Today was my last official day as a seasonal keeper in Primates at Zoo Atlanta, and therefore my last day working with their lemurs. :-( We had two training sessions today, and the honor of "top performer" goes to Neal! It was closer than I expected. This morning Ringo was as sharp as a tack and moved up to the point of correctly distinguishing his target stick from the other three. Unlike Neal, though, Ringo wasn't able to maintain the consistency in the afternoon and regressed, making Neal the clear winner. Jason finished not too far behind, still as confident as before, but not as good on distinguishing. Julius continued to make very slow, steady progress, but never reached the point of learning to distinguish targets. Good luck to the other primate trainers as they take over their training! The Primates department is loaded with skilled keepers, so I know they are in good hands.
In truth, my days at Zoo Atlanta are not over. Starting sometime next week, I will be a seasonal keeper with Birds, and I may even continue helping out with Primates. The details have yet to be worked out. But for now, this post will conclude the daily updates on the Zoo Atlanta lemurs. If I remember any other good stories to tell, I will certainly share them. In the meantime, I have many, many stories to tell about two very special ring-tailed lemurs: Obi & Janga. I'll try to share one later this weekend.
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