We haven’t heard from our favorite hippo Fiona in a while, and so our resident Fionaphile Lois M. brings us a new episode of The Fiona Show, a behind-the-scenes series about Fiona’s life and growth. In this installment, Fiona undergoes special training that will help her stay calm when her care team needs to draw blood for testing, something that can only be done from her tail. Patiently, her care team uses treats to teach Fiona not to be scared of a little poke from behind.
I’m testing the comments, too—in the Interest of Science.
My name and email address did not populate the boxes.
Also the choice to “save my name and email address for next time” (not verbatim, but that’s the gist) no longer appears on the page.
P.S. FIONA! YAY!
P.P.S. “Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.” has reappeared. Also yay!
WOW, Mike, you published that almost as fast as I sent it to you!! THANK YOU!! I know we hadn’t heard from her keepers for quite a while. I was so excited when I got the email from the zoo. They know there is a wide ‘family’ of Fiona lovers out there so they will continue to keep us up on what’s happening with her I’m sure. I never thought about her tough skin that would prevent a potential blood draw but it sure makes sense. Not sure why they would need one but it makes sense to be prepared if need be.
It seems beings from every species can be food driven. I don’t eat to live, I live to eat.
I will voluntarily cooperate to get that pretty girl to rub my tail with or without salad. The clicker was kind of annoying but I’ll put up with it.
Fiona is still a delight.
I think it’s so cool that the treat-giver actually has his hand in her mouf! She’s a good girl, is our Fiona.
I’m just back online after having been w/o internet service for two days (it seems someone working down the street did something to our connection but we can’t be sure) What I don’t know yet is if the confirmation emails are back – I haven’t had any of those for a week or so. I’ll let you know, Mike.
She’s a heckin’ good hippo!
Side note: when I got home I was walking up to the stairs and heard a rumble of thunder. It was sunny with ginormous piles of white/gray clouds but the thunder was coming from the other side of the building across the street so I couldn’t see if there were more clouds coming. But I turned around to look toward the thunder and there was a rainbow! 🙂
Nice!
She’s grown so much, yet she’s tiny compared to a full-grown hippo!
I volunteer to feed her treats and pet her tail.
Our big strong girl! Still got those flippy ears.