Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Cute Fuzziness x3

Okay, I'm a lover of All Things Cute and Cuddly... so I'm ecstatic about the three new polar bears debuting at the Memphis Zoo in March.

Payton and Haley, which hail from Chicago's Brookfield Zoo, arrived in Memphis via FedEx this morning. Yes, FedEx is the preferred mode of transportation for the Memphis Zoo — partially because the company is based here, and partially because it's willing to fly caged wild animals from all over the world. Ya Ya and Le Le were FedExed here from China in 2003.

Anyway, Payton and Haley will be joined by Denver Zoo's Cranbeary (so named because she was born on Thanksgiving Eve). Isn't she a cutie?!

So these three polar bears are coming to Memphis — which hasn't had a polar bear exhibit in six years — under an AZAA reproduction plan. In other words, we're gonna have lots of fuzzy polar babies!!! It's just too much cuteness for me to handle. ::grins::

Cranbeary and crew will be on display in Northwest Passage with other animals of the Pacific Northwest: black bears, bald eagles, harbor seals and sea lions (including a sea lion Hurricane Katrina evacuee named Andre).

I'm just so proud of the strides MZS has made with the local zoo since I started volunteering there about 15 years ago. When I started, the cat house was just that — a smallish building with smallish cages for giant, unhappy cats. Now exhibits like Cat Country, Primate Canyon, Once Upon a Farm, and China attempt to get animals out of cages and into habitats that mimic home. A zoo is a zoo, but at least this is a forward-thinking one.

Oh, for more cute fuzziness, check out this picture of Cranbeary's brothers, twin cubs named Koda and Nuka, born in January '05.

11 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think the greatwest passage is a far better name, and from here on out should be used. If only just to confuse the crap out of the teaming school children attempting to learn ^_^

6:36 PM  
Blogger Kate said...

Teeming. <3

6:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

no. teaming, because they are ganging up on me and trying to molest me.

6:42 PM  
Blogger Kate said...

So ... you were referring to them molesting you when you said they were "attempting to learn"? O_o

6:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

yes.

6:46 PM  
Blogger angrygrrface said...

Wait...they FedEx bears? That is just hilarious and weird on so many levels.

9:25 PM  
Blogger FF said...

Let us not forget that our senior prom, that you boycotted if I remember, was held at none other than the Cat House at the Memphis Zoo. An appropriate place for the character of our class, if you ask me.

9:57 PM  
Blogger Monstee said...

So Memphis have zoo with cat house inside. Hmmmmmm....

Once in Arazona me go to cat house that was zoo inside.

It make you think.

...and why do anonymous want to confuse school children attempting to learn how to gang up on and molest him.

12:02 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

yeah monstee, i say bring on the cats!!

could u by any chance hook me up w/a cute Siberian tigress??

1-800-Altaica

phone lines r standing by. ;)

12:59 AM  
Blogger smacky said...

Cranberry I can support, but Payton and Haley? What new parents gave them those trendy dipshit names? Will the next ones be named Brandon, Dylan, Dakota, and Tiffany?

7:24 AM  
Blogger Kate said...

A little research turned up that Haley -- originally from Rochester -- is named for Halley's Comet, "because the cub's mother, Aurora, was named after something in the sky."

Payton is named after Walter. The name was chosen because "Payton signifies strength, determination, and cherished memories. What better name for a 'Chicago Bear'?"

Tiffany is pending.

10:25 AM  

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