Well for better worth, I think you gotta have a sense of humor. And I think you have to know that you will not always succeed in everything and there will be failures in there, not permanent, nor are your successes. Yeah. I suppose you can say that about any… Read More
What would you hope your colleagues will remember you best for? what is your legacy, so to speak?… Read More
Well, I think that the, it was very generous of an individual to institute that plaque. She’d be very proud of it. And it was very nice of her. Read More
If you could go back in time, if anything, would you have done differently?… Read More
I don’t know that I would’ve done anything differently. I would’ve built the butterfly exhibit. There you go. (laughs) But I don’t know if I would’ve done anything differently. I got no, it’s been, my time in the zoo profession has been absolutely wonderful. Neat. Read More
And with that in mind, what traits should one possess that are a must when working at a zoo?… Read More
Well, I think, as I talked, Dennis Merritt, who was curator and I was at the zoo, later became assistant director, his philosophy of science, but his philosophy of publishing stood me in good stead. And I think, instead, a lot of people. Pat Sass, the person at the Children’s… Read More
You make the decision, whatever it is. And so those life lessons. And another guy at the National Zoo, Gene Maliniak, who was a senior keeper and he took care of small mammals and he, I stood at his feet and just wrote stuff down. He knew so much stuff. Read More
And we’re gonna be doing this with little bottles if,” ’cause we had to race some babies. And he looked at me and he goes, “Well,” he was so gracious. He said, “you know, Mark, we tried that 12 years ago and we did six variations on that and none… Read More
Yeah. That’s what’s wonderful about the whole profession, I think. Read More
So what observations have you made about today’s zoo directors and their style and their job responsibilities?… Read More
Well, it seems like the, the job of a zoo director, good, bad or indifferent has become more of a fundraiser ’cause they are the face of the zoo. And that seems to take a lot of time ’cause it takes a lot of money to run a place as… Read More
Exactly. Read More
So I’d like to bring it back to you personally, who are some of the mentors, your mentors in the zoo field and what life lessons did they teach you?… Read More
So with that in mind, what would you say to those critics who still believe that zoos are nothing more than places where they cage animals?… Read More
Well, I think that you’re never going to, there’s gonna be a segment of the population that are always gonna say that. And no matter what you do, you could say, “I just gave that elephant 50 acres.” And they could say, “Yeah, it’s not 100.” I mean, so there’s… Read More
You just have to say, “We are doing a good job of what we are doing here. We’re not doing a half job. We’re doing a wonderful job. We’re explaining what we’re doing and here’s the answer.” And so you’re never. Some people will, “Oh, I see what you’re doing,”… Read More
But the thing is zoo’s gotta be a leadership role. The wild is shrinking, they have got to show that they care, not, yeah, no, zoos don’t take animals out of the wild anymore, or they shouldn’t in any number. Sometimes for new blood lines. You’re talking very, very, very… Read More
But the point is they should be able to, to me, help the animals in the wild or else, why are we here?… Read More
They’re the main educators. And that includes small and medium size. Every zoo can do some portion. Every zoo can do breeding. “Well, we’re a small zoo. We don’t breed.” Breed the parcelhus snail. Breed certain things that you can. Make it, it’s a big deal. If you don’t, “Oh,… Read More