Upcoming Lecture: Animal Adventures Part 2

So we have another lecture coming up, on March 14th!  4:00 PM at Fairview High School in Boulder, Colorado!  Here we have a bunch of fliers that you can save, print, and hang up if you want to help me out and raise awareness!  Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upcoming Lecture: Animal Adventures With Zack Neher Part 1

Hey everyone!  So I just wanted to let you know that I am going to be having a trio of lectures next calendar year, and the first one is rapidly approaching!  It is on Thursday, January 10th from 4:00 PM to around 5:15 PM.  It will be held in the main auditorium at Fairview High School in Boulder, Colorado, and the address is 1515 Greenbriar Boulevard.  Admission will be free, but 90% of the proceeds will be going towards the Morrison Natural History Museum where I volunteer, while the other 10% will be going towards funding the Fairview Knowledge Bowl Team.  HERE IS THE LINK TO THE ZACK NEHER'S LECTURES PAGE ON FACEBOOK, WHICH YOU ALL SHOULD LIKE!

What will be at the lecture?  Well, just like last time, we will have a fossil table down in front, with tons of fossils, ranging from whale and bison bones to spiders preserved in amber, red fox skulls to mosasaur jaws, and much, much more! 

And, most importantly, what will we be talking about at the lecture?  Well, I am just so glad you asked!  This lecture is going to be covering a very wide variety of seemingly-unrelated topics.  But never fear, for I have artfully woven them into an intricate tapestry of fun.  Here are some of the topics and animals that we will be learning about!

• Creatures of Madagascar, including lemurs, chameleons, moths, and the fossa
• Animal names in Harry Potter
• Triceratops and its relatives
• Showy and beautiful birds, including hummingbirds and birds of paradise
• Gigantic carnivorous dinosaurs, including Tyrannosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, Acrocanthosaurus, Spinosaurus, and Giganotosaurus
• Bird mimics, including the lyrebird, myna bird, mockingbird and catbird
• Even-Toed Ungulates (Artiodactyls), including entelodonts, camels, hippos, pronghorn, and cows
• Odd-Toed Ungulates (Perissodactyls), including horses, tapirs, and rhinos
• Why Does My Cat Do That?
• Intelligence in birds, including the African gray parrot, shrike, and crows
• And much, much more!

I guarantee that it will be a fun-filled and entertaining evening chock-full of awesome animals, amazing video, and more than a fair share of Psych references!  So please, join us if you can!  Hope to see you all there!

And please, if you like what you're reading, make sure you click the subscribe button off to the right!  

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Adventures and Island Lecture Thank You

First off, I would like to thank everyone who was able to come out for my "Island Living" lecture last Friday!  It was a ton of fun, and we were able to raise a significant amount of money for the Madagascar Ankizy Fund!  We put the "Fun" in "Fund."  Nothing like a terrible pun.

Anyways, if you missed it, here is the link to the youtube video.  Not the best quality, but still fairly interesting!  If you are interested in a specific section of the presentation, I have where each part starts and stops down below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-VkcirjWfU

Intro:  00:00-02:27
The Galápagos:  02:27-05:21
Penguins:  05:21-15:07
Flightless Birds:  15:07-20:30

NOTE:  SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE FLIGHTLESS BIRDS SECTION, MY MICROPHONE WENT OUT.  YOU CAN STILL HEAR ME TALKING, BUT YOU JUST HAVE TO TURN THE VOLUME UP REALLY LOUD.  IT IS NOT YOUR COMPUTER, IT IS THE MIKE RUNNING OUT OF BATTERIES.

Wallace's Line:  20:30-22:11
The Monotremes:  22:11-25:43
Herbivorous Australian Marsupials:  25:43-35:54
Carnivorous Australian Marsupials:  35:54-41:53
The Komodo Dragon and Other Insular Reptilian Megafauna:  41:53-45:59
The Dwarf Dinosaurs of Hațeg Island:  45:59-51:54
Island Dwarfism and the Origins of the Cyclops, Mermaid, Griffin, and Bigfoot:  51:54-59:37
The Aye-aye, Outro and Questions, and Two Funny Penguin Videos:  59:37-End 

Secondly, I would like to bring to your attention a few other youtube videos that I uploaded a month or so back.  A few months ago, my father, sister and I went to visit my grandparents in Colorado Springs, and, like we always do, we went up to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.  They had given me their camera the night before, so I took many pictures, but I also took a few videos.  We can talk about the pictures some other time, but the videos I wanted to bring to your attention, as I will probably be making a few more this weekend, as my father and I, along with my friend Masaki Kleinkopf, are going down to visit.  This time, my grandparents have gotten a few behind the scenes experiences in store for us, but I'm not going to spoil the surprise!  

The videos are in the playlist labeled "Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Adventures With Zack Neher."  There are only four videos so far, but they are all pretty exciting, if I do say so myself.

Mountain lion feeding and training at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

The first two clips are easily the most interesting.  They both document part of a mountain lion feeding and training thing.  It is really interesting!  At the beginning of the ten or fifteen minute long demonstration, the puma in question seemed to not really know what to do at all.  However, at the end, it seemed quite familiar with the routine; attack the tire swing thingy, and then you get food!  I believe that a one paw attack received less of a food reward than a double-pronged attack, but I am not certain.   Anyways, so I have one really super cool clip of the training, as well as another cougar-themed clip.  In the second one, you get to see a mountain lion quickly clamber up a steep slope.  Before you watch the video, though, make sure you read the description!

Clip One: Mountain Lion Feeding Demonstration

Clip 2: Humor and Mountain Lions

Mountain lion feeding and training at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

The third clip is a short little video that I got of the Siamang gibbons vocalizing.  They are quite interesting creatures, in that they expand this large pouch underneath their throat when making some noise.  Watch for that in the video clip!

Siamangs Make Some Noise

The last clip was recorded shortly after the last one.  After looking at the Siamangs, we mosied on over to the orangutan enclosure, which is a very short distance away.  We, and you as well, can still hear the Siamangs vocalizing in the video.  The video starts off with a very cute baby orangutan playing with a large piece of cardboard.  After watching the baby for a little bit, it shows the mother orangutan climbing for a few seconds.  Then, I go back over to the Siamangs, as they are continuing to make a lot of noise.

Baby Orangutan and Siamang Song

The mother orangutan at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

The baby orangutan playing at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

An interesting feeding technique employed by one of the orangutans at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo