The Lower 48

So today was also kinda of a typical day at work.
However, I did learn that everyone in Alaska refers to the "other" states (excluding Hawaii) as the lower 48 which I think is kinda cool. 

I decided to try some new treats for the bears and the porcupine.  I took pieces of apple and froze them in a paper cup.  Now anyone that has done any kind of enrichment for animals has probably heard of this technique.  You just take whatever kind of food they like and freeze it in a cup so that they can play with it later.

I first saw this at the Houston zoo for the otters.  They would take an ice cube tray and freeze tiny fish in each cube.  These were called fish pops and in the summer the otters loved them!

I have also seen this at the past internship that I did for other types of animals.

So I went ahead and did this and when the apple pops were ready I told my boss about them and he was like "Brillant"...I didn't think they would get such a great response but I felt good about this....

Snickers the porcupine also loved his apple pop...

We also had to go and check on the older 3 brown bears since a photographer told us that he noticed blood yesterday.  We noticed that Patrone had blood on her but we could not determine where it was coming from.  We will just keep an eye on it. 

Tomorrow I will probably go and talk to one of the moose, Jack, who was rescued three years ago by an intern.  He likes bananas. :)

Until next time Adios to my amigos in the lower 48 :)

Erin