Behind the Scenes at the Milwaukee County Zoo

We always enjoy the "Behind the Scenes" weekend at our zoo each year. This year, I think we saw mostly repeats of exhibits we have already been behind the scenes for, but it was still fun anyway!


The zoo really feels like a different place in the Winter. So much more quiet, and not just because there are fewer people there. One of the zoo volunteers explained to us how different the personalities of the animals are in the Winter, when they are more restful. She said the animals seem to miss the audience very much when there is not the summertime crowds.

Being explorers {explorers who glow, no less}.


One of the new things we did this year was to visit the care areas of the Primate House. The tour guide pointed to this laundry set up and explained that this is one of the only habitats in the zoo that has a need for laundry services. This is because the animals like to have towels and small blankets in their exhibits to cover up with and play with the way they might do with a large leaf or some brush in the wild.

I listened to him explaining this and could see that Emma had something that she wanted to say. As we were walking away, she leaned into me and with a confident nod and a very knowing tone she said, "Those gorillas do their own laundry." She said it like she was proud of them, and it just created a funny mental image for me as I pictured the gorillas hovering over a washing machine and folding towels after zoo hours. Yes, at the Milwaukee County Zoo, we have the most advanced primates in captivity. That's Emma's story anyway, and she's sticking to it!

I think we take one version or another of this giraffe cutout picture on every visit to the zoo.

Photo 70 of 365, taken March 9th.