012

Z is for Zoo

Source: Cincinnati Zoo at Wikimedia Commons

The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden has been in operation since 1875, and is one of the oldest zoos in the United States. While I sometimes have mixed feelings about zoos and struggle with the idea of animals in captivity, I do believe the Cincinnati Zoo does a lot of amazing work. Of the zoos I have visited in the US, it is by far the best.

Every May, the Zoo puts on Zoo Babies, which is a celebration of all the baby animals born in recent months. Unsurprisingly, it is a very popular month at the Zoo, as it's hard for anyone to resist the baby animals. This year, I am in love with these baby wallabies, who are currently living in the Zoo nursery.



One of the things that impresses me the most about the Cincinnati Zoo is their Center for the Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife, or CREW. CREW is a state of the art research facility, and it is dedicated to saving endangered plants and animals from extinction. Their slogan is "Saving Species with Science."

In addition to working in the CREW facility here in Cincinnati, CREW scientists and researchers are dedicated to the protection of endangered animals in their native habitats. To that end, CREW has worked in Mongolia on an ecological study of wild pallas' cats and trained Mongolian students to work for the conservation of the cats' habitat, and founded an international consortium to work towards protecting the habitat of ocelots in Brazil. In addition, CREW has done groundbreaking work on saving the Sumatran rhinoceros from extinction.

Source: Cincinnati Zoo at Wikimedia Commons

CREW celebrated its 30th birthday in 2011, and I think their work is definitely something to celebrate here in Cincinnati. The CREW scientists are internationally recognized for their Signature Projects, which include small cats, rhinos, and endangered plants.

And with that, I am done with my A-Z of Cincinnati Challenge! Thank you to everyone who has stopped by here and read my posts, it's been great to meet new friends and catch up with some old ones along the way.



 Big thanks as well to the 2012 A-Z Challenge hosts:

Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird) Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas) Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh) Life is Good (Tina Downey) Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons) Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins) The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence) The QQQE (Matthew MacNish) Author Elizabeth Mueller (Elizabeth Mueller) Pearson Report (Jenny Pearson) No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow) Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp) Coming Down The Mountain (Karen Jones Gowen)


Kudos to all of my fellow A-Z participants. It's been a great month! :)


49 comments:

  1. You were a great ambassador for Cincinnati. Well done Julie!

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  2. I loved learning more about your great city!

    And those baby wallabies are precious :)

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  3. I know what you mean regarding mixed feelings about zoos. My favorites tend to be the ones that are also saving and helping animals. There are some great places like that around where I live. :)

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  4. I've been to that zoo! No haunted zoo babies, huh?

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  5. trekking your blog!!! i miss going to the zoo...

    cheers!
    ..TREK..

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  6. That baby wallaby is adorable, but I know what you mean about zoos. Congrats for making it the distance, and for being such an awesome Chamber of Commerce kinda ambassador for your city. Great job!

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  7. I've enjoyed your posts so much Julie. And that wallaby picture is sooo cute!

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  8. @Tim, thank you!

    @Carol, aren't they the cutest? Thanks so much.

    @Madeline, yeah, I feel the same way. Glad you have some good ones there too.

    @Alex, LOL, I hadn't thought of the ghost stories but I bet there are some ghosts at the zoo. I'm going to have to look into that.

    @Trek, thanks! Great to meet you!

    @Susan, thank you, maybe I could get the Chamber to hire me LOL.

    @Johanna, thanks so much, I appreciate it!

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  9. I also have not been a big fan of zoo's, but your post was very inspiring. Who can resist the babies??

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  10. Julie:
    I enjoyed your blog, as well as the stories about the animals. Congrats on completing the challenge!

    For some reason, I got notification of your post on my Z, but it has disappeared off Blogger. I am not liking blogger lately. But, thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed my posts.

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  11. Aww! I love going to zoos, and I learned so much about Cincinnati, if I ever get out that way. :)

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  12. @Joy, that's just how I feel. I'd give anything to be able to pick one of those babies up!

    @Pamela, oh, that has happened to me before as well. Sometimes I find comments in spam that are not spam at all. Blogger can drive you nuts. But thank you, I'm so glad you enjoyed my blog.

    @Cherie, I hope you will make it out some time! :)

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  13. Great way to end the challenge, at the zoo. Sweet video, too. I'm also glad to have met you and enjoyed your posts. And, I'm so happy that you found your zone.

    Play off the Page

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  14. I was going to mention ghosts, but Alex got there first!

    It's been great learning about the city (too late to spell it correctly lol), and congratulations for finishing the challenge.

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  15. Great ending for the Challenge. Thank you for the tour of the city. :)

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  16. I love zoos. I do worry about the health and happiness of the animals. CREW sounds like they are doing good work.

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  17. I too like you and some of the others on here have concerns about zoos, but the wallabies are precious!

    This has been a great trip through Cincinnati. Enjoyed it very much. Thanks Julie xx

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  18. I have really enjoyed your tour (including the haunted one) of Cincinnati! In fact, I was sharing some of your blog post details with my parents who are currently visiting. You did an amazing job!

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  19. @Mary, I'm so happy about it too, thanks so much.

    @Annalisa, LOL, I actually can't wait to visit more of the ghostly places around here. Thanks!

    @Christine, I'm glad you liked it, thanks.

    @Brinda, yeah, I think CREW is an amazing group of people.

    @Carolyn, I so want to hold those wallabies in my arms! Thank you for reading!

    @Susan, oh, that's so nice of you, what a great compliment. I'm so glad you have enjoyed the blog, thanks so much.

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  20. Julie,
    I would definitely have to agree with you; Cincy zoo is one of the best. I love the lay out situated in the rolling hills and the train...it is quite spectacular!
    Congrats on making it through the challenge and I so loved hearing of the lesser known parts of Cincinnati!

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  21. I always have mixed feelings about zoos too, though I do think they are doing great work with endangered species.

    Congrats on finishing another A to Z. I won't even ask if you plan to visit every site again like you did last year. Don't want you to throw things at me. :))

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  22. Great post, Julie! I have mixed feelings about zoos but on the whole I think they do excellent work and we have a wonderful zoo here in Colchester (S.E.England)which supports loads of conservation work around the world. Thanks for visiting my blog so often - I've really enjoyed your posts. Congratulations on getting to the end!

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  23. @Tracy, yeah, the zoo has a great lay out, and the flowers are so gorgeous! Thank you and congrats to you as well!

    @LG, LOL LOL, I didn't even finish that last year, I'd never make it now. This year was kind of overwhelming, very hard to keep up!

    @Linda, oh, that's great to know about the Colchester zoo, I think the conservation work is so important! Thank you too for visiting, it's been great to get to know you!

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  24. I love zoos. Enjoyed reading your Z post.
    Congrats on completing the challenge.

    Yvonne.

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  25. @Yvonne, thank you, congrats to you as well!

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  26. What a great tour of your home town, I so enjoyed the tour. You did a great job!

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  27. @LynnMarie, thank you so much, I'm glad you enjoyed it! :)

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  28. Congrats on completing the Challenge! I put a different kinda critter in the zoo for my z post!
    -MJ http://creativelyspiltink.blogspot.com/

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  29. @MJ, thanks, congrats to you as well! I will be by to check out your critter LOL.

    @Sonia, they do great work, no doubt.

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  30. love the zoo! havent been in a while, but my son as a field trip there monday =)

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  31. Hi Julie,
    Congrats on completing the challenge! *squee and hop around*
    Oh the mommy cat and kitty are sooo cute!and the wallaby babies. Zoos play quite a big role in protecting animals, especially the endagered ones. Loved your posts, loved learning about Cincinati and will def. check up on you! :)

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  32. That's so great you included a zoo baby video! Zoo babies are my favorite part of the zoo.

    I agree with Tim about you being a wonderful ambassador for Cincinnati, my hometown. I got warm fuzzies reading about the familiar sites and curiosity about places new to me.

    Great to cyber meet you, Julie!

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  33. @Tara, oh, I hope your son has a great time, how fun.

    @Cecilia, thanks! I will definitely be checking up on you as well, so great to meet you.

    @Jen, I agree, it's impossible to resist the zoo babies! So great to meet you too, thanks.

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  34. Hi Julie! I've never been to the Cincinnati Zoo, but I've heard really nice things from people who have. I hope to one day get down their and check it out myself.

    Susanne
    PUTTING WORDS DOWN ON PAPER

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  35. Thanks so much for the tour of Cincinnati. I almost feel like I've been there now. I love going to zoos, but it's hard seeing the animals in small exhibits. That's why I love the San Diego Safari Park where you can almost see them running free. Congrats on making it to Z!

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  36. Congratulations on finishing the challenge! I once got bit by a peacock at the Cincinnati Zoo when I was little! I love your zoo and the Newport Aquarium. I can't wait until Walter is old enough to enjoy visiting these places. I am also really glad to have met you through the challenge!

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  37. Thanks for the zoo tour, and all of the wonderful places you brought to us this month! You even made the cemetery fun! So glad we shared our second A to Z together! Thanks for everything Julie! Julie

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  38. That first picture is too cute! I love visiting zoos once in a while.

    Congrats on completing A to Z!

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  39. Congrats on finishing the challenge. Lovely seeing your city through your blog.

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  40. @Martha, thank you, congrats to you too!!

    @Suzanne, oh, I hope you make it sometime, it really is nice.

    @Michael, thank you for reading my tour! I totally agree about the small exhibits. I bet the San Diego Park is amazing. Congrats to you too!

    @ejw, oh, one time my sister, nephew and I were totally harassed by one of those peacocks when we were trying to eat lunch. I hope you weren't hurt!! Thanks so much!

    @Julie, I'm so glad too, thank you so much!

    @Theresa, thanks, congrats to you too!

    @Carrie, thank you, congrats to you as well. :)

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  41. My older kids and I spent a lot of time at the Cincinnati zoo when they were younger. I have a lot of great memories.

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  42. Congrats on finishing the A-Z Challenge!

    I love taking my kids to the zoo. The local zoo here in Utah is not the best I've seen, but they do put a lot of effort improving the sanctuaries for the animals. Never been to Cincinnati. I've been to the San Diego Zoo, which is also a cool place to go to. And they take really good care of their animals. :)

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  43. I have so enjoyed your A to Z blogs about Cincinnati! You shared your love for such an interesting town very well.

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  44. @Tonja, I have a lot of great memories of the zoo as well. It is such a great place for kids.

    @Cherie, thanks, congrats to you too! I bet your kids have a blast at the zoo, that's great.

    @Susan, thank you, that's so nice of you to say. :)

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  45. I went many years refusing to go to zoos because of those mixed feelings, but our local zoo is privately run and they do some great stuff and seem to really care about the animals, so it's gotten a little easier. Glad to hear about the wonderful things your zoo is doing! And congratulations on making it through the A-to-Z!

    Shannon at The Warrior Muse, co-host of the 2012 #atozchallenge! Twitter: @AprilA2Z

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  46. Hi Julie .. loved this last post - I hate seeing animals in zoos - but so much has changed (some countries - no) in many zoos and so much research is going on, breeding programmes, conservation as you have here .. it's good news for us - that Sumatran rhino .. looks just 'so different' to an African rhino .. not that different granted.

    Cheers and congratulations on Zee End .. Hilary

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  47. @Shannon, your local zoo sounds wonderful, that's great. Thanks and congrats to you as well!

    @Hilary, yeah, there have definitely been changes for the better, but I still struggle with it too. Thanks so much and congrats on zee end to you too! :D

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