Step into the wild world of zoo management with our special guest, Shanna Simpson, the dedicated animal curator at the Topeka Zoo. Shanna's childhood visit to SeaWorld sparked a lifelong passion for animal care, which she now channels into managing over 380 animals at the zoo. Discover how Shanna and her team navigate the complexities of animal acquisition, ethical considerations, and specialized care to ensure the well-being of every creature at the zoo. From the structured hierarchy of keepers to the personal tales of her journey, Shanna offers a unique perspective into a career many dream of but few understand.
Listeners will learn about the demanding safety protocols involved in working with potentially dangerous animals and how past incidents have reshaped these procedures. Shanna shares her transition from marine mammals in Miami to land animals in Topeka, highlighting the challenges and rewards of such a career shift. Dive into the intricate world of tiger breeding, where timing and genetic diversity play crucial roles in conservation efforts. Along the way, we discuss the impact of ethical practices in modern zoos, emphasizing the importance of conservation and education over mere entertainment.
But that's not all! Shanna gives us a glimpse into the future of the Topeka Zoo with the "My World" project, which aims to engage young minds with interactive exhibits about conservation. We also explore the quirks of living in Topeka, with its welcoming community and unique lifestyle. Wrapping up with some fascinating animal facts and insights into social media engagement, this episode promises laughter, learning, and a newfound appreciation for the dedicated individuals who make zoos a place of wonder and education.
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Timestaps:
0:00 - Animal Curator at the Topeka Zoo
3:33 - Zoo Safety Protocols and Animal Dangers
13:08 - Conservation and Endangered Species
21:44 - Zoo Ethics and Conservation Efforts
25:26 - Improving Animal Care and Topeka Residency
36:53 - Topeka Zoo Expansion Plans
47:39 - Zoo Animals Fast Facts
56:53 - Elephant Trunk Function and Anatomy
59:46 - Promoting Topeka Zoo and Social Media
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Shanna Simpson: I always say we're basically working with
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bombs all day.
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That could go off at any moment .
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It can kill you if you make a mistake.
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It's a very dangerous curve, though they're just they're
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killing machines, Right.
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Justin Armbruster: Like that's literally what they're what they
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do, you guys have heard of Tiger King.
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Shanna Simpson: You know what I do that stuff with my kids and
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my husband.
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Jon Griffith: Get the little clicker thing.
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Shanna Simpson: Yes, Clicker, train your kids, it works.
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Jon Griffith: Shanna Simpson, thanks for coming on, topeka
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Insider.
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Shanna Simpson: Thank you for having me.
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Jon Griffith: Yeah, it's so good .
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So you're the animal curator at the Topeka Zoo.
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Correct, that's my job title.
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Amazing.
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Shanna Simpson: Thank you, it's a cool job.
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Jon Griffith: Animal curator.
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Animal curator what does that?
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Shanna Simpson: even mean.
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You know?
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I didn't know what that word meant until I started working in
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the animal care industry but the industry the career field.
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Um, you know, you hear it a lot in museums, like museum curator
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, like I feel like that's where I used to hear it from whenever
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before I was an adult.
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Um, so basically it just means that you're in charge of I think
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is the way I define it as.
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So I'm over the animal care department.
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Jon Griffith: So if you're a curator, it kind of sounds like
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you get to pick what animals you have.
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Shanna Simpson: I mean kind of there's a committee that decides
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that I don't just get to be like oh, my favorite animals in
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the world are hippo.
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We're going to get 15.
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Right.
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Jon Griffith: So like if you find a good deal on a parrot on
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Craigslist you'd be like, yeah, we're getting this list.
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Shanna Simpson: Like you'd be like, yeah, we're getting this.
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Oh yeah, that's not shady at all.
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No, yes and no, I mean we do have a committee.
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I mean we can make suggestions, but we have a whole committee
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that makes those decisions, so nice you know we got to make
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sure it's ethical you know, right how many animals on
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craigslist.
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Justin Armbruster: How many animals does the pika zoo?
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Shanna Simpson: have um, so we have about 380 ish animals give
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or take.
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Now.
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Once you start counting each individual then it gets a lot
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more, because we have a whole invertebrate zoo like a bug zoo.
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So we've got cockroaches and a stick insects.
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And so, if you, start counting all of those, it gets a little
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crazy, so we count those as a colony basically, so around 300,
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350, 370.
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Jon Griffith: So like the collection of bugs is one thing,
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exactly, cause then it could be a little crazy.
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Shanna Simpson: We'd have, like a lot of animals, a million.
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Jon Griffith: Yeah exactly.
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Shanna Simpson: So, yeah, we have a lot of animals, um, and
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we have about 25 zookeepers that oversee all of those different
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animals, and then two animal care supervisors and then two
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animal curators wow, that's the animal department, like broken
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down into different departments like so and so yeah pretty much.
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I mean, we've got you know, because there are animals that
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are very specific, like specified.
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Like you, like joe schmo, can't just come work with an elephant
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, right, right, so you have to have a specialized, you have to
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be trained a certain manner.
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Same thing with our big cats, with our great apes Um, they're
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just, they're dangerous, you know, they're very specialized
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care.
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So you do have to have a level of training with that.
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So you can't just pop in and just, you know, feed elephant,
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um, but so we do that.
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We have specialized keepers that work with certain animals
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and then we have what we call relief keepers, and those
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keepers go everywhere and fill in for vacations and days off,
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and so those are really versatile keepers.
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They're really important too.
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So that's basically how we run it.
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It's pretty, pretty, pretty easy.
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Jon Griffith: That's awesome, yeah, wow.
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So give us your backstory.
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How did you get into working at a zoo?
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Shanna Simpson: get into working at a zoo.
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How did you get here?
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Yeah, okay, so I was raised in Roswell, new Mexico.
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That's where I was born and raised, and I just we went on a
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family vacation to SeaWorld San Antonio when I was in second
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grade and I saw the girl you know flying off of Shamu's face
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and I was like I have to do that .
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Justin Armbruster: Like that is what I have to do.
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I mean that's like everybody's story who's been to SeaWorld
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when they're little right?
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Shanna Simpson: Yeah, so anyway, I just I never got out of that.
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You know, being from New Mexico , obviously I had to relocate.
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So I got my college, I got my degree in psychology and zoology
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, which I know people are like psychology, but you actually
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deal with a lot of training and classical conditioning with
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animals.
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Wow.
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So that degree has been I mean clutch when working with animals
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.
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Um yeah, weird Right.
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So yeah, training, conditioning , you know, like positive,
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negative, feedback, reinforcement, like all that.
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Jon Griffith: This is the same stuff you do in psych one-on-one
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Um.
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So then you can teach me some tricks for my kids, you know
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what I do that stuff with my kids and my husband.
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Yeah, get the little clicker thing.
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Shanna Simpson: Yes, clicker, train your kids.
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Jon Griffith: It works.
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I tell you what.
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I tell you what.
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Shanna Simpson: Yeah, the jokes are endless with that, but
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anyway.
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Then, as soon as I graduated college, I got a job at an
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aquarium in Miami Florida, where I worked with killer whales and
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dolphins for eight years.
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Jon Griffith: Yeah, I was a killer whale trainer.
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It was like every kid's dream.
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It was like every kid's dream, isn't it?
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It's so amazing.
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Shanna Simpson: It was so cool.
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It was obviously just incredible.
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Like I loved it and I met my husband out there and we had our
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first daughter out there, and then we got transferred to
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Topeka and he's in the Coast Guard and so there's a Coast
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Guard base here which nobody knows about apparently.
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Jon Griffith: Because, there's no coast.
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There's no coast.
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What is he guarding?
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I don't know what he does all day.
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Which coast is he guarding exactly?
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Lake Shawnee.
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Lake Shawnee is very dangerous.
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Shanna Simpson: There's an imminent threat coming from Lake
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Shawnee.
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You never know, with Lake Shawnee, it seems shady, doesn't
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it?
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But anyway.
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So yeah, we moved here and I got the job at the zoo pretty
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shortly after and been here ever since, so I would imagine a
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place like Topeka and I don't want to shortchange Topeka Zoo,
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because actually Topeka Zoo, I think, is like an incredible.
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It is.
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Jon Griffith: Like you know, people come to Topeka.
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They're shocked how amazing our zoo is.
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I agree, yeah, and we love the zoo.
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Our kids love the zoo.
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Yeah, it's amazing.
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But I got to imagine, like someone coming from like that
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high end kind of a place, they had to have been like amazed.
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Oh my gosh, how did we get someone like you here?
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Shanna Simpson: It's a totally different world.
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I mean, it's so different but yet it's so similar.
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You know working with dolphins and killer whales to working
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with land animals.
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I always say that I'm dry now, like I was wet all day.
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Then you know you're in the water constantly.
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So that is the main difference.
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I mean, the animals are pretty much the same.
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You know, you have to learn, train them the same way you
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interact with them.
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The safety is the same.
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Um, so it's, it's pretty similar.
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But yeah, coming here I really thought that I wasn't going to
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work.
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You know, we had our, our daughter.
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She was really young, and so I was like you know I'm going to
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be a stay at home, mom while we're in.
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Topeka and and just hang out with my daughter, me and was
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like hey, the zoo down there is hiring and I was like seriously
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what Like should.
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I apply, so I just I took my daughter to the zoo, like all
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the time we were members Like and I just I never really saw
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myself working at a zoo.
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I was.
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I was a dolphin trainer.
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Justin Armbruster: Like.
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Jon Griffith: I worked with killer whales.
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That's what I did.
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Shanna Simpson: Yeah, it was water.
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Like yeah, I can't see myself at the zoo.
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So I was like you know what?
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I'm just going to apply, just see what happens.
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And that was 14 years ago.
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I got the job, wow, and I love it, have you been now at a zoo
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longer than you were.
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Justin Armbruster: Okay so you're officially a zoo person.
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Safety protocols, different things that you have to do with
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the zookeepers, I'm assuming, absolutely priority.
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What are?
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What do some of those look like ?
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And then follow-up question what are some of the more
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dangerous exhibits?
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Yeah, zookeepers, absolutely so I mean safety obviously is.
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Shanna Simpson: That's a good question.
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Uh, safety is a top priority.
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I mean it has to be, because we're basically I always say
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we're basically working with bombs all day that could go off
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at any moment.
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You know they're unpredictable, they can kill you if you make a
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mistake.
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Uh, so it's.
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It's a very dangerous curve.
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It is, if you look at the statistics, a lot of injuries, a
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lot of deaths.
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Uh, yeah, yeah, um, you know, and coming from a Marine mammal
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background, you know those animals don't follow you, they
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stay in the water.
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So there's not really like a level of security.
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I mean, obviously you have to be careful when you're in the
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water.
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There's safety protocols when you're in with them, right, um,
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that's a whole other ball game.
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But you know you don't have to worry about locks and shutting
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gates and you know containment right because they're in water,
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they're not going to hop out on the land and fall right down the
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stairs um, so with this I don't know I'm finding Nemo.
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They did that sounds terrifying , doesn't?
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Jon Griffith: it In finding Dory .
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They escaped, that's true.
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Shanna Simpson: That's true.
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Well, I think your job, then, is to not provide any large
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plastic bags.
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Jon Griffith: Right All plastic bags For container reasons.
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You cannot have them because you might escape.
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Shanna Simpson: But yeah, we actually had an incident at our
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zoo in 2019 where a keeper just made a mistake found where a
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keeper just made a mistake, found herself inside with a
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tiger and got.
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Yeah, I got beat out pretty bad by the tiger.
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She did not die, thank God it was.
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We got very, very lucky.
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So in 2019, we changed all of our safety protocol.
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So at that point we went to what we call two key, two lock
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systems.
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So basically it means there's like a blue lock on one of the
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doors and a green lock on that same door, and so you have to
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have two people to open that door.
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So, anytime you want to open a barrier between you and a
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dangerous animal, you have to have a certain level of, and not
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every animal, not every animal, no, just the ones that can kill
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you.
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So, tiger, tiger, lion, african painted dog, cougar, bear,
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orangutan, those are where we do the two key to lock?
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Jon Griffith: So yeah, one person has one lock one person,
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another Correct.
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So you can't, like I, even if I wanted to open up a door, I
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can't.
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I can't open a door without my coworkers, so I'm just going to
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pop in real quick.
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Shanna Simpson: I'm just like I'm going to go in here and
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clean this yard real quick.
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Well, she had forgotten that she hadn't secured the tiger
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inside and he was out there, and so she walked in with him, and
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so it's just human error, you know, you have to find ways,
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just like in you know airline industry surgeons you know you
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have to find ways to lower risk and lower do risk mitigation
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yeah, it makes sense like if you're around that every day,
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you can maybe take for granted oh yeah, you know.
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so you get used to it and you get your routine and you're just
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opening doors and you're just Right.
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Jon Griffith: And, as a person who like attends a zoo, it's
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easy for me to think like well, they're in captivity, they're
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probably all tame, yeah Heck no, they're not.
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Shanna Simpson: Yeah, they're not.
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No-transcript, not like that I'm.
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Some of them are doing me wrong , um, but it's most of the time
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just accidents.
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You know, an elephant backing up on a keeper and elephant, you
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know, a person getting pinned or stepped on right um so, but
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about 10 years ago the switch kind of started to happen, where
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big cats started to to be the winners of that killing more
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keepers and other animals?
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Jon Griffith: is that because people were getting more on top
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of like being careful around elephants?
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Shanna Simpson: I think so.
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I think a lot of safety protocols went into effect from
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our governing bodies and stuff like that.
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You know, a lot of rules came down because there was a lot of.
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There was about one or two keepers killed a year by
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elephants for a while there.
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Yeah, it's crazy.
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So now big cats are the tigers actually are the winner right
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now for killing more keepers, and I think I think it's just um
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mistakes, human mistakes, just like our mistake here so is the
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person okay, like, do they have any permanent injuries?
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yeah, she, she is okay, she survived.
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But yeah, she does have some pretty substantial permanent
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injuries from it.
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Jon Griffith: So so yeah, I mean they're just they're killing
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machines, right like that's literally what they're, what
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they seem like they would be.
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I mean, there's a lot of dangerous animals in the world,
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but they would definitely be like top five animal I would not
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want to come across in the wild I think that's wise yeah,
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because they're secretive, I mean you don't hear them, you
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don't know they're there yeah and so they're already like on
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you you have zero chance.
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Justin Armbruster: I've seen the jungle book.
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Jon Griffith: I know what to expect.
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Yeah, he's crazy.
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What's his?
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Shanna Simpson: name, or like what is his name?
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Jon Griffith: oh, that bad tiger it's so scary it's like right
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on the tip of my toe me too it'll come to us in a minute
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watch some kid will watch this.
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Justin Armbruster: Yeah, I know what it is.
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Is that something where you you blame the tiger, or is it like
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absolutely not okay?
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Shanna Simpson: nope, tiger did actually.
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The tiger did not even do what he was supposed to do like he
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did not.
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Justin Armbruster: He didn't kill her.
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Shanna Simpson: Yeah, usually tigers go in for the kill shot.
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And he didn't he more like played with her you?
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Justin Armbruster: know he was kind of like what are you doing
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in here, like this is weird, like, if you know, because we
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had a lot of witnesses, obviously, and his behavior.
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Shanna Simpson: Oh, it was during we were open.
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Oh my gosh, so they're like kids well I mean they ushered
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them away, right, yeah, we had, the public was there and oh my
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god, it was horrible, it was probably top five worst day of
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my life wow, you were there well , I was actually um at my
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daughter's um softball game in atchison, kansas, and I got the
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call.
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I drove back, obviously 90 million miles per hour on the
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highway, and so I had to deal with all the aftermath.
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Yeah, I was like bye.
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Can you guys take your Uber?
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Jon Griffith: I gotta go Uber.
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Shanna Simpson: So, yeah, right, no, you'll be fine.
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Justin Armbruster: So I had to come back and deal with the
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aftermath of it, so it was pretty it was horrible, but we
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got really most of the time, whenever keepers find themselves
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in with the tiger is a fatality .
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Yeah, so yeah, safety top priority, yeah for real.
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So when it comes to the topeka zoo, because I've probably been
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to two or three zoos in my entire life, yeah, you know, I
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don't have much to compare it to .
00:12:37
Where is topeka excelling and compared to other zoos, where is
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it like, maybe falling short?
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Shanna Simpson: um, okay, yeah, that's a great question.
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I mean, I think what we're kind of known for, maybe in the
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industry, maybe stuff like that yeah, we're known for our tiger.
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Ironically, we're known for our tiger program.
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We have a very successful breeding program.
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We had a litter of cubs in 2014 , a litter of cubs in 2018.
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We have a breeding pair right now.
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That's actually what I I was doing all morning was um, tiger
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breeding is very hard.
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It's very hard.
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It's hard because they're solitary in the wild, so they
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live alone.
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Uh, so they only come together when the females in heat.
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Um, and if they come together when the females won't stick
00:13:15
together like lions will no absolutely no.
00:13:18
So lions are actually the only social cat.
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So every cat in the world is solitary except for lions.
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So yourcat, jaguars, leopards, tigers, those are all solitary
00:13:28
except for lions.
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Jon Griffith: so lions are the only family really, what are you
00:13:30
for knowing that I know?
00:13:32
Oh, I didn't know.
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Shanna Simpson: They were the only ones I thought that was
00:13:34
more normal so tigers are just really tricky because if they
00:13:38
come together and she's not in heat it could be fatal.
00:13:42
Justin Armbruster: It could be very aggressive they're very
00:13:43
territorial.
00:13:44
Shanna Simpson: They don't like being around other cats, um.
00:13:46
So you have to be able to read the female's behavior.
00:13:48
You have to be able to call that she's in heat you have to
00:13:51
be able to make sure he knows she's in heat, you know, and so
00:13:55
there's a lot of behavior reading um.
00:13:57
Jon Griffith: So it's really sure he's well fed beforehand.
00:14:00
Yes, yes, he's not in the slightest hangry so it's really
00:14:05
tricky.
00:14:06
Shanna Simpson: So we're known for our tiger breeding.
00:14:07
We actually have people come down here to watch us work with
00:14:10
tigers and part of our program I have flown out to a few
00:14:15
different zoos to help them with their tiger program.
00:14:17
So we're definitely known for our tiger program.
00:14:20
Wow.
00:14:21
Jon Griffith: Yeah, yeah, it crossed the industry.
00:14:23
What happens when you have a litter Like what?
00:14:26
Shanna Simpson: what do you guys do with the um well, the male
00:14:28
can't be anywhere around.
00:14:29
The female has to be complete feel, completely safe, because
00:14:32
if she doesn't feel safe, she'll kill the cups, because the cups
00:14:34
could be a liability right For her survival.
00:14:36
Yeah, animals are savage.
00:14:38
Have to make sure the female feels safe.
00:14:41
Um, so we have to make sure that the male is as far away as
00:14:44
possible, so we usually just put him outside for a week or so,
00:14:47
so he's away from her.
00:14:48
Um, make sure she's well fed and can nurse, make sure she's
00:14:51
nursing, make sure the cubs are, you know, moving, make sure
00:14:55
that they're gaining weight.
00:14:57
Um, so, a lot of, a lot of stuff goes into it.
00:14:59
Jon Griffith: So that would happen in the wild.
00:15:01
I feel like we could go down a very interesting quirky rabbit
00:15:06
hole about tiger breeding here, but which is funny, by the way.
00:15:11
Just like what'd you do this morning, I bred some tigers.
00:15:14
Shanna Simpson: That's what I did all morning.
00:15:15
Jon Griffith: I just set up some mood lighting, Bury me in a
00:15:18
loom.
00:15:19
Yeah, exactly Some jazz.
00:15:20
But in the wild would that be normal?
00:15:26
Justin Armbruster: Like after the encounter.
00:15:27
Shanna Simpson: The guy's just kind of off and so like she
00:15:28
would feel safe because she's by herself absolutely and she
00:15:31
would make sure that her cubs were somewhere safe, like she
00:15:33
would.
00:15:33
She would go den down somewhere.
00:15:35
Tiger um, gestation is three months, so they're pregnant for
00:15:38
three months, so you know around .
00:15:41
When she's about to give birth she goes and she finds a den or
00:15:43
a cave or something real secretive.
00:15:45
So we just make sure she has something like that.
00:15:48
Here we build like a box, like a den box, and we put a camera
00:15:51
in it so we can see her.
00:15:52
Did you guys live stream that?
00:15:53
We did the last litter.
00:15:55
You can go on YouTube and you can watch our litter be born.
00:15:57
We had four cubs, that's awesome .
00:16:07
Jon Griffith: What do you guys do with craigslist?
00:16:08
Justin Armbruster: yeah, yeah, we already established this.
00:16:08
Like guy in russia, yeah yeah, an oligarch wanted them.
00:16:10
It was just a box and shipped it straight to overnight
00:16:11
madagascar.
00:16:12
Shanna Simpson: We made madagascar but no, we, we do
00:16:16
keep the cubs with the mom.
00:16:17
Um, in the wild the cubs would be with the mom for about two
00:16:20
years.
00:16:20
You know, she's got to teach them how to be a tiger, right,
00:16:23
teach them how to hunt, teach them how to stalk, stuff like
00:16:25
that.
00:16:25
Um, so she, they stay with the cub.
00:16:27
I'm sorry.
00:16:28
They stay with the mom for about two years and then they go
00:16:30
to other zoos as they become adults.
00:16:31
So we have tigers all over the world because we have three,
00:16:34
three in 2014 and four in 2018.
00:16:38
so, and there's only about, I think, 68 sumatra and tigers in
00:16:42
american zoos, and so we have bred over 10% of those tigers
00:16:47
here at the species, just to put it in perspective.
00:16:49
Jon Griffith: Yeah.
00:16:49
Shanna Simpson: Yeah, so we're.
00:16:50
We're very important to the tiger population when did we get
00:16:53
ours.
00:16:53
Um well, the, the mother that had the two litters um, she was
00:16:58
from Sacramento zoo, that's where she was born the first um.
00:17:02
That's where she was born the first dad.
00:17:03
The first baby daddy was from Akron Zoo.
00:17:07
I think he was born at the second baby daddy because you
00:17:10
know you don't want too many of the same litter like the same
00:17:13
genetics right.
00:17:14
Justin Armbruster: So we had a different dad.
00:17:16
Shanna Simpson: We switched dads and he was from Zoo Atlanta and
00:17:20
they had the four.
00:17:20
And then the mom is actually at Louisville now and she just had
00:17:24
another cub at louisville because, she's a proven breeder,
00:17:27
so they gave her to a zoo who didn't have as much experience
00:17:30
with tiger breeding and they gave us a lovely couple um who's
00:17:35
virgins who have never bred.
00:17:36
So we've been trying to get them to breed for the past year.
00:17:40
So it's a little bit, a little bit challenging with this guy.
00:17:43
Jon Griffith: The female is from jacksonville zoo and the male
00:17:45
is from san diego zoo how, so it sounds like, do any of animals,
00:17:51
do any of the animals in like american zoos, ever come from
00:17:54
the wild?
00:17:56
Shanna Simpson: um, not really not anymore.
00:17:57
Now the the north north american animals, that's where
00:18:01
it gets a little bit different.
00:18:02
Um, you don't breathe.
00:18:03
They're here well and, like black bears, are not endangered.
00:18:06
Um, you know, mount lions are not endangered, so you don't
00:18:10
breed them in zoos like reputable zoos.
00:18:13
Justin Armbruster: Don't breed those animals right, because you
00:18:14
don't need to.
00:18:15
Shanna Simpson: You don't need to population, exactly so
00:18:16
there's no need to uh, but there's a lot of need for homes
00:18:20
for orphans.
00:18:21
So, like our black bear is rescued from alaska, our
00:18:24
mountain lion was rescued from washington state, so north
00:18:27
american animals are most likely rescues wow, so there are some
00:18:31
animals for the wild, but it's not like we go collect them
00:18:34
anymore, okay, so what are some of the most endangered animals
00:18:38
that people maybe don't realize or don't know?
00:18:41
Justin Armbruster: I mean, I guess you say black bears aren't
00:18:43
in danger.
00:18:44
Shanna Simpson: No, no idea they're threatened, they're not
00:18:46
endangered, so it's just kind of like keep an eye on them.
00:18:48
Yeah, the most endangered animal in North America is the
00:18:52
wolverine.
00:18:53
Number two most endangered North American animal is the
00:19:01
black-footed ferret and black-footed ferret is really
00:19:03
cool because they're native to Kansas.
00:19:09
They're native to Kansas and Wyoming and kind of up down the
00:19:10
middle of the of the state or, I'm sorry, of the country.
00:19:11
Um, and we actually are education director at the Topeka
00:19:12
zoo.
00:19:13
He runs the whole black footed ferret conservation program for
00:19:15
all of Kansas.
00:19:16
So Topeka zoo has a real?
00:19:18
Um involvement in black footed ferret conservation.
00:19:22
So it's pretty cool, yeah, and we actually have one at the zoo.
00:19:24
Justin Armbruster: I'm trying to picture what a wolverine even
00:19:26
looks like.
00:19:26
Oh man, that's so cool.
00:19:27
Shanna Simpson: They're aggressive and they're cool and
00:19:29
they look nothing like the x-men character, by the way does not
00:19:34
do the wolverine justice.
00:19:36
So, yeah, those are the top two north american ones as far as
00:19:39
our zoo goes, but we do have a black-fitted ferret.
00:19:42
That's probably our most endangered animal at the zoo.
00:19:44
Wow um, sumatran tiger and there's about 500 left in the
00:19:48
wild.
00:19:48
Um, wow, elephants.
00:19:51
African elephants get to be really, really dire over there
00:19:55
for elephants.
00:19:55
I mean the list goes on.
00:19:56
We have a bird called a, called a balimina, in our rainforest,
00:20:00
one of the most endangered birds in the in the world.
00:20:03
Wow, um, they're really.
00:20:04
They're beautiful.
00:20:04
They're all white and they have like a bright blue, like zorro
00:20:07
mask over their eye okay, they're beautiful birds.
00:20:10
So, wow, yeah, orangutans, we have orangutans.
00:20:13
They're very endangered.
00:20:14
The list goes on right, right.
00:20:16
Jon Griffith: So so I knew uh, zoos.
00:20:19
Well, I guess one preliminary question is how do you determine
00:20:22
if something's endangered?
00:20:23
Is it just a hard number?
00:20:25
There's less than this number in the wild.
00:20:27
Shanna Simpson: Well, I mean there's all sorts of different
00:20:29
organizations that track that stuff.
00:20:31
I mean there's Wildlife SOS, there's IUCN and there's all
00:20:35
sorts of conservation organizations that track all
00:20:37
this stuff and they report to zoos.
00:20:39
They report to accredited, so we're accredited by the
00:20:41
Association of Zoos and Aquariums or AZA, so they report
00:20:45
to AZA, and AZA trickles all that information down.
00:20:48
Jon Griffith: It's this whole big world out there that nobody
00:20:50
even knows exists.
00:20:52
Shanna Simpson: Zoos have a lot more depth than people realize.
00:20:54
Jon Griffith: Yeah, that was kind of my second question.
00:20:57
You see in some of the educational posters and plaques
00:20:58
around the zoo things about conservation, and when I hear
00:20:59
conservation I'm always thinking like land, like plants.
00:21:01
The educational posters and plaques like around the zoo, you
00:21:03
know things about conservation yeah and when I hear
00:21:06
conservation, I'm always thinking like land, yeah, you
00:21:09
know, like plants trees, yeah, water but it makes sense.
00:21:13
When zoos talk about conservation, are they mainly
00:21:16
talking about repopulating animal populations that are in
00:21:20
danger?
00:21:20
I mean, I think so how they?
00:21:22
Shanna Simpson: but I mean, if you think about it, it's all
00:21:23
intertwined right, you know water land, the animals that
00:21:26
live in, that, in those spaces, like it's, it's all part of this
00:21:29
intricate habitat.
00:21:30
You know that all those parties need to be there for it to be
00:21:34
successful.
00:21:34
You know, like if the sharks were all taken out of the ocean,
00:21:37
the ocean would completely be decimated so it's just like
00:21:40
every single habitat has these keystone elements to it.
00:21:44
And the zoos.
00:21:45
The zoos main job is to make sure we're educating people on
00:21:47
that.
00:21:48
You know, like what, what can you do to help black fitted
00:21:50
ferrets?
00:21:50
You know what can people here in Topeka do to help African
00:21:53
elephants?
00:21:53
So kind of stuff like that, because at the end of the day,
00:21:56
that's what's really important is making sure that the animals
00:21:59
in the wild are, that we're doing what we can so they don't
00:22:02
go extinct.
00:22:05
Jon Griffith: So wilder that we're doing what we can so they
00:22:05
don't go extinct so, wow, it's a big job, so can you jump on
00:22:06
that?
00:22:06
Just a little more because, like you know, sometimes you
00:22:07
hear people are like man.
00:22:08
I don't know if I can support something that's, like you know,
00:22:11
capturing these animals that should be in the wild and you
00:22:14
know, like there's kind of this feeling of like, yeah, so like
00:22:18
but that's not really like what's happening anymore no, I
00:22:21
mean, do zoos and aquariums have a dark past?
00:22:24
Shanna Simpson: Absolutely Like we had to get our animals from
00:22:26
somewhere.
00:22:26
They used to capture them, you know, like that's not something
00:22:29
that we're proud of, but it's something we have to talk about.
00:22:32
You know, that's how the zoos started is like private
00:22:35
menageries of rich people, right and then they kind of moved
00:22:38
over to a city kind of thing, like if you look at the history
00:22:46
of zoos.
00:22:46
But you know now you know there's a lot more um, thought,
00:22:47
conservation and ethics and all this stuff that go into it.
00:22:48
And and I mean I will say, of course, just like with anything,
00:22:50
there's always bad zoos.
00:22:51
I mean, I'm sure you guys have heard a tiger King, you know
00:22:54
that was a big thing in 2020.
00:22:57
Um there, there are bad zoos out there.
00:22:59
So, just you know, making sure that you're supporting zoos
00:23:01
whose main you know goal is conservation and who's not just
00:23:05
breeding willy nilly Like.
00:23:06
If we could have, we could have kept our last pair of tigers
00:23:09
and just bred every three months bred, bred, made babies, made
00:23:12
babies, cause you know babies are money right Like people come
00:23:15
and see babies, so we could have just bred, bred, bred bred,
00:23:17
bred.
00:23:17
Jon Griffith: Oh, it's so true, people want to see yeah, so yeah
00:23:20
.
00:23:20
Shanna Simpson: So that's the kind of stuff you're looking for
00:23:21
when you're looking to see if the zoo is a good zoo and if you
00:23:24
want to go spend your money there.
00:23:26
So that's what I encourage people to do.
00:23:27
You know, look at, check their website, talk to people, ask
00:23:30
people Do they always have cubs?
00:23:31
Do they always have baby bears?
00:23:33
Do they always have baby orangutans?
00:23:35
That's a red flag, major red flag.
00:23:37
Jon Griffith: Interesting Baby factory.
00:23:39
Shanna Simpson: And then where do go?
00:23:40
Once they get too big and dangerous, you know um they go
00:23:43
to can't hunt, they get, you know, euthanized they go to oh,
00:23:46
yeah, yeah, absolutely there's a whole big dark side of you know
00:23:51
, and that's goes back to tiger king and you know that they just
00:23:54
kept breeding, and breeding, and breeding, and they would
00:23:55
euthanize the cats or they would sell them to private owners.
00:23:58
They would sell them to people that didn't have any business
00:24:00
having a big.
00:24:00
Jon Griffith: Actually, I don't know.
00:24:01
I was like the only person in my friend group who got through
00:24:04
2020 without seeing.
00:24:05
Shanna Simpson: I didn't watch it either.
00:24:06
Jon Griffith: I refused yeah, I knew it was going to be an
00:24:08
abomination to my career right, well, yeah, you have more
00:24:11
invested interest.
00:24:13
My wife went down the rabbit.
00:24:14
She's like this is crazy, it is crazy well, I had already know
00:24:18
about him.
00:24:18
I already oh you really, that makes sense actually.
00:24:21
Shanna Simpson: Yeah, we all knew who he was like his name
00:24:23
was joe exotic, like we his.
00:24:25
It was joe exotic zoo, like you could see his billboard on the
00:24:28
interstate, yeah, you know.
00:24:29
And we were going down to dallas sometime with my family
00:24:31
and I was like what the heck is that?
00:24:33
And so I researched him and this was way before tiger king.
00:24:35
And then it turns out a lot of zoos know about him and yeah,
00:24:40
he's like on a big black list.
00:24:41
Jon Griffith: Oh yeah, crazy he's.
00:24:42
Shanna Simpson: Crazy.
00:24:43
He's just noticed that he's.
00:24:44
I mean, he makes us look bad.
00:24:45
I mean, unfortunately we get lumped into people like that,
00:24:48
right and it's just.
00:24:49
But it's just like anything, you know.
00:24:50
It's just like if you go to like a hospital, you know
00:24:52
there's some bad hospitals.
00:24:54
Justin Armbruster: There's some bad grocery stores grocery
00:24:57
stores you just don't go to.
00:24:58
So it's like so there are bad zoos, so there are bad zoos
00:25:01
there are good zoos, so one of the things that we talk about a
00:25:04
lot on this show is we love Topeka.
00:25:07
Jon Griffith: But what?
00:25:07
Justin Armbruster: we also want to be upfront about is you know,
00:25:10
if you love something, it's also not being naive to its
00:25:12
faults?
00:25:13
Absolutely so walk us through where the Topeka Zoo is failing.
00:25:17
Okay, what's compared to other zoos around the nation, the
00:25:21
country?
00:25:21
Yeah, where do you think the Topeka Zoo could be better?
00:25:26
Shanna Simpson: making sure our animal care is just continuing
00:25:30
to improve, because things change all the time in this
00:25:33
field.
00:25:34
Um, if you look back at the last 25 years I mean just in the
00:25:37
last 25 years I've been in this career field it's changed so
00:25:41
much.
00:25:41
So just making sure we're staying on the forefront of
00:25:44
animal care.
00:25:44
Um, you know, I think there's a few of our habitats that need
00:25:48
updated.
00:25:48
You know they're outdated and they're old, but that is part of
00:25:53
our master plan, so I am proud to say but you know, it takes
00:25:56
money.
00:25:57
Jon Griffith: It takes time.
00:25:58
Shanna Simpson: So like there are some things that we're well
00:26:00
aware Like I mean we can go I know I keep going back to tigers
00:26:03
, but our tiger exhibit it works and we had a lot of success
00:26:08
with it, but it's not great Like and we had a lot of success
00:26:11
with it, but it's not great Like .
00:26:12
If you go to a lot of other tiger exhibits it's not great
00:26:15
Like.
00:26:15
It's pretty low on the list of being a great tiger exhibit but
00:26:19
we make it work and we do what we can.
00:26:20
Justin Armbruster: I'm trying to think what else I mean, I think
00:26:23
Variety of animals is good Quantity is good, I think so.
00:26:26
Yeah, you would know, Honestly, I mean it's been a while since
00:26:29
I've been to a zoo.
00:26:30
I mean I'm trying to think what I would change.
00:26:31
Shanna Simpson: I mean, if I had like some billionaire that came
00:26:33
out of the roadworks and was like what would you change?
00:26:35
Jon Griffith: Yeah, right.
00:26:36
Shanna Simpson: Gosh, that's such a great question.
00:26:38
I mean, I would make everything bigger.
00:26:39
You know, I would love to make everything bigger.
00:26:42
That's what everybody always tells you.
00:26:44
Everybody needs more space.
00:26:45
But I think for the size of city that we're in and I mean
00:26:51
the fact that we have elephants like is huge, is it really?
00:26:55
And I don't think that people literally huge.
00:26:57
That's funny, it's a niche.
00:26:58
I don't think people realize that Like the animals that we
00:27:04
have for our size of city, like if you go to like Sunset Zoo in
00:27:08
Manhattan or if you go to like Dickerson Park Zoo in
00:27:10
Springfield, you know kind of the similar size zoos Right, our
00:27:15
animals are.
00:27:16
I mean the fact that we have orangutans, elephants, hippo,
00:27:19
giraffe big cats like we have a.
00:27:25
We have the big amazing you know , sexy animals that everybody
00:27:26
wants to see in the zoo.
00:27:26
So that's my favorite thing about this zoo is our animals.
00:27:30
Like it's.
00:27:31
It's very unique to have a zoo our size to have those mega.
00:27:35
Jon Griffith: Yeah, that's good to know.
00:27:36
Yeah, I mean, I agree too, like when we first moved to Topeka
00:27:40
we had no idea, right, we're like because I lived in
00:27:43
Manhattan at one point too.
00:27:45
Yeah and yeah.
00:27:45
Sunset Zoo is like yeah, this is what I expected.
00:27:48
Shanna Simpson: Yeah, in a small town.
00:27:49
Jon Griffith: Yeah, it's fine, and so that's kind of what I was
00:27:52
expecting.
00:27:52
In Topeka I was like, oh dang, they have like actual animals
00:27:55
Like this is great.
00:27:57
Shanna Simpson: Yeah, like a lot of the big sexy animals people
00:27:58
want to see.
00:27:59
Yeah, it's amazing.
00:28:01
Jon Griffith: I got to visit Africa this summer and my son,
00:28:04
who's five, was like, oh, are you going to see lions and
00:28:09
giraffes?
00:28:09
And I went to Angola, where they really don't have much of
00:28:13
that, and I was like, yeah, they don't have that.
00:28:15
And he's like, oh well, maybe next time we can go to real
00:28:17
Africa.
00:28:17
I was like, yeah, I can see why you would say that.
00:28:22
Yeah exactly Like in your mind that is real Africa.
00:28:29
Yeah, exactly, that's amazing yeah that's funny, that's cute,
00:28:33
that's awesome.
00:28:33
So, uh, what?
00:28:34
What would you say?
00:28:35
Like you've been in topeka now 15?
00:28:38
Shanna Simpson: years or so, what's?
00:28:39
Jon Griffith: it been like transplanting from.
00:28:41
You're in new mexico, yeah, florida, now you're in in topeka
00:28:46
gotta be pretty different it's totally different.
00:28:48
Shanna Simpson: But we absolutely fell in love with
00:28:50
Topeka.
00:28:50
Like fell in love with it, you know, and we, we I always joke
00:28:53
around that I thought I would live next to a beach cause I
00:28:56
married a Coast Guard guy, but like I am so thankful we moved
00:29:00
to Topeka.
00:29:01
Like we moved to Topeka from Miami and the second we got here
00:29:05
it's funny my family met us here, you know, to help us move
00:29:08
and stuff.
00:29:08
And we were and we were like let's go to dinner tonight,
00:29:10
let's go to I don't know chili's .
00:29:11
There was some well, something I want to make or some basic you
00:29:14
know family restaurant.
00:29:15
And we were like, okay, like we'll meet there around six.
00:29:18
And so I told my husband I was like we need to go there around
00:29:20
five to put our name down.
00:29:22
Yes, traffic and to put our name down because that's what you do
00:29:25
in florida right, yeah and we get there at five and it's like
00:29:29
they're like party of eight.
00:29:30
Yeah, right, this way.
00:29:31
And we were like wait what?
00:29:32
We don't need this table till six but.
00:29:35
Jon Griffith: I was downloading Netflix episodes for the wait.
00:29:39
Shanna Simpson: So, like you know the lack of traffic, you
00:29:41
know, like the it's so spread out and there's and the people
00:29:45
are so nice, Like I mean in Miami you get flipped off on the
00:29:48
road.
00:29:48
Justin Armbruster: Like it's a daily occurrence.
00:29:50
Shanna Simpson: I mean honestly people are rude, they, you know,
00:29:52
the door slams on you, they don't know the door for you.
00:29:54
So like we had kind of, we were kind of used to that kind of
00:29:57
world out there and coming here it was like, oh my word, like
00:30:02
these people are so nice, like everybody's so polite, and
00:30:06
that's what that's, we chose to stay here.
00:30:07
My husband got transferred again.
00:30:09
We were going to go to Alaska and he was like you know, we
00:30:11
don't want to leave Topeka.
00:30:13
Jon Griffith: Wow.
00:30:14
Shanna Simpson: We have both our daughters here, you know, and
00:30:16
it's like we want to raise our family here.
00:30:18
Justin Armbruster: I'm going to rephrase you said you had the
00:30:21
opportunity to go live in Alaska .
00:30:22
Yeah, we did and we chose.
00:30:24
Shanna Simpson: Topeka, we did yeah.
00:30:25
Come on, we were going to get transferred to Cordova, which is
00:30:31
a.
00:30:31
It's a small town.
00:30:32
You can drive to it.
00:30:33
I guess you can only fly our boat to it.
00:30:34
Um, very remote, and so my husband was going to be on a
00:30:39
boat, you know, for like four months or something.
00:30:41
A year, you know four months, and then back for a month, four
00:30:43
months and, and my kids were little and we were like, you
00:30:46
know, we just I don't want to do that, I don't want to be.
00:30:49
I mean, Alaska is tempting for sure, but I had my job here at
00:30:53
the zoo and I was like I love my job.
00:30:55
I love my job and we have friends here and we have a
00:30:58
church here and we have no traffic.
00:31:01
Jon Griffith: People are nice.
00:31:02
No way to Chili's, I know, no way to Chili's.
00:31:04
I mean, you can't get any better than that.
00:31:08
Shanna Simpson: So we just made the difficult decision for him
00:31:10
to get out of active duty and he got a job down at the
00:31:14
Felderville building working with the Coast Guard, which is
00:31:16
always basically doing the same job.
00:31:17
Jon Griffith: Right.
00:31:18
Shanna Simpson: We just, we wanted to raise our family here.
00:31:20
Jon Griffith: We just we fell in love with it, wow.
00:31:22
Shanna Simpson: So, and we're still here, my daughter's in
00:31:23
college, and we're still here.
00:31:25
Jon Griffith: Wow.
00:31:25
So even though there's nothing to do here, that's such garbage.
00:31:29
I hate when people say that.
00:31:30
I hate when people say that why ?
00:31:32
Shanna Simpson: Because, like, there's nothing to do here, if
00:31:34
you're lame, come on, let's go.
00:31:38
Jon Griffith: I mean, I hate when people say that that's
00:31:39
exactly how I feel about it.
00:31:39
Seriously, there is so much to do here.
00:31:42
Shanna Simpson: It is If you get off your butt and you go
00:31:44
explore and you look online.
00:31:46
Or you just go do something, or you just go do something.
00:31:48
You will find something to do.
00:31:49
And that's what me and my husband did when we got here.
00:31:51
I mean, we immediately started exploring.
00:31:53
You know there's, you know lakes, and there's festivals,
00:31:56
and there's, you know, just a short drive, Manhattan, there's
00:31:59
Lawrence, there's.
00:32:00
You know I remember where we moved here.
00:32:02
We moved here in late July.
00:32:03
We went to Cider Days.
00:32:04
Jon Griffith: Yeah, Cider Days is sweet.
00:32:06
Shanna Simpson: This is the funnest thing ever because you
00:32:07
know we never got fall festivals in miami it's fall right,
00:32:10
stupid hot still yeah and so we were like this is amazing, like
00:32:14
we have days in florida.
00:32:16
Jon Griffith: That's, yeah, that's.
00:32:17
Shanna Simpson: All we have is humidity um, you know we had
00:32:19
saturdays and then they had the, the christmas parade.
00:32:21
You know the little electrical light parade downtown.
00:32:24
We were like this is the cutest city I know.
00:32:25
So I mean we always, even to this day, we always every
00:32:28
weekend, we just go find stuff to do right, yeah it's you're
00:32:31
the problem, not topeka speaking of christmas, yeah, topeka zoo
00:32:35
has quickly become known for their zoo lights.
00:32:37
Tell me a little bit about that oh my goodness, zoo lights has
00:32:40
been phenomenal.
00:32:41
You know, we had been debating doing some kind of zoo lights
00:32:44
since like 2015 I think, and so it finally came to fruition, of
00:32:48
course, 2020, yeah like we were supposed to open it.
00:32:51
Really that was the first year and we were like covet hit.
00:32:54
Jon Griffith: We're like what do ?
00:32:54
Shanna Simpson: we do right and so, but we ended up continuing
00:32:58
with it and we did like.
00:32:59
You know, you sign up for certain times.
00:33:01
Jon Griffith: I remember that first year.
00:33:05
Wow, so I was at the first year .
00:33:06
You were at the first year ever , ever signing it for a slot.
00:33:08
Shanna Simpson: I just thought that's what the way it always
00:33:09
was?
00:33:09
Jon Griffith: no no, that was the first year ever.
00:33:10
Shanna Simpson: Yeah, we were signing up for a slot.
00:33:11
I just thought that's the way it always was.
00:33:11
No, no, that was our first year ever.
00:33:12
Wow.
00:33:13
Jon Griffith: Yeah, because we had just moved its peak like six
00:33:15
months before that, before COVID, and so we're like, oh,
00:33:18
zoo Lights, they must have been doing this for years.
00:33:20
This is great, no, no.
00:33:27
Shanna Simpson: So we signed up for a time slot.
00:33:28
Yeah, you know, we were closed for like two or three months
00:33:30
because of.
00:33:31
Covid, and so having Zoo Lights really saved our budget, saved
00:33:35
everything.
00:33:35
Justin Armbruster: What an awesome idea.
00:33:36
Oh man Right, that is such a hit.
00:33:39
Shanna Simpson: And every year it gets better and better.
00:33:40
You know, we have a whole you guys, we have a whole Zoo Lights
00:33:42
department.
00:33:43
Jon Griffith: now, Really, who works year round?
00:33:45
Yeah, we have a.
00:33:46
Shanna Simpson: Zoo Lights manager.
00:33:46
He, he's on staff year round.
00:33:54
Wow, and so we have um.
00:33:55
Adam is our zoo light staff.
00:33:55
He's amazing and he has two or three people part of his
00:33:57
department and he does zoo lights year round, which that's
00:33:58
how big it is now that's incredible.
00:34:00
Jon Griffith: We should see if he can come out.
00:34:02
Shanna Simpson: He also does the um haunted uh thing at stormont
00:34:08
vale event center, that haunted thing he also does.
00:34:09
Jon Griffith: Vale Event Center, that haunted thing.
00:34:10
Shanna Simpson: He also does that.
00:34:11
Wow, so he's cool, he's a cool dude.
00:34:12
He moved here from Topeka.
00:34:14
Jon Griffith: That would be a sweet job.
00:34:15
Shanna Simpson: Wow, yeah, you guys should definitely.
00:34:17
I'll give you his number later.
00:34:18
Justin Armbruster: What animals are all out during zoo lights?
00:34:21
Shanna Simpson: It depends on the weather.
00:34:22
Obviously, it can be really cold during zoo lights, but all
00:34:26
the North American animals are always out because they're
00:34:28
native to this climate.
00:34:29
So you know, the river otters, the mountain lion, the pronghorn
00:34:33
antelope, the bear it depends on the time, but sometimes the
00:34:35
bear's out, but all the African and Asian animals, they're
00:34:38
usually locked inside because it's cold.
00:34:40
Yeah, so it just kind of depends on the weather.
00:34:42
But you know how sometimes we have those really nice days
00:34:44
where it's like 65, then all the animals will be out.
00:34:47
Jon Griffith: So animals will be out, so it just depends on the
00:34:48
weather yeah so a lot of the animals are weather dependent.
00:34:51
So is the zoo open year round?
00:34:53
Shanna Simpson: yep we're open every single day of the year,
00:34:54
except for thanksgiving, christmas and new year's wow
00:34:57
yeah, and you know those days where it's like negative 10,
00:34:59
we're open and people still come yeah, you guys not.
00:35:02
Justin Armbruster: Yeah, oh, that's funny.
00:35:03
Not negative 10.
00:35:04
We definitely come when it's very cold yeah and it's.
00:35:07
Jon Griffith: I mean, it's awesome.
00:35:07
Honestly, one of my favorite things about the zoo is and is
00:35:11
just it's.
00:35:12
It's not like an all-day commitment which is like
00:35:15
personally I, just as a parent, I love it.
00:35:18
You know, and you know, I'm sure , if you live in omaha or san
00:35:21
diego it's like you take pride in your zoo.
00:35:23
It's huge, you know, it takes all day, yeah, but I I like,
00:35:27
yeah, we can.
00:35:27
Just, we can pop in for an hour hour and we can kind of make
00:35:30
most of the rounds, or two hours , you know, and get the round in
00:35:34
with the kids, and then the membership makes it so much
00:35:37
easier to pop in whenever.
00:35:38
Justin Armbruster: What's the membership?
00:35:39
Shanna Simpson: You've mentioned that, so yeah, so you can be a
00:35:41
friends of the zoom member and basically that means you pay one
00:35:44
lump price and you get in all year like for free.
00:35:47
Justin Armbruster: for free, obviously, you pay for it, but
00:35:49
it's just a better deal and it's like amazon prime it is, yes,
00:35:54
it's exactly like prime.
00:35:55
Jon Griffith: Exactly it's to be a zoo prime, yeah um, so yeah,
00:35:57
it's just really good.
00:35:58
Shanna Simpson: That's what I did when I moved down here.
00:35:59
I was a member and just brought my kid here, like you.
00:36:01
Just, it's just a good, safe place for your kids to run
00:36:03
around right like I remember thinking like she can just go
00:36:06
run around and get tired for nap right, you know, we're, we're
00:36:08
outside, we're in nature, we're off the screen, we're seeing
00:36:11
animals, we're seeing people.
00:36:13
It's just.
00:36:13
It's just such a great place, just to bring your family.
00:36:15
Jon Griffith: That's what.
00:36:16
Shanna Simpson: I love about the zoo is just and I think a lot
00:36:18
of people you know you think you mentioned the San Diego's and
00:36:21
the Omaha's and the.
00:36:22
Kansas cities, those are destination zoos.
00:36:24
Jon Griffith: Right, yeah, like you go on vacation, to go there.
00:36:28
Shanna Simpson: Yeah, like topeka, what I love about our
00:36:30
zoo is we are a community zoo most of the people that come
00:36:33
through our gate are from here you know, like we know.
00:36:36
I know so many people that come through that gate.
00:36:38
You know they're like good morning jannon I'm like good
00:36:40
morning bob, or whatever.
00:36:41
So like we know, so we know our , our guests yeah and it's just.
00:36:46
It's such a unique experience than working at a big zoo.
00:36:48
So, um, yeah, yeah.
00:36:50
Justin Armbruster: So I'm going to put you on the spot.
00:36:51
Take Topeka Zoo out of the equation.
00:36:52
Okay, what are some of your favorite zoos in the United
00:36:56
States?
00:36:57
Jon Griffith: Obviously it's the Topeka Zoo.
00:36:58
I'm going to size from that one you told me I couldn't see that
00:37:02
.
00:37:02
Shanna Simpson: Right, I think, if you force me to say I love
00:37:06
Oklahoma City Zoo.
00:37:07
Jon Griffith: Yeah, really.
00:37:08
Shanna Simpson: Love it.
00:37:09
What about Oklahoma?
00:37:14
Jon Griffith: city zoo.
00:37:14
Yeah, love it.
00:37:14
I know nothing about that.
00:37:15
Oh, I love it.
00:37:15
I think it's my favorite zoo, yeah.
00:37:16
Shanna Simpson: Yep, I mean just I love their exhibits are so
00:37:19
well done, they're so wide open.
00:37:21
Um, we've done a lot of work with Oklahoma city zoo, like um,
00:37:25
we've got a few of their animals and we've taken a few of
00:37:27
ours to them and so we've worked with them a lot.
00:37:29
So I know their staff and their staff is amazing, like deeply
00:37:33
cares for their animals, excellent training programs, so
00:37:37
their big cat training programs are incredible.
00:37:40
But it's just like their elephant habitat, like their
00:37:43
elephant exhibit.
00:37:44
It's incredible, wow.
00:37:46
So I just I love that zoo.
00:37:48
Jon Griffith: Wow, so we need some big Oklahoma oil barons.
00:37:51
Shanna Simpson: Yes To like make some donations.
00:37:53
Can we find some of those?
00:37:54
Yeah, yeah.
00:37:55
Jon Griffith: Man, we need some of that oil money up in Kansas.
00:37:57
Shanna Simpson: Yes, we do, yes, we do.
00:37:58
I agree that would be awesome.
00:37:59
So, yeah, that's a great zoo.
00:38:00
I love that zoo.
00:38:01
Jon Griffith: Wow.
00:38:01
I mean usually it's hard for for tiger king except for that
00:38:08
zoo, that's not a zoo yeah, that's ridiculous.
00:38:10
I don't even know what to call that is uh, is there like a list
00:38:13
of animals that you're like?
00:38:15
We don't have these, but at some point this would be the
00:38:18
next one we want to try to get um yeah, I mean, we, we are
00:38:22
talking about our next big exhibit expansion, that we're
00:38:25
doing.
00:38:26
Shanna Simpson: Um, yeah, and so we haven't like done.
00:38:29
You're like tell us?
00:38:30
Jon Griffith: um, so we haven't.
00:38:31
Shanna Simpson: We're allowed to talk about it, but we haven't
00:38:31
like done.
00:38:32
You're like tell us, Um, so we haven't.
00:38:32
We're we're allowed to talk about it, but we haven't done a
00:38:34
big like media rollout quite yet .
00:38:36
Um, it was actually on the news a couple of weeks ago that we
00:38:38
got a pretty, pretty substantial gift from a um, a local donor
00:38:42
here.
00:38:42
Um, yeah, so our next big exhibit, where it's going to be
00:38:45
called my world and it's basically going to be geared
00:38:47
towards children like ages seven to nine, so around that age, Um
00:38:57
, and basically we're going to be teaching them like this is
00:38:59
your world.
00:38:59
That you live in and you need to help save it Right.
00:39:00
So like we're going to have a big, uh new, updated farmyard,
00:39:02
so we're going to have, you know , my farm basically like where
00:39:05
does your food come from?
00:39:06
You know why is Kansas so important, Like Kansas is a big
00:39:09
producer of food, so we're going to talk about that we're going
00:39:11
to have goats, and llamas and all those funny animals that
00:39:14
kids love.
00:39:15
And then we're going to talk about my water.
00:39:16
My water is going to have water animals, so penguins.
00:39:20
So penguins are coming.
00:39:22
I'm saying we're getting penguins.
00:39:23
Jon Griffith: I was literally.
00:39:24
That was.
00:39:24
My next question is how long until we get penguins?
00:39:26
Shanna Simpson: Yeah, penguins are slated to come.
00:39:29
Penguins are on the way.
00:39:31
They're on the way.
00:39:32
Jon Griffith: And my kid is about to go into the 7 to 9
00:39:35
range Come on, let's go.
00:39:37
Shanna Simpson: It's perfect.
00:39:38
So that will be my water with penguins.
00:39:41
We're also going to have a brand new river otter exhibit.
00:39:44
I'm going to go back to that one question.
00:39:46
You asked me about the worst parts about the zoo, our river
00:39:49
otter exhibit Our river otter exhibit.
00:39:49
Okay, our river art exhibit is too small, it needs to be
00:39:51
updated and we recognize that.
00:39:53
And that's going to be with the my water next day, so cool um,
00:39:57
and then there's gonna be my air , which will obviously will be
00:39:59
birds, right, and will also be like primates, like smaller
00:40:03
primates, like beamers is what we're thinking about doing.
00:40:05
So this is going to be a huge exhibit, um, like it's going to
00:40:08
be, you know, the old giraffe yard right when you walk in, so
00:40:09
it's going to start there like it's going to be.
00:40:10
You know the old giraffe yard right when you walk in.
00:40:11
So it's going to start there and it's going to go smack dab
00:40:14
through the whole center of the zoo.
00:40:15
So it's going to be incredible, huge undertaking.
00:40:18
Jon Griffith: So it's probably like a mix of in and outside.
00:40:20
Yeah, yep.
00:40:21
Shanna Simpson: Yep, so it'll be um about five year total to
00:40:25
build all this stuff, so it's the biggest thing we've ever
00:40:28
ever stuck our teeth into.
00:40:29
It's going to be a huge project .
00:40:32
So that's coming, wow.
00:40:33
So it's going to be really unique.
00:40:37
You know, most zoos are very what we call zogeographical.
00:40:39
So that means you've got Africa , you've got Asia, you've got
00:40:43
North America.
00:40:43
Well, in my world, we're basically going to blow that to
00:40:44
smithereens, because we're going to have animals that don't live
00:40:46
next to each other in the world , because we're going to have
00:40:47
animals that don't live next to each other in the world.
00:40:50
So we're going to have like otters and penguins.
00:40:52
Obviously they don't interact.
00:40:53
Then you know the lemurs and the birds and stuff like that.
00:40:57
We're going to have just really random stuff together and just
00:41:00
kind of talk about how you know, even though there's otters here
00:41:08
in Kansas, you also need to be aware of your water for penguins
00:41:09
.
00:41:09
You know kind of like tying in that conservation message for
00:41:11
kids, kind of making it close to home but also far away.
00:41:14
Jon Griffith: So it's pretty cool.
00:41:14
That is.
00:41:15
That makes me think you know just what you said.
00:41:17
The major strength of the Topeka Zoo is it's a community,
00:41:20
it's local, it's like planted here, and that's what that seems
00:41:25
like.
00:41:25
That's kind of even draw that even more.
00:41:27
It's like hey, look around where you are.
00:41:29
This is where we are.
00:41:30
Shanna Simpson: I mean, how many people are like?
00:41:32
You know you hear, oh yeah, elephants.
00:41:33
You know like 96 African elephants are killed a day in
00:41:36
Africa.
00:41:36
But like we're here in Topeka, kansas, and it's like, oh, that
00:41:40
sucks.
00:41:41
Justin Armbruster: But you know what am I going to do, like I
00:41:42
know it sucks for you.
00:41:53
Shanna Simpson: You know like well, it's like what know,
00:41:54
whenever you do stuff to save black-footed ferrets, that
00:41:56
there's a trickle-down effect that could help african
00:41:56
elephants.
00:41:57
You know what I mean like stuff like that.
00:41:57
So, um, it's a really cool conservation message but, at the
00:42:00
same time, very interactive.
00:42:01
New, different animals we're bringing in, so it's gonna be
00:42:05
cool.
00:42:05
Jon Griffith: I'm excited yeah, I mean man that's.
00:42:07
That's amazing.
00:42:08
Shanna Simpson: I'm super pumped , it's cool, so hopefully we'll
00:42:10
be unveiling that to the public this year 2024.
00:42:14
Let's go.
00:42:15
Jon Griffith: So we just reached out to some friends of ours who
00:42:18
have kids my kids are also in this as well Awesome.
00:42:21
But they submitted just a handful of questions to you know
00:42:26
, kids love animals, Kids love the zoo yeah.
00:42:29
And so these kids are asking just whatever question they're
00:42:31
curious about to someone who works at the zoo.
00:42:34
Okay, so they may not have anything to do with what you do
00:42:36
on a daily basis but they're just like you know, I want to
00:42:39
know this, okay, so I love it.
00:42:41
Uh, we'll see how this goes, okay.
00:42:55
Shanna Simpson: Why do gorillas smash and be so strong?
00:42:58
That's a great question.
00:42:59
I love that he recognized the strength of a gorilla.
00:43:01
So gorillas, obviously, are huge, they're the biggest
00:43:06
primate in the world, and they are very dominant.
00:43:10
The silverbackback everybody knows about silverbacks, and
00:43:13
they show their dominance with their force, with brute force,
00:43:17
um.
00:43:18
But what I love about gorillas, though, is that they do live in
00:43:21
a family group called a troop and there is a male silverback
00:43:25
that obviously his job is to kick anybody's butt.
00:43:28
That messes with that troop.
00:43:30
Jon Griffith: Right.
00:43:30
Shanna Simpson: So I love the aggression of a gorilla because
00:43:34
he doesn't use it with his family.
00:43:35
Justin Armbruster: He uses it with people that attack his
00:43:38
family.
00:43:39
Shanna Simpson: It's that it's like masculinity.
00:43:41
Jon Griffith: Right, it is so important.
00:43:43
Right.
00:43:44
Shanna Simpson: And it's in the animal kingdom and it's
00:43:47
fascinating.
00:43:47
So I mean, don't get me wrong, Male gorillas will, will kind of
00:43:50
discipline the little ones in their troop.
00:43:52
But if you ever watch video with a silverback interacting
00:43:55
with the babies of the troop, it's amazing, it's adorable so
00:43:58
it's kind of like they are big and strong and they can be scary
00:44:01
, but they use that in a positive way to protect their
00:44:04
family, wow, good answer thank you that's awesome I love
00:44:07
gorillas are Are silverbacks the biggest gorilla?
00:44:10
Jon Griffith: Yes, wow, yeah, that's amazing.
00:44:13
Let's keep going.
00:44:15
Justin Armbruster: I think this is their brother.
00:44:16
Why do monkeys swing on white, white, red-tailed hawks?
00:44:18
Why do kangaroos jump.
00:44:24
Jon Griffith: Okay, I love his emotions.
00:44:26
Shanna Simpson: Yeah, he's like why do hawks fly so fast?
00:44:28
Jon Griffith: Right, monkey swing oceans.
00:44:32
Yeah, he's like why do hawks fly so fast?
00:44:33
Right, monkey swing.
00:44:34
There's what was the first one, that was the monkey right, oh,
00:44:35
the monkey the hawk, then the kangaroo, kangaroo.
00:44:37
Shanna Simpson: Yeah, okay, so why do monkeys swing?
00:44:38
Um so monkeys most monkeys live in trees, some don't.
00:44:41
Some live mostly on the ground.
00:44:43
Um so monkeys that live in trees are called arboreal.
00:44:46
There's your word of the day that means they live in trees
00:44:49
yeah, and so they swing through the trees for a variety of
00:44:52
reasons um to get away from predators, to look for fruit.
00:44:54
Um, sometimes, sometimes, they do like breeding dances, you
00:44:58
know, in the trees to attract a lady.
00:45:00
Yeah, uh, so lots of reasons.
00:45:03
They swing in trees that's awesome mostly because they're
00:45:05
monkeys yeah, that's awesome and then real tall hawk.
00:45:08
Jon Griffith: I love that he specified what kind of hawk
00:45:11
right specifically the red tail I don't want to know what the
00:45:15
other hawks.
00:45:15
Shanna Simpson: No, no, no other hawks don't matter, but the red
00:45:17
tail hawk, that's what I'm sure rail tail hawks are native to
00:45:20
topeka so they're all over.
00:45:23
So any hawk most of the hawks that you see around here are red
00:45:26
tail hawks.
00:45:26
I'm sure somebody told him that at some point in his life which
00:45:28
is really cool, that's a red tail hawks.
00:45:29
I'm sure somebody told him that at some point in his life,
00:45:31
which is really cool.
00:45:32
That's a red tail hawk.
00:45:32
Um so, yeah, I mean they fly really fast.
00:45:33
I mean I wouldn't want to.
00:45:34
I don't know how fast, don't ask me.
00:45:36
Jon Griffith: Right.
00:45:37
Shanna Simpson: I mean, I would guess probably like 50 miles per
00:45:38
hour when they're like diving yeah.
00:45:41
And I mean they're very important to the environment.
00:45:43
They hunt rodents.
00:45:43
You know they eat mice and eat rats, so they're super important
00:45:46
in the environment.
00:45:46
So they fly fast to catch rodents.
00:45:49
Wow, there's my answer, little dude.
00:45:51
Jon Griffith: There you go.
00:45:51
And then why do kangaroos jump?
00:45:53
Shanna Simpson: Why do?
00:45:53
Jon Griffith: kangaroos jump.
00:45:54
This is when you cue in the video of those two male
00:45:57
kangaroos fighting and they use their legs to keep each other
00:46:00
and they like, lean on their tail right.
00:46:07
Shanna Simpson: Yes, they lean on and they use their legs.
00:46:08
So I mean kangaroos can actually be pretty aggressive.
00:46:11
Jon Griffith: Do they actually hop Like, can they jump really
00:46:13
high?
00:46:14
Shanna Simpson: Oh yeah, Absolutely have you seen the
00:46:15
size of their thighs.
00:46:17
Jon Griffith: Yeah.
00:46:17
Shanna Simpson: Like they're jacked.
00:46:18
Jon Griffith: Wow, yeah, it's amazing, they don't skip leg day
00:46:21
.
00:46:21
No, they don't.
00:46:22
Shanna Simpson: They do not Every day is leg day in a.
00:46:25
Jon Griffith: Alright, next brother, I think he also has
00:46:27
three rapid fire.
00:46:29
Justin Armbruster: Why do falcons fly so fast, why do
00:46:35
Tasmanian devils chew on bones and why do cheetahs run fast.
00:46:39
Jon Griffith: I missed the second one.
00:46:40
Shanna Simpson: So we talked about the bird already.
00:46:41
So, I'll skip that.
00:46:43
The Tasmanian devil why does he chew bones?
00:46:45
Justin Armbruster: That's what I heard.
00:46:46
Falcons fly so fast.
00:46:48
Why do Tasmanian devils chew on bones?
00:46:53
Yeah, chew on bones.
00:46:55
And why do cheetahs run so fast ?
00:46:57
Shanna Simpson: Yeah, so I don't really.
00:46:58
I have to be honest, I don't know much about Tasmanian devil.
00:47:00
I think I'm pretty sure they're native to New Zealand.
00:47:03
Does that sound right?
00:47:04
I think so.
00:47:05
Jon Griffith: I think, you're right.
00:47:06
Justin Armbruster: I was like I think that's right.
00:47:07
Your guess is way better than mine actually.
00:47:08
Shanna Simpson: Yeah, I don't know, let's say that now look it
00:47:11
up real quick gabe we're at testament can you verify me?
00:47:14
I'll lie right now.
00:47:15
Yeah, I'm pretty sure, the new zealand, um, but yeah, they're
00:47:18
known for just being very hyperactive, very aggressive,
00:47:22
just like the tasmanian devil cartoon yeah um, but they're
00:47:24
carnivores, they're fully carnivores, um.
00:47:27
They're basically like the wolverines of new zealand.
00:47:29
Justin Armbruster: I'm pretty sure is that right yes, so
00:47:31
they're native to tasmania, which is in australia.
00:47:34
Okay, well, close.
00:47:35
Shanna Simpson: Yeah, that's pretty close island over there
00:47:38
is close, there we go um.
00:47:39
And then cheetahs.
00:47:40
Cheetahs are the fastest land animal in the world um.
00:47:43
Fun fact about cheetah most cats um have retractable claws,
00:47:47
so they can.
00:47:48
They can put their claws out whenever they want and bring
00:47:50
them back in.
00:47:51
Cheetahs do not.
00:47:52
Cheetahs are always out.
00:47:54
That's why they're so fast they basically have permanent track
00:47:58
cleats on.
00:47:59
They're grabbing the ground, and that's why they can't pull
00:48:03
their claws back in and put them back out like lions or tigers
00:48:06
can.
00:48:07
They also cannot sustain those speeds for very long.
00:48:12
So they can run upwards of about 75 to 70 miles per hour,
00:48:16
but they can't sustain that for very long.
00:48:18
Now a pronghorn antelope that we do actually have at the
00:48:21
topega zoo and it's native to north america.
00:48:23
They can actually run almost as fast as a cheetah, but can run
00:48:27
longer than a cheetah can so technically pronghorn antelope
00:48:31
are faster, so there's like a 30 second window where the cheetah
00:48:31
but can run longer than a cheetah can Wow.
00:48:31
So technically, pronghorn antelope are faster.
00:48:32
Jon Griffith: So there's like a 30-second window where the
00:48:34
cheetah could catch him and then after that they're done, but
00:48:37
then he's out of gas.
00:48:38
Yep, wow.
00:48:39
Shanna Simpson: Yeah.
00:48:39
So I always like to say that about our pronghorn, because a
00:48:41
lot of people see our antelope at the zoo and are like guys are
00:48:43
cool, they're so fast.
00:48:45
Um, so yeah, there's your cheetah, fun fact that's awesome
00:48:55
the best is whenever you're talking to a whole group of kids
00:48:58
and they're like how do they make babies?
00:49:00
That happened to me.
00:49:02
You want to explain that for us ?
00:49:03
You were just helping with that earlier, oh my gosh right, but
00:49:08
like in a g right, in a g way I'm like you need to go ask your
00:49:10
parents.
00:49:11
Jon Griffith: Right, right, exactly yeah.
00:49:13
Shanna Simpson: They meet and they fall in love and they get
00:49:14
married.
00:49:15
Jon Griffith: Yeah.
00:49:18
Shanna Simpson: What do you?
00:49:19
Jon Griffith: say to that yeah, exactly, it's basically the Lion
00:49:22
King.
00:49:22
Shanna Simpson: Yeah, yeah, there's a waterfall.
00:49:24
Yes, yeah, elton John starts singing in the background.
00:49:28
Can you feel the?
00:49:29
Jon Griffith: love tonight, right, yeah, all right what's
00:49:34
your favorite animal?
00:49:36
Justin Armbruster: oh my gosh, he's so cute I don't know.
00:49:39
Shanna Simpson: Oh my gosh, he's so cute.
00:49:40
Um, my favorite animal.
00:49:42
I think if I had I think that's the hardest question ever, but
00:49:46
I think if I had to answer, I'd probably probably say killer
00:49:47
whale.
00:49:48
They're so cool Wow.
00:49:50
Jon Griffith: What about them?
00:49:51
Shanna Simpson: I mean they?
00:49:52
They live in family groups, they hunt in packs and, like
00:49:55
they, they communicate with each other to take down their prey,
00:50:00
which is just like as a team make a plan.
00:50:03
Jon Griffith: Wow.
00:50:04
Shanna Simpson: And then they go out and they execute this plan,
00:50:07
communicate with one another and I don't know if you've seen
00:50:09
that video of that there's a seal on a floating ice like an
00:50:17
iceberg, yeah, and they work together to swim really fast at
00:50:19
the seal, to tip that ice, to get that seal to fall off, like
00:50:23
I mean, that is so smart like the level of intelligence to
00:50:26
figure that out yeah, so they're just super smart.
00:50:29
they're um, really good with their young Like.
00:50:31
They have a matriarch society so that they have a dominant
00:50:34
female, but then the males stay with them and so it's just, they
00:50:37
have just a real and they're just like the wolves of the sea.
00:50:39
You know, they're in charge of the whole ocean.
00:50:42
Jon Griffith: So there's a reason they're called killer
00:50:43
whales.
00:50:43
It's well-earned.
00:50:45
Shanna Simpson: It's well-e earned.
00:50:46
Wow, it is well earned, they're cool.
00:50:48
Jon Griffith: So yeah, they're probably my favorite animals.
00:50:49
That's awesome.
00:50:50
Yeah, do you have a least favorite animal?
00:50:53
Shanna Simpson: oh, oh, you guys are not gonna like this answer,
00:50:55
giraffe really oh yeah really so beautiful close your ears,
00:51:00
kids, I know, I'm so sorry, you guys like they're so beautiful
00:51:04
and majestic right, but like they're not smart, I mean it
00:51:09
makes sense, their heads are like this big, exactly.
00:51:12
I mean, and I have to be fair to them.
00:51:17
Jon Griffith: Their heart can't pump the blood all the way up to
00:51:19
their brain.
00:51:20
Shanna Simpson: It's so hard on their heart.
00:51:22
I mean, they're prey animals, so prey animals are naturally
00:51:24
going to be a lot more skittish, so they're just very, they're
00:51:27
super skittish.
00:51:28
You know, we in our old where the drafts used to be, you know
00:51:33
we have a new draft exhibit now.
00:51:33
Yeah, but in the old barn we painted this big graphic of a
00:51:37
giraffe so we could show people how tall they are right, and it
00:51:41
was all black.
00:51:42
It was just black.
00:51:42
It was a black painting of a giraffe.
00:51:44
The giraffes would not come back into the barn for like a
00:51:46
week and a half, because they would.
00:51:48
They came walking in and they saw that giraffe and they're
00:51:51
like heck, no, that thing's going to kill me.
00:51:53
And they went they did not come inside for like a week and a
00:51:57
half.
00:51:57
And it was, like the most frustrating, like they're out
00:52:00
there in the rain.
00:52:01
Right, they all freeze to death because they won't go inside,
00:52:04
so they're just it takes a very very special kind of person to
00:52:08
take care of a giraffe and that person is not me.
00:52:11
Jon Griffith: Yeah.
00:52:12
Shanna Simpson: I do not have the patience, but they're
00:52:16
beautiful.
00:52:17
I love them, don't get me wrong , that's not very smart.
00:52:19
Jon Griffith: I'm pretty sure the parent completely, you know,
00:52:22
interprets.
00:52:23
Shanna Simpson: OK, right, we got an interpreter here.
00:52:24
Yeah, do you have any questions about the animals?
00:52:28
And that's it so that sounds like the language on that movie
00:52:36
Signs with Mel Gibson Right, right, oh yeah the animals, the
00:52:40
aliens would make that sound.
00:52:42
Jon Griffith: But he asked where the hippo sleeps.
00:52:46
Shanna Simpson: Oh, that's a really good question.
00:52:48
So hippos are absolutely fascinating animals because
00:52:50
they're land animals that live in the water, but they're not
00:52:53
water animals.
00:52:54
So, and um, where do they sleep ?
00:52:56
So that's a really good question.
00:52:57
So hippos can hold their breath for anywhere from 18, 8 to 10
00:53:00
minutes, so not super long, um.
00:53:03
So they actually do need to sleep closer to the surface,
00:53:06
otherwise they just have like five minute naps.
00:53:07
So they do sleep on land, typically they can rest in the
00:53:12
water, but they can't sleep because they'll die.
00:53:16
And my most favorite fun fact about a hippo is that they
00:53:18
actually can't swim.
00:53:19
They walk so like if you ever.
00:53:22
If you drop a hippo in the ocean, like in a big, deep ocean
00:53:26
, they'll die.
00:53:26
Wow, because they can't actually swim, so if you ever
00:53:29
see videos of them swimming, it's in shallow water because
00:53:32
they walk off the bottom and they push up wow um, yeah, isn't
00:53:35
that fascinating that's crazy now, you didn't mention them in
00:53:39
one of the dangerous animal category.
00:53:40
Jon Griffith: I did not, you're right are they not considered
00:53:44
they're dangerous?
00:53:45
That's what I've heard.
00:53:45
Yeah, they're extremely dangerous.
00:53:46
Shanna Simpson: I mean, hippos kill more people than any other
00:53:49
animal in Africa, so in the wild they're the number one killer
00:53:52
in Africa.
00:53:52
Well, I guess, unless you count mosquitoes.
00:53:55
Jon Griffith: Right, no, that's boring.
00:53:56
We don't count mosquitoes.
00:53:57
Hippos aren't giving people diseases.
00:53:58
They don't give them malaria, yeah.
00:54:00
Shanna Simpson: So, yeah, hippos can be very aggressive.
00:54:01
The thing that I mentioned about our security system at the
00:54:05
zoo is that with a hippo, if you you could just walk in with
00:54:10
them.
00:54:10
Okay, there's no like caging the separate you know what I'm
00:54:13
saying?
00:54:14
Like there's the lip of the pool, so like why, would you do
00:54:17
a double lock system?
00:54:18
Justin Armbruster: when you could just get out of the area.
00:54:20
Jon Griffith: Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
00:54:21
Justin Armbruster: Yeah.
00:54:22
Shanna Simpson: So that's why that's not on the list.
00:54:23
Absolutely, we do not go in with a hippo.
00:54:25
We do not go.
00:54:26
There's always a barrier in between us when we work with him
00:54:28
.
00:54:29
Jon Griffith: So does anyone ever go in there Like?
00:54:32
Shanna Simpson: um no, we, we move, we um.
00:54:33
Call him in.
00:54:34
He's like, it's like your dogs at home, like tank, and he comes
00:54:38
inside.
00:54:38
We lock him in his indoor area.
00:54:40
Justin Armbruster: Is that a cleanest pool.
00:54:41
Uh huh, his name is tank.
00:54:52
Shanna Simpson: His.
00:54:52
You know we had a bank that named him, oh sure?
00:54:54
Jon Griffith: yeah, we had already started calling him tank
00:54:55
, so he's tank slash vision.
00:54:56
Yeah, this is an excellent name , tank vision, exactly.
00:54:57
Shanna Simpson: Yeah, I've heard they're pretty fast too.
00:54:59
Yeah, oh yeah, they can.
00:55:00
They can run like 35 miles per hour.
00:55:02
They're wicked fast.
00:55:03
What very fast.
00:55:05
And male hippos can be very aggressive wow yeah, yeah, you
00:55:08
got some video homework to look at, yeah, I know yeah, running
00:55:12
is terrifying like they're like tanks wow, they look like they'd
00:55:16
be super awkward.
00:55:16
Jon Griffith: They just look like baked potatoes.
00:55:18
Shanna Simpson: Yeah, exactly like that's what our hippo looks
00:55:20
like.
00:55:20
It's a big baked potato exactly .
00:55:22
Jon Griffith: All right, I believe two more.
00:55:24
Okay, um, this one might take a second.
00:55:27
Can you say my name's, Graham?
00:55:29
How about do you want hippos eat Um gossips?
00:55:37
No, no, no Say what do hippos eat?
00:55:43
Justin Armbruster: Um eat yummy.
00:55:44
Jon Griffith: No, no, no.
00:55:50
Shanna Simpson: Say what do hippos eat?
00:55:50
What hippos eat.
00:55:51
Oh my goodness, he's so cute.
00:55:52
What do hippos eat?
00:55:52
What do?
00:55:53
Jon Griffith: hippos eat.
00:55:53
Oh my goodness, this is so cute .
00:55:55
Shanna Simpson: What do hippos eat?
00:55:57
So hippos are technically herbivores, but just within the
00:56:01
last 10 years they've decided to reclassify them as omnivores,
00:56:05
because they've actually been documented eating their other
00:56:08
family members that have passed away.
00:56:10
Justin Armbruster: After they die or they kill them after they
00:56:12
die, oh dang so kind of a vulture.
00:56:15
Jon Griffith: Yeah, yeah, a little scavenger do you?
00:56:18
Shanna Simpson: have lunch now um, so yeah so they're
00:56:21
technically omnivores now wow so yeah, which is it, but the
00:56:24
majority of their diet is grasses and okay, stuff like
00:56:27
that.
00:56:28
Jon Griffith: They're kind of like pigs, like they'll eat
00:56:29
anything maybe I mean, I mean, yeah, but they prefer grasses.
00:56:32
Shanna Simpson: I've seen a hippo eat a pumpkin.
00:56:34
Oh yeah, he loves pumpkin, he loves watermelon, anything like
00:56:39
that.
00:56:39
Yeah, in one big bite Smash.
00:56:42
Jon Griffith: It's amazing.
00:56:42
All right, last one.
00:56:43
Shanna Simpson: Okay.
00:56:46
Jon Griffith: Hello, my name is Emerson.
00:56:47
Start over, start over.
00:56:49
Hey, hey, hey.
00:56:50
Justin Armbruster: Hello, my name is Emerson.
00:56:53
I want to know what elephants do with their trunks.
00:56:58
Shanna Simpson: What elephants do with their trunks.
00:56:59
That's a great question.
00:57:00
Okay, so elephant's trunks is basically like a nose.
00:57:03
It's a long nose, that's what it is, so they can breathe out
00:57:06
of it.
00:57:06
A lot of people think they can drink out of it.
00:57:10
Justin Armbruster: They can't um .
00:57:10
They would drown, they would drown.
00:57:11
Yeah, it's a.
00:57:12
Shanna Simpson: No, it's a nose, yeah, and then they just keep
00:57:14
it in there and they drown, um, so they can't suck up water, but
00:57:16
then they put the water in their mouth, so it's like a
00:57:18
straw.
00:57:19
Jon Griffith: It's like a nose straw so it doesn't go all the
00:57:21
way up, like to here it just goes into the straw and then,
00:57:25
and then they.
00:57:25
Shanna Simpson: Then they squirt it into their mouth, because if
00:57:27
it went, past this.
00:57:29
Jon Griffith: It would be like lungs they would aspirate right.
00:57:30
Shanna Simpson: Yeah, they die so and then I should I should
00:57:33
know this, but I'm blanking right now.
00:57:34
I think they have something like 20 000 muscles in the trunk
00:57:37
okay, I've heard like it's I think I want to say 20 000, 40
00:57:40
000.
00:57:40
It's some big number, an insane amount an insane amount of
00:57:43
muscles like the amount of muscles that they have in that
00:57:44
trunk is incredible, and they are so um.
00:57:48
The fine motor skills of that trunk is incredible, so like
00:57:51
they can pick up a dime off the floor.
00:57:53
Jon Griffith: Wow, really yes, are you?
00:57:55
Shanna Simpson: serious, I'm serious.
00:57:56
Jon Griffith: I can barely do that with my fingers.
00:57:57
Shanna Simpson: I mean seriously , they just pick up whatever
00:58:01
they want off that ground and it's something tiny.
00:58:03
It is so cool, wow.
00:58:04
But they use it as a weapon.
00:58:06
You know, it's definitely a weapon that they use to hit, you
00:58:09
know, lions or anything that's threatening their family.
00:58:11
Um, straw, um, they use it to knock down trees and get leaves
00:58:16
and branches down, um, so it's a very important part of their
00:58:19
anatomy and it is so cool, yeah the truck is so cool so I looked
00:58:23
at how many muscles they have.
00:58:24
Justin Armbruster: They're 40 000 40 000.
00:58:26
Jon Griffith: There you go okay wow, thank you yeah, wow so
00:58:29
yeah000.
00:58:30
Shanna Simpson: I know it's incredible.
00:58:31
And one appendage.
00:58:33
Jon Griffith: Yeah, it's crazy.
00:58:34
My five-year-old was asking what's the strongest animal on
00:58:39
the earth, and so we were Googling it, and I'm sure
00:58:41
there's a lot of different ways to measure.
00:58:43
Shanna Simpson: Yeah, I was going to say that'd be hard to
00:58:45
measure.
00:58:45
People were saying the african yeah, bull elephant, I guess
00:58:49
yeah absolutely because of that, because of the trunk and how
00:58:52
much they weigh, oh yeah, I mean they can weigh up to about 15
00:58:55
000 pounds it's crazy, they're huge right like so big and then
00:58:59
at their shoulder is like 12 feet that would make sense why
00:59:01
they're the most dangerous to zookeepers and that they're not
00:59:04
even just accidentally crush you right, you're out.
00:59:08
You're out, because I would have naturally gone, just
00:59:11
assumption.
00:59:12
Jon Griffith: I would have gone like gorilla, but they're like,
00:59:14
no, they're like 17 times heavier.
00:59:16
Shanna Simpson: Yeah, you know, yeah, and gorillas, like I mean
00:59:19
gorillas are huge, don't get me wrong.
00:59:24
Jon Griffith: But they have like little, teeny, tiny legs.
00:59:25
They're like the opposite of a T-Rex.
00:59:28
Shanna Simpson: Mean seriously like if you look at their body
00:59:31
proportion aside, their legs are so funny like so if you're ever
00:59:34
, intimidated by a gorilla.
00:59:35
Just remember what their legs look like yeah it's like stop it
00:59:38
.
00:59:38
Jon Griffith: You have ridiculous legs yeah, unlike the
00:59:40
kangaroo, the gorilla skips yes , agreed, yeah, they did skip
00:59:43
like day, yeah, well shannon, thank you so much.
00:59:46
Shanna Simpson: Yeah, do you feel like?
00:59:48
Jon Griffith: is there anything that you were hoping we would
00:59:50
ask you about that we didn't ask you about?
00:59:53
Shanna Simpson: no, I mean, I don't think so, I don't know all
00:59:57
right.
00:59:57
Jon Griffith: Yeah, well, shan, thank you so much for being on.
01:00:00
This is this is such a joy thank you guys.
01:00:02
Shanna Simpson: I'll talk about animals anytime, any day, all
01:00:05
day, every day.
01:00:06
Jon Griffith: Yeah what uh for?
01:00:08
For people maybe who haven't been to the zoo in a while.
01:00:11
Do you want to maybe give a shout out like yeah, so you can
01:00:13
come see us at the zoo.
01:00:14
Shanna Simpson: We're open every single day of the year, except
01:00:16
for thanksgiving, christmas and new year's.
01:00:17
Um, it's actually really affordable.
01:00:20
We're one of the cheapest zoos in the country and we're also on
01:00:24
social media.
01:00:24
Maybe, if you can't get out of your house, we do.
01:00:26
You know, facebook, instagram, tiktok, twitter x and uh, yeah,
01:00:31
you can see, I love our tiktok.
01:00:32
I'm actually in charge of our tiktok page, okay so yeah, so I
01:00:35
post lots of really funny videos .
01:00:36
I have a lot of fun with that.
01:00:37
It's kind of goofy, uh, but yeah, so it's just.
01:00:40
It's just a great place to be.
01:00:41
You know, be outside, get off the screen right, come learn
01:00:44
about animals right, it's awesome.
01:00:46
Jon Griffith: Yeah, all right, well, thank you so much Thank
01:00:48
you, guys.
01:00:48
Shanna Simpson: That's a wrap.
01:00:49
Yeah, sweet.
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