Brandywine AAZK

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Wilmington, DE
Brandywine AAZK

The Brandywine Zoo Chapter of AAZK is a non-profit organization made up of Brandywine Zoo's keepers, educators, support staff, and volunteers.

Our goal is to expand conservation efforts through partnering with the American Association of Zoo Keepers. The Brandywine AAZK Chapter (BAAZK) is made up of zoo keepers, educators, and other zoo employees. We are committed to supporting the professional and conservation efforts of AAZK. By supporting BAAZK, you help enhance, the professional development of its members, and you also help our chapt

er through fundraising efforts, to contribute to conservation both locally and globally. Some fund raising events we have hosted include, ‘Bowling For Rhinos’, which raises money for rhino conservation. Another annual fund raising event we have hosted is 'Tango For Tamarins’. Monies raised at this event help the Golden Lion Tamarins in Brazil and here at the Zoo. We also raise money to help with professional development for the keepers. We host free 'Guest Speaker' events to help educate the public and other zoo professionals on a variety of topics. Past guest speakers have included Dr. Erica Miller, Dr.La’Toya Latney and Hillary Taylor, Delaware’s wildlife rehabilitator. Next time you are at The Brandywine Zoo, stop a keeper and chat with us. We love to talk about our jobs, the animals in our care, our AAZK Chapter and what our chapter does, and even what it takes to become a zoo keeper

Being a zoo keeper means being passionate, dedicated, hardworking, and having a love of animals and people. Zoo keepers are care givers, educators, conservationists, trainers, and a lot more. Everything we do during our work day directly affects the animals in our care. Our days include feeding the animals, cleaning enclosures, making sure all the animals are healthy and happy, both physically and mentally. We do “positive reinforcement” training and we also do behavioral enrichment for the animals. The training we do helps us better care for the animals and the enrichment keeps the animals stimulated and hopefully solicits some of their natural behaviors. Our days are also made up of problem solving, brainstorming, and progressive learning. Zoo keepers give 100% of themselves to their jobs and the animals in their care. We are constantly bettering ourselves through conferences, networking, newsletters and schooling to helps us grow and stay up on the best animal care practices. We are professionals dedicating our careers to gaining knowledge and experience, sharing this knowledge to constantly improve the care of the animals here at The Brandywine Zoo.

12/17/2024

Sometimes you’ve just got to take a moment to ponder life’s big questions 😔

12/09/2024

We often think "What's Saphira looking at?" and can rarely find an answer. Bald Eagles have excellent eyesight, several times stronger than a human's, so she can spot small items like potential prey animals from too far away for her keepers to see.

12/03/2024

Like our animals, gifts come in all shapes and sizes. All of these items have been gifted off our wishlist over the past year. Thank you to Sabrina for recently buying the slow feeder Blue is using; great enrichment for many different animals that challenges the mind. If you would like to give a gift on this Giving Tuesday our wishlist is available at https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3B5KU9TU7FW04?ref_=wl_share

📸 1-3: Keeper Mark
📸 4-6: Keeper Doug

12/02/2024

Bushmallow loves this hay ball; she can eat and play at the same time!

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3B5KU9TU7FW04?ref_=wl_share

11/25/2024

Enrichment is a critical part of keeping our animals happy and healthy, stimulating their minds and bodies. Choosing and providing enrichment to the animals is a big part of the keepers' daily routine, and we are always looking to give them exciting new enrichment items.
With Giving Tuesday coming up next week, there are many gift ideas on our Amazon wishlist for those interested: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3B5KU9TU7FW04?ref_=wl_share

11/19/2024

Happy world Anteater day!!! 🎉🌎🐜

Giant Anteaters, like our Lancaster, are the largest of the anteater species. They can reach 6-8 feet in length from their elongated nose to their bushy tail.
Anteaters have poor eyesight and hearing, however, they make up for this with their strong sense of smell which is nearly FORTY times better than that of humans!

11/19/2024

Red Pandas like Scarlet don't have thumbs, but they do have a false thumb, a bony projection on the wrist that allows them to grip bamboo, or in this case, a big juicy chunk of apple.

11/12/2024

The leaves sure are changing colors and falling fast these days. Peanut is on a mission to eat as many as possible while she still can.

11/04/2024

Miss Gryphus, matriarch of the zoo, watching over everything from her perch high on the hill.

At 45 years old, Gryphus is one of the oldest animals in the zoo, but Andean Condors can live to be over 75 in human care!

10/31/2024

Everyone's getting in the spirit! 👻 The animals all enjoyed their special themed enrichment - Happy Halloween!! 🎃

📸1 - Keeper Mark
📸2, 4 & 6- Keeper Doug
📸3, 5, 7, & 8 - Keeper Emily

10/31/2024

Happy Halloween!!🎃
Spooky fun and yummy treats with all our pumpkins!

📸1 + 5 - Keeper Allyson
📸2 - Keeper Connor
📸3, 4 & 6 - Keeper Emily
📸7-9 - Keeper Doug

10/30/2024

Late night from Blue and Squeakers in celebration of

10/28/2024

Take it from Tahiry, Gopher, and Cashew: you don’t want to miss the BZAAZK booksale this weekend! We will be open during Scout Night this Saturday (11/2), and from 10a-3p on Sunday (11/3). Hope to see you there!

10/28/2024

The ravens Dichali and Kanga look very excited for Halloween; already dressed for spooky season.🐦‍⬛

10/27/2024

Were you able to visit our Ruffs and Rings being very ✨ lemur✨, very ✨mindful✨ this past week as we celebrated world lemur fest?!
Thank you to those who stopped by our information table or watched a training session!
For those who weren’t able to make it, but would like to support lemur conservation, visit https://madagascarpartnership.org
to learn more about the variety of projects and programs run by field stations throughout Madagascar.

10/21/2024

Sometimes you might not be able to see our caracal, Blue, in her exhibit. But she sees you.

She always sees you.

10/14/2024

Each year, the third week in October is recognized as National Veterinary Technician Week. For us that means recognizing and celebrating Janey, our Vet Tech/Lead Keeper/Hospital Manager. She fulfills a critical role in the care of our animals, from drawing blood and giving vaccines, to administering medications, taking x-rays, treating wounds, cleaning teeth and more. All this while gladly using her experience to educate keepers on a wide variety of topics and skills.

Thank you Janey for all that you do!!

10/07/2024

Blue Beard the blue-tongued skink is our resident fashion icon, seen here modeling the newest in Fall headwear.

Address

1001 N Park Drive
Wilmington, DE
19802

Telephone

+13025717788

Website

http://paypal.me/BAAZK

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Videos

Some days the repashy really hits the spot #chahouageckos #mossyprehensiletailedgecko #mossynewcaledoniangecko #tongueouttuesday

Bushmallow loves this hay ball; she can eat and play at the same time! https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3B5KU9TU7FW04?ref_=wl_share #enrichment #givingtuesday

Binturongs are often described as smelling like popcorn or corn chips! This is due to a chemical found in their urine. The distinctive odor helps these animals to communicate with each other as well as warn-off potential predators. #binturong #popcorn #cornchips