Help the Polar Bears

Yikes!  This bear looks ready for Thanksgiving.

UPDATE (12/22/2010): The Zoo raised the money according to Courier Journal article ("Zoo raises money to secure Kresge grant for Glacier Run" by Sheldon S. Shafer) and obtained the matching grant after the Ogle Foundation ($100,000), Humana, Inc. ($100,000), The Friends of the Zoo ($150,000), and an anonymous donor ($100,000) made donations.  These donations along with over 500 donors in the last two months were able to raise the final amount of the $.7.7 million.  The article stated: "Of the $25.6 million in the total campaign, gifts of $1 million or more have come from: Louisville Metro Government, the James Graham Brown Foundation, Brown-Forman Corp., the Friends of the Louisville Zoo, the Harry S. Frazier family, Annette and John Schnatter, and Betty and David Jones."

The Louisville Zoo of Kentucky is building a section called Glacier Run that provides habitat for the seals and sea lions plus the polar and grizzly bears.   If all the money is raised it will also house snowy owls, Steller's sea eagles, and arctic foxes. [Note: No photographers were hurt or eaten in the taking of these polar bear pictures!]

The zoo has till January 1, 2011 to raise the final $820,000 of $7,700,000 in order to receive a $900,000 challenge grant from the non-profit Kresge Foundation of Troy, Michigan.  The entire project overall has raised approximately $23.9 million.  Parts of the Glacier Run exhibit are already open (the living area for the seals and sea lions).

Help these living polar bears so future generations won't have to only see them in museum exhibits like one in the following picture.

Display at Carnegie Museum of Natural History - Pittsburgh, PA

Allowable matching funds are tax-deductible and can be in the form of cash or pledges from corporations, foundations and individuals.  Donations can be mailed to:

Jill Kaplan, Director of Development

c/o Louisville Zoo

1100 Trevilian Way

Louisville Ky. 40213

For information call 502-459-2181 or read the full story at the Courier Journal web site.

These polar bears are not fossils... yet.  Let us hope their habitat does not melt away and them along with it.

Polar bear pictures were taken at the Louisville Science Center Discovery Gallery of stuffed bears donated back in the early 1970s.

Fossils at the Louisville Zoo

The Louisville Zoo has a Dinosaur exhibit on display till October 31, 2010.  Part of the display includes an exhibit sign with a number of fossils.  Unfortunately, the sign does not give exact names or locations of the fossils being shown.  None the less, I think the crinoid calyx is from the Mississippian Period and probably from Crawsfordsville, Indiana.

The first fossils shown in the box on the sign in the lower left corner are stromatolites.  They are identified as small micro-organisms that lived in colonies about 2.7 billion years ago.

The next fossil is of insects trapped in resin that became amber over time.

The last fossil in this post shown is the crinoid calyx that was mentioned at the beginning of the post.

Fossils at the Louisville Zoo - Part 2

The Louisville Zoo has a Dinosaur exhibit on display till October 31, 2010.  Part of the display includes an exhibit sign with a number of fossils.  Unfortunately, the sign does not give exact names or locations of the fossils being shown. 

Leaf fossils from an unidentified location.

The sign identifies this last fossil as a plate of fish fossils from Wyoming thus it is probably from Green River Formation.  What type of fish they are, not sure.

Dinosaurs! at Louisville Zoo

The Louisville Zoo has a nice exhibit showing a variety of dinosaurs from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods.  In a wooded part of the zoo they have embedded the dinosaurs among the plants.  One encounters the animated models traveling along the path in the woods.  Along the path there are a number signs describing the dinosaurs or the environment they lived in.

The exhibit will be available all week till October 10, 2010 and just weekends till October 31, 2010.  Tickets are $4 for members and $5 for non-members on top of normal zoo admission.

I liked the exhibit and had fun photographing the specimens.  It was fun staging shots making the dinosaur look to be chasing the visitors.

Brachiosaurus

Tyrannosaurus

Styracosaurus

Dilophosaurus

Parasaurolophus

Dinosaurs Alive! at Louisville Zoo

The Louisville Zoo will be hosting an animatronic dinosaur exhibit from March to October 2010.  These 16 dinosaur models will roar and move like living animals.  See robotic creatures like the Brachiosaurus (Late Jurassic), Deinonychus (Early Cretaceous), Cryolophosaurus (Early Jurassic), and Tyrannosaurus rex (Late Cretaceous).

The zoo will also have a hands on activity so kids can be a paleontologist and study a fossil site with brushes and sifters to discover dinosaur remains.  The gift show will have a place to buy dinosaur merchandise at the Shopasaurus.

The exhibit was created by Billings Productions of McKinney, Texas.  Visit their website to get an idea of the types of dinosaurs produce.

Regular zoo admission will have a special attraction fee of $4 for Zoo members and $5 for non-members.  Children age 2 and under are free.  Call the zoo at (502) 238-5348 for more info or visit their website at www.louisvillezoo.org

 Real fossils are on display as well like this fish fossil from the Green River Formation of Wyoming probably from the Eocene Period (approximately 55-35 million years ago).