Oh yeah, full-grown cheetah. We had a full-grown cheetah who was quite gentle. This must’ve been one of the earlier encounters of that kind. It was a earlier hand-raised. It had been hand-raised that Marlin brought to the zoo for such purposes. Read More
What was the kids’ drawer?… Read More
What was the one that you were most proud of?… Read More
Well I would have to say the introduction to reptiles because they all got to hold the boa constrictor and squeal and scream. That was before cameras were really. You know, you didn’t have the cellphone you could take pictures with. So sometimes somebody would have a camera in the… Read More
These weren’t your personal pets, were they now?… Read More
Were you responsible in the education aspect of putting together new programs?… Read More
By then we had programs for first, second and third graders which is basic introduction to animals. Then we had introduction to primates and animal behavior for third to fifth graders. So we became a more sophisticated program working with the curriculum developers at the school so that what we… Read More
What was the most popular one?… Read More
As I became more and more involved in education, it was a one-man department. So I cleaned cages in the morning and the afternoon. Sometimes I would stop at 10:00 and start doin’ the school tours. And then after 2:30 when the school buses left, then I go back and… Read More
And about that time, I was relieved for my keeper duties in the reptile house. But I still kept a working relationship in the reptile house. Maybe there was some prized specimen I still took care of on the side. Maybe these were the reptiles that I used in the… Read More
We did an annual census which was published, the census. That was making sure that we had every animal accounted for by common name and scientific name classified under family. So that kept my fingers in the herpetological aspect of the zoo. Read More
That king cobra fed on those snakes. So the snakes were also the supply food for the king snakes and other cannibalistic steaks. As the technology improved and reptile houses began having humidity control, temperature control and concentration on breeding efforts, captive-bred specimens became the norm where it was rare… Read More
The need to collect from the wild is gone. So these annual snake hunts don’t even exist anymore. You had talked about when you became assistant curator, you still had your regular duties to do. Read More
Were you still doing education work also?… Read More
Does it have a place today or not?… Read More
In the early days of the zoo business, the heating and ventilating systems of the reptile houses was nothing like we have today. They were originally wood-fired or coal-fired and then they banked the fires at night so the buildings were drafty. They were cold. So there was a high… Read More
Well the mortality rate durin’ the winter was very high. So every spring, there was an annual snake hunt to replenish the stocks. You would get the copperheads, the cottonmouth, water moccasins, the timber rattlesnake of southern Illinois and then also watersnakes. But also the king cobra which was a… Read More
Now you mentioned the collecting trips to southern Illinois. Marlin when he was at Lincoln Park did a lot of these collecting trips and then at St. Louis for specimens to bring them back. Jump ahead a little bit. Read More
What’s your opinion of that kinda collecting trip?… Read More
Not well at all. We had a hard time forcing them to attend. And if they did, they wouldn’t pay attention. But with the younger generation of keepers we brought in, they were eager to learn. So your boss was still Moody Lentz. Moody Lentz. And you were learning things… Read More