Clouded Leopard Exhibit Messaging Plan

We met this week with a sub-set of the design team to determine the interpretive messaging components for the new exhibit. We already had the messages pretty much determined so this meeting was a discussion of the types of media we'd be using and how to best place those elements at the exhibit. The budget is tight for this portion of the project so we have to keep things pretty simple. This exhibit will also be integrated into the rest of the existing Asian Forest Sanctuary which already has a comprehensive messaging plan. The primary story we want to tell here is about the role that Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium is playing in the conservation of clouded leopards, both in the wild and in zoos.

These are the elements we'd like to see, but budget constraints may change our plans.

• Video "highlight reel" of our programs: cubs at the Thailand breeding program (especially showcasing their amazing climbing ability for times when our are asleep!), range country education efforts, field research in action
• A case with artifacts relating to research and education efforts
• A graphics panel with an overview of our support of in situ conservation efforts
• An fun, interactive donation station to support clouded leopard conservation

Another element that is starting to really gel is our concept of a multi-functional indoor space that can serve as a regular off exhibit holding enclosure but open up for viewing as a climate-controlled cub nursery (we're crossing those fingers). We're currently working on a plan to create a portion of the window where the glass can open to a mesh panel that can be used as a training space for presentations, bringing cats right up to the public to demonstrate behaviors such as paw presents or open mouths. Should be pretty cool!

Andy's Thai Clouded Leopard Adventure

Andy Goldfarb, Clouded Leopard Project Vice President and Staff Biologist at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, is resuming his annual stint as relief project manager for the Clouded Leopard Consortium breeding project at Thailand's Khao Kheow Open Zoo. If his Internet connection allows, he'll send a few updates during his two months there. If the rest of his time is like his first week, it promises to be entertaining. Here is his account:

What a rough first week.

Hey there gang it's Andy again writing to you from the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand. I'm back for my fifth time to work with the clouded leopards for the Thailand Clouded Leopard Consortium.

Right from the start this trip was going to be special because Ken Lang from the Smithsonian was going to be there along with Rick Passaro, the main manager of the program and the guy I'm giving a break to. This would be the first time that all three of us would be together. Ken Lang was the first person to begin work in Thailand on this breeding program back in 2002.
Now those two guys weren't going to stick around long cause they're on vacation. Still it was cool to talk about all the crazy stuff that goes on at this place. Also to see the reactions from some of the cats that Ken worked with because he hasn't had the chance to return to Thailand for three years. Many of the cats are new to Ken but his first cat "Noname" was very happy to see him.
Unfortunately for me the special part ended very quickly when I started to get sick. This was my first time ever really getting sick here in Thailand. I got this sore throat that was brutal, I had everybody looking at and they said it was scary looking. On the last night that the guys were all here I couldn't go out with them cause I was in rough shape. Finally I did what I would always do when I’m here and get hurt, I went and saw a vet. Hey they're doctors. They said it looked like a type of frog was in the back of my mouth and gave me some antibiotics. I hoped the drugs would work right away.


So even though I was feeling lousy I wanted to start working on a clouded leopard exhibit. Some of the climbing logs had fallen down and we needed to put some new ones in. These logs are about 18 feet long and weigh a couple hundred pounds at least. We have to lift these trees by hand a good 15 feet in the air. Want to know the way that we do this? …Well let me just say it isn't safe and I always seem to get stuck with the heaviest end and in the hardest position. While balanced on the edge of a rock wall holding this log up I was trying to yell something to one of the guys who was going to be securing the pole in place when a beetle flew right into my mouth! It was a good 95 degree humid day and I my mouth was just the nastiest pasty thing around and that bug stuck to the middle of my tongue like a fly on one of those nasty sticky strips. Now you have to remember that both my hands are above my head holding this beast of a log and I was standing ten feet off the ground. My first thought was to just drop the damn thing and hope nobody got hurt, but I didn't. I figured I could cough the wiggly thing out of the trap. No such luck, I didn’t have lung power great enough to dislodge this bug from my tongue and this little guy started to make his way towards the back of my throat. I was gagging at that point and the guys were laughing saying things like "Mr. Andy- he going to vomit!!" They thought this was the best thing ever. So I just swallowed the little bugger, it was gross but I wasn't going to "vomit" for the boys. So we got the log up and everything went alright. I have to say the next day I felt 100%, the guys say it was the beetle I ate that cured me.

The bug fun was just three days after I got here. On the fourth day, a very clear and of course hot day, I needed to paint some metal poles in preparation for another project we were working on. I was getting very hot painting in the sun so I decided to take my shirt off to finish up the job. Now this couldn't be a big deal, a very white guy coming from the state of Washington in the middle of February getting a little bit of sun. Wrong! Holy Cow, was I cooked. You always tend to feel cooked here but it wasn't until I went to my house where three adorable three and half month clouded leopard cubs were waiting for me. At this age the cubs are really starting to climb and jump. Oh boy they love to jump and the best thing to jump on is the barbequed back of their new dad. Naturally they have to use their claws as well because the cubs are in training… lucky me. I about jumped to the ceiling myself when the first cub attached itself to my back. Then I was spinning around trying to get him off my back. It had to look like a scene from a bad movie. To punish myself more I told the guys the story and showed them my back. They laughed and muttered some words in Thai to each other one of which I understood "Crab" they said I looked like a crab, great.

On my sixth day I woke up feeling like I was in the groove of my job here again and things were looking better. I went down stairs to check on the cubs. When I looked inside the cub room there was only two cubs. I got a twinge in my gut. I went in and was looking at the cubs staring up at me from the floor and I turn to look behind me when a furry animal jumped on my face. It was the third cub and she had hooked me in the corner of my mouth and sliced me down to my chin. It wasn't aggression at all. What she had managed to do was climb up the door and find this one spot to sit on but then most likely couldn't figure out how to get down until I walked in and she had her chance. It was just real bad timing on my part that she landed right on my face.
I knew she got me good cause I was bleeding all over the place and then I looked in the mirror and thought this is just wonderful, the guys are going to love this.
I went up to the breeding center and the boys were good they felt sorry for me but then one of them started to laugh and said "Mr. Andy look like the Joker from Batman."
What a first week.

Clouded Leopard Exhibit Landscape Plan

Today we met with the designers of our new exhibit to discuss the landscape plan. This is an important part of the project to ensure that our visitors are immersed in the clouded leopard's tropical forest habitat. However, there are multiple challenges in selecting the correct plants and planting strategy to account for the way the cats will use their exhibit. We're hoping to plant at least one large, live tree with branching that will help the cats utilize the height of the exhibit. However, large trees are very expensive and are difficult to transport and plant. Hopefully we can find something that is small enough to move in a cost-effective manner, but be large enough to withstand the attention of the cats.

The goal is to create a multi-story landscape with some tall elements, but also shorter, large-leafed tropical plants. The challenge here is to provide some cover for the cats to slink around in, but not so much that they won't be visible. We also plan to have numerous plants surrounding the exhibit, including verticals that will grow up and over and eventually obscure the fencing.

I haven't written too much about the exhibit planning lately as we have just been going back and forth with some mundane details that wouldn't translate in any sort of exciting fashion for the blog. We also had some tense moments of scary cost estimates that way outspent the budget, but the good news is that we now have everything under control AND the exhibit is going to be pretty much all we hoped for! That includes six holding spaces for cats (2 pairs and cubs), two off-exhibit outdoor yards and of course the exhibit itself. We are also designing one of the holding areas to have a glass viewing area that we can uncover if we are raising cubs, in effect serving as a nursery area.

Here's a look at the plan right now. We will wrap up this design phase at the end of the month and then get to the nitty gritty of developing the actual construction documents. Fun times!