Another amazing day in Houston.  The conference started in the afternoon so we had some time to get some breakfast and visit Hermann Park right next to the zoo.  The park is beautiful with playgrounds for kids, a lake, monuments and birds galore!  We saw American coots, great egrets, great blue heron, cormorants, black bellied whistling ducks and ring-necked ducks in the pond. 

Heather at Hermann Park.

Beautiful pond at Hermann Park.

I found the PERFECT place for a nap!

Then on to the conference.  About 16 organizations are represented at the conference.  One of the first people I met was from Bat Conservation International who the El Paso Zoo is partners with for the upcoming Kickoff Celebration of Year of the Bat on January 28-29!  The El Paso Zoo is the first AZA Year of the Bat event!  So come out and join us!  Find out more at elpasozoo.org

The Houston Zoo started off with an introduction to their Education department and a highlight of some of their key programs such as Collegiate Conservation Program, Alternative Teen Break and Point Click Zoo.  Their education department includes about six full time Education Specialists, part time year round staff and up to a total of 40 educators in the summer!  We then heard from two of the four members of the Houston Zoo Conservation staff who are involved in local and international conservation.  They described programs working to protect Texas toads, pigmy elephants, painted dogs and many more!  The programs all work with local communities to educate and encourage locals to protect the wildlife. 

Next, we toured the education facility which houses an auditorium, three classes, offices and a call center.  It was great to visit with many other educators as passionate about conservation and education as we are!

The entire group was broken into three smaller groups to take on the challenge of a picture scavenger hunt with educators as our guide.  We had a great time just exploring the zoo and I hope we get some more time to make it to every exhibit.  Here are some pictures from our scavenger hunt:

Tucker - one of their Asian Elephants that is at the age that he likes to hang by himself.

Heather appropriately in Africa.

One of the chimps will kiss back against the glass!

RHINOS!

Conservation in action.

Nap time for the cheetahs.  Two brothers.

Sea turtle who likes to scare kids and sleep wedged under a rock!

Heather loves rhinos too!

The evening was finished off with a happy hour with hors d'oeuvres, drinks and animal encounters!  We mingled with others from the conference and gathered a lot of useful information in this informal setting.  Everyone was mentioning that we traveled the farthest from El Paso.  Yes, we are out there but our zoo is awesome!

Fish with their eyes above the water.  Craaazzzy.

We walked back to our hotel in time to post this quick blog and get ready for an early morning tomorrow. 

Check out this super cute video!

Naima and Heather