COLUMBIA (WACH)—A bear, a tamarin, and a lemur walk into the zoo…Now before you scan down the page for the punch line, here is the spoiler: We’re talking about another Wild Wednesday on Good Day Columbia.
Without the fanfare of anacondas, piranha, and alligators, the Tyler’s Travels Team decided to hang out with a pair of 500 pound 7 foot brown bears, both residents of the Riverbanks Zoo and Garden.
Butch and Sundance are both 9 years old and from Alaska. According to Mammal Keeper Jessica Kinzer, they were found as orphans, and found their way to Riverbanks. These brown giants generally dine on berries, grass, other fruits, and fish. Although they appear rather friendly while separated by steel bars, Curator of Mammals John Davis assured me that I could only bush their hair “1 time.”
Davis also dispelled the common, or at least my, misconception that running down a hill will save you from a bear. He did say that not fighting back and “playing dead” would be your best chance of survival from an attack. “If you decide to get into combat with a brown bear, you will loose.”
After feeding and training the bear brothers, we met a group of little spirited primates, known as tamarins. These little guys are originally from South America, and are considered extremely endangered. According to Mammal Keeper Sara Floyd, in the 1970’s, there were fewer than 500 left in the wild. Although the population over the last 40 years as grown to around 1500, they are still have the endangered classification. At Riverbanks, tamarins are bred, and families are growing.
Anyone who has seen Madagascar will recognize the other new friends we made today, the lemurs. These fellows, although not ideal pets, were rather friendly and welcoming on our visit to Riverbanks. Lemurs spend their time in trees, and dine on fruit and vegetation. We spent some time out on Lemur Island
All my fingers, toes, and no worse for the wear, we packed up the WACH Fox mobile command center and returned to the studio with a very special experience, thanks to the hard working mammal keepers and staff at the Riverbanks Zoo and Garden.
All of these residents of the Zoo can be seen during your own special experience at Riverbanks.
You can meet all animals from our Wild Wednesday adventure by checking out the WACH Fox YOU TUBE page.
Wild Wednesdays airs every other Wednesday on Good Day Columbia. If you have an event you would like the Tyler’s Travels Team to visit, email Travels@wach.com.
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