Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Winning is what this particular establishment does quite a bit.
I'm speaking, of course, of the world famous Omaha Henry
Dorley Zoo and Aquarium and joining us here on this
particular afternoon of Valentine's Day is J. C. Colson, my
good friend from Henry door Ley Zoo and Aquarium.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
How are you doing today?
Speaker 3 (00:19):
I'm good. I'm glad to be here on Valentine's Day
because if there's anyone that loves zoo, it's you.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
So it feels appropriate.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Yeah, if I could just give all my Valentines to
know the Desert Dome and then go and say hi
to the orangutans and you know, you get the picture.
My wife is not listening, don't worry, she's not gonna
hear this. But anyway, but the reason I had you
in isn't just to celebrate Valentine's Day. It is to
celebrate winning. And you want to celebrate winning. I guess
(00:49):
we're getting the card ahead of the horse here because
people have to vote to help you win. Tell us
about what is going on here, because this is something
you've won before.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Yes, that's right. So for the past two years we
have been voted the number one zoo in the nation
per USA Today's ten Best Reader's Choice Awards, and we
are nominated again not only for number one zoo, but
for best Exhibit for our Desert Dome, Best Safari Park
(01:19):
for our Leeji Simmons Wildlife Safari Park, and new this year,
Best Zoo Membership.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Now so easy peasy, right, Like, hey, of course all
these are the best, but you have to vote.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
So how do people vote?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yes, so you go to omahazoo dot com slash ten
best and you can vote every day, every single day
until March tenth.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Okay, now we're talking. Now we're getting there.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
So this best Membership and all this stuff, right, Like,
I look at this and you, guys, do you have
to campaign for this sort of thing or is this
just something that you just are really good at and
they nominate you?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
How does this work?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
So it is a panel of experts who the experts
are I'm not sure, but they are experts, and they
they pick out the best in each field. So also
our friends and neighbors, the lords and gardens, they are
nominated for best Botanical Garden. And so it's really we're
(02:19):
showing up and showing out for Omaha and we're so
excited for our community members to help us become the
number one zoo again. We can only do it when
people vote, and the people that vote are the people
that love the zoo.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
It's so great.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
So we're speaking with JC Colson here from Henry door
Ley Zoo and Aquarium, and you guys do a good
job of regularly posting this on your social media, So
if anybody hasn't seen it, just go to the Henry
door Ley Zoo and Aquarium social media and if you scroll,
like just even a little bit, you're gonna find one
that has the link that you have to click on
to help out because we want you to win.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yeah, and that's right. We post lots of reminders on
social media because again we want we want folks to
vote every day until March tenth, So we're just helping
you out by by reminding you. But you can also
just go to omahazu dot com slash ten best and
we have all of the links linked there for our
(03:16):
respective categories.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Love it, love it.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
I got to tell you this weather stinks, whether it's
terrible not great. I know because I go to zoos
a lot and I talk to you a lot. But
for people out there, They're just like, what about the elephants,
what about the giraffes. This can't be something that they're
used to doing. When you know you got zero degree weather,
you got some snow or some sleek coming down.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
What is kind of the protocols?
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Because I also know that some days of zoo isn't
even open for people to come see, and I've seen
that with some of the weather events that we've had recently.
So what is kind of winter like at Henry Dorley
Zoo and Aquarium.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah, so we have first of all, many many amazing
team members who keep our facilities going and who care
for our animals. Rain, shine, heat, cold, three sixty five.
So our animal care team members are obviously very prepared
for any sort of extreme cold or extreme heat. This
(04:16):
is Nebraska, we have all of it, and so they
have all sorts of preparations for the animals that are
either indoors or outdoors. All of our outdoor animals have
indoor spaces to go when it gets to be these
really frigid temperatures. And then similarly, we have an amazing
(04:36):
facilities team who treat our pathways with salt and plow
the snow and all the things that you have to
do in adverse weather. So we have a lot of
great people who keep the zoo running. And really, when
when we're closing, it's it's it's really for the safety
of guests because you know, if it's if it's sub zero,
you probably don't want to be walking around all that much.
(04:59):
And of course we have seven acres of indoor exhibits,
but it's it's really to keep everybody safe.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
It makes a lot of sense, right, you know, And
you can walk a long way when you're at the
Henry Dorley is doing a querum. I get my steps in,
you know, one lap there is a full day's worth
of steps for sure. And when you talk about you know,
weather and cleaning all of these things off in these
habitats and everything, I do notice that the animals have
the choice most of the time anyway, you know, even
(05:26):
in nice weather if they would like to be inside
or outside. You know, for people who might be looking
at say an exotic species or something like that that
lives outside, mostly there is a way you can view
them on the inside as well, right Like I saw
the giraffes just hanging out inside one day, and you know,
it was nice outside, but they were all just kind
(05:46):
of like hanging out on the inside. So to tell
people about what that open door kind of means for
the animals and what you know, that how you guys
are able to utilize all of that space for them
to be as comfortable as they would like to be.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Yeah, freedom of choice is a really important thing when
you're considering in animals well being. And there are certain animals,
particularly in nice weather, that do spend the whole day
outside and may not go go inside. But there is
always that aspect of some level of choice. So even
(06:24):
if they are outside, they can certainly choose where they
want to be within the habitat. Our elephants are a
great example of that in that unless it's those super
super frigid temperatures, most of the time they have the
opportunity to either go outside or inside, so that they
can kind of spend their day where they want to
(06:45):
spend their day.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Makes a lot of sense. And I love the aquarium too.
In the aquarium, they don't have to worry about that
because they're inside anyway. But we're speaking of JC Callson
from the Omaha Henry Dorley's doing aquarium. We got to
talk about the aquarium because I know you guys have
been doing some awesome stuff. You don't have any tickets
to sell for this, you know, Tunnel of Love that
you've been doing in the aquarium because of how popular
(07:08):
it is. But for people who haven't been inside the
aquarium in a while, you know, we know the zoo,
you want to see the desert dome, you want to
see the giraffes and the elephants. But the aquarium really
has so many really really great species and different experiences
in there. What about you know, the aquarium. Do you
think people really should remember so they can make sure
that they make a trip there next time that they're
in the zoo?
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Yeah, I mean, I think probably the obvious. These are
animals that you would otherwise never be able to see.
In the state of Nebraska, we have replicated these environments,
these underwater environments that only exist of course in our
world's oceans. And so to be in a landlocked state
and still be able to experience these animals and see
(07:54):
their behaviors and how they engage with each other and
with their environment is of course really unique. So for
our folks who may not have the opportunity to travel
and see our planet's oceans. You can see at least
some of the wonderful creatures and animals that call them
(08:14):
home here.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
It's so great.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
When you go to your website as well, you have
a lot of things including conservation, which I always like
to highlight because, yeah, we want to go and we
want to see the animals and we want to have
that experience being able to see them or interact with
them in some way and have you know, those memories
with you know, for us or kids or whomever we're with.
But you guys also are really involved in conservation for
(08:38):
native species and also trying to make sure that the
species that you have at the zoo are going to
maintain themselves and have the ability to live for generations
beyond the ones that we have now. So talk about
the conservation efforts and what it is about what you
guys do beyond just hey, come look at some animals.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Yeah, really one of the conservation efforts that I think
sometimes because obviously there's the traditional conservation that we take
part in, so we support many organizations around the globe
and it's something we have a lot of conservation science
that goes on But something a piece of conservation that
I sometimes think gets overlooked or forgotten about, is that
(09:20):
the animals at the zoo are really ambassadors for their species.
So even the come look at the animals is intrinsically
conservation because we're really encouraging people to uh draw connections
with these animals on an emotional level, and then when
(09:40):
they go out into the world, they can hopefully make
better choices that promote the well being and the conservation
of those animals in their native habit habitats. So with
our animals serving as ambassadors for those species, we're encouraging
people to care about them. And part of caring about
(10:01):
them is making better choices in your day to day life,
whether it's what you buy, the energy that you use,
whatever it is. There is ways every day that we
impact our planet and thus that impacts animals, and we
can all learn to make better choices for the animals
of our planet.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Yeah, it's always fun to talk to people from like
local Department of Natural Resources or you know, parks and
game and stuff like that who talk about just how
a small change in an ecosystem can affect so many
different species and that you know goes for animals all
over the world. It's not even just you know here,
it's literally animals who live anywhere around the world. So
before I let you go, one more time for anybody
(10:42):
who wants to vote for Henry door Ley Zoo and
Aquarium to be number one best Zoo, bestzoo exhibit for
the Desert Dome, the best safari park for the Lee
Simmons Wildlife Safari, and then of course the best to membership.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
All of those things can be voted on. Where can they.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Vote omahazoo dot com slash ten best and we are
encouraging our community to vote every day until March tenth.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
And then let's just celebrate some wins, some w's, you know,
I hope, yeah, that'd be awesome. Zoo also is open
every day still unless you guys otherwise mention it right, So.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yep, that's right.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
And again we have seven acres of indoor exhibits, so
that's part of what we have to offer from an
environmental perspective. If it's cold outside, come to the Desert Dome.
It's warm in there.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
And on top of that, all the animals are still
doing their thing, right, you know, they don't take days off,
So that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
JC, thanks so much for coming in. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Thanks for having me
Winning is what this particular establishment does quite a bit.
I'm speaking, of course, of the world famous Omaha Henry
Dorley Zoo and Aquarium and joining us here on this
particular afternoon of Valentine's Day is J. C. Colson, my
good friend from Henry door Ley Zoo and Aquarium.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
How are you doing today?
Speaker 3 (00:19):
I'm good. I'm glad to be here on Valentine's Day
because if there's anyone that loves zoo, it's you.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
So it feels appropriate.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Yeah, if I could just give all my Valentines to
know the Desert Dome and then go and say hi
to the orangutans and you know, you get the picture.
My wife is not listening, don't worry, she's not gonna
hear this. But anyway, but the reason I had you
in isn't just to celebrate Valentine's Day. It is to
celebrate winning. And you want to celebrate winning. I guess
(00:49):
we're getting the card ahead of the horse here because
people have to vote to help you win. Tell us
about what is going on here, because this is something
you've won before.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Yes, that's right. So for the past two years we
have been voted the number one zoo in the nation
per USA Today's ten Best Reader's Choice Awards, and we
are nominated again not only for number one zoo, but
for best Exhibit for our Desert Dome, Best Safari Park
(01:19):
for our Leeji Simmons Wildlife Safari Park, and new this year,
Best Zoo Membership.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Now so easy peasy, right, Like, hey, of course all
these are the best, but you have to vote.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
So how do people vote?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yes, so you go to omahazoo dot com slash ten
best and you can vote every day, every single day
until March tenth.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Okay, now we're talking. Now we're getting there.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
So this best Membership and all this stuff, right, Like,
I look at this and you, guys, do you have
to campaign for this sort of thing or is this
just something that you just are really good at and
they nominate you?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
How does this work?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
So it is a panel of experts who the experts
are I'm not sure, but they are experts, and they
they pick out the best in each field. So also
our friends and neighbors, the lords and gardens, they are
nominated for best Botanical Garden. And so it's really we're
(02:19):
showing up and showing out for Omaha and we're so
excited for our community members to help us become the
number one zoo again. We can only do it when
people vote, and the people that vote are the people
that love the zoo.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
It's so great.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
So we're speaking with JC Colson here from Henry door
Ley Zoo and Aquarium, and you guys do a good
job of regularly posting this on your social media, So
if anybody hasn't seen it, just go to the Henry
door Ley Zoo and Aquarium social media and if you scroll,
like just even a little bit, you're gonna find one
that has the link that you have to click on
to help out because we want you to win.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yeah, and that's right. We post lots of reminders on
social media because again we want we want folks to
vote every day until March tenth, So we're just helping
you out by by reminding you. But you can also
just go to omahazu dot com slash ten best and
we have all of the links linked there for our
(03:16):
respective categories.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Love it, love it.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
I got to tell you this weather stinks, whether it's
terrible not great. I know because I go to zoos
a lot and I talk to you a lot. But
for people out there, They're just like, what about the elephants,
what about the giraffes. This can't be something that they're
used to doing. When you know you got zero degree weather,
you got some snow or some sleek coming down.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
What is kind of the protocols?
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Because I also know that some days of zoo isn't
even open for people to come see, and I've seen
that with some of the weather events that we've had recently.
So what is kind of winter like at Henry Dorley
Zoo and Aquarium.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah, so we have first of all, many many amazing
team members who keep our facilities going and who care
for our animals. Rain, shine, heat, cold, three sixty five.
So our animal care team members are obviously very prepared
for any sort of extreme cold or extreme heat. This
(04:16):
is Nebraska, we have all of it, and so they
have all sorts of preparations for the animals that are
either indoors or outdoors. All of our outdoor animals have
indoor spaces to go when it gets to be these
really frigid temperatures. And then similarly, we have an amazing
(04:36):
facilities team who treat our pathways with salt and plow
the snow and all the things that you have to
do in adverse weather. So we have a lot of
great people who keep the zoo running. And really, when
when we're closing, it's it's it's really for the safety
of guests because you know, if it's if it's sub zero,
you probably don't want to be walking around all that much.
(04:59):
And of course we have seven acres of indoor exhibits,
but it's it's really to keep everybody safe.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
It makes a lot of sense, right, you know, And
you can walk a long way when you're at the
Henry Dorley is doing a querum. I get my steps in,
you know, one lap there is a full day's worth
of steps for sure. And when you talk about you know,
weather and cleaning all of these things off in these
habitats and everything, I do notice that the animals have
the choice most of the time anyway, you know, even
(05:26):
in nice weather if they would like to be inside
or outside. You know, for people who might be looking
at say an exotic species or something like that that
lives outside, mostly there is a way you can view
them on the inside as well, right Like I saw
the giraffes just hanging out inside one day, and you know,
it was nice outside, but they were all just kind
(05:46):
of like hanging out on the inside. So to tell
people about what that open door kind of means for
the animals and what you know, that how you guys
are able to utilize all of that space for them
to be as comfortable as they would like to be.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Yeah, freedom of choice is a really important thing when
you're considering in animals well being. And there are certain animals,
particularly in nice weather, that do spend the whole day
outside and may not go go inside. But there is
always that aspect of some level of choice. So even
(06:24):
if they are outside, they can certainly choose where they
want to be within the habitat. Our elephants are a
great example of that in that unless it's those super
super frigid temperatures, most of the time they have the
opportunity to either go outside or inside, so that they
can kind of spend their day where they want to
(06:45):
spend their day.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Makes a lot of sense. And I love the aquarium too.
In the aquarium, they don't have to worry about that
because they're inside anyway. But we're speaking of JC Callson
from the Omaha Henry Dorley's doing aquarium. We got to
talk about the aquarium because I know you guys have
been doing some awesome stuff. You don't have any tickets
to sell for this, you know, Tunnel of Love that
you've been doing in the aquarium because of how popular
(07:08):
it is. But for people who haven't been inside the
aquarium in a while, you know, we know the zoo,
you want to see the desert dome, you want to
see the giraffes and the elephants. But the aquarium really
has so many really really great species and different experiences
in there. What about you know, the aquarium. Do you
think people really should remember so they can make sure
that they make a trip there next time that they're
in the zoo?
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Yeah, I mean, I think probably the obvious. These are
animals that you would otherwise never be able to see.
In the state of Nebraska, we have replicated these environments,
these underwater environments that only exist of course in our
world's oceans. And so to be in a landlocked state
and still be able to experience these animals and see
(07:54):
their behaviors and how they engage with each other and
with their environment is of course really unique. So for
our folks who may not have the opportunity to travel
and see our planet's oceans. You can see at least
some of the wonderful creatures and animals that call them
(08:14):
home here.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
It's so great.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
When you go to your website as well, you have
a lot of things including conservation, which I always like
to highlight because, yeah, we want to go and we
want to see the animals and we want to have
that experience being able to see them or interact with
them in some way and have you know, those memories
with you know, for us or kids or whomever we're with.
But you guys also are really involved in conservation for
(08:38):
native species and also trying to make sure that the
species that you have at the zoo are going to
maintain themselves and have the ability to live for generations
beyond the ones that we have now. So talk about
the conservation efforts and what it is about what you
guys do beyond just hey, come look at some animals.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Yeah, really one of the conservation efforts that I think
sometimes because obviously there's the traditional conservation that we take
part in, so we support many organizations around the globe
and it's something we have a lot of conservation science
that goes on But something a piece of conservation that
I sometimes think gets overlooked or forgotten about, is that
(09:20):
the animals at the zoo are really ambassadors for their species.
So even the come look at the animals is intrinsically
conservation because we're really encouraging people to uh draw connections
with these animals on an emotional level, and then when
(09:40):
they go out into the world, they can hopefully make
better choices that promote the well being and the conservation
of those animals in their native habit habitats. So with
our animals serving as ambassadors for those species, we're encouraging
people to care about them. And part of caring about
(10:01):
them is making better choices in your day to day life,
whether it's what you buy, the energy that you use,
whatever it is. There is ways every day that we
impact our planet and thus that impacts animals, and we
can all learn to make better choices for the animals
of our planet.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Yeah, it's always fun to talk to people from like
local Department of Natural Resources or you know, parks and
game and stuff like that who talk about just how
a small change in an ecosystem can affect so many
different species and that you know goes for animals all
over the world. It's not even just you know here,
it's literally animals who live anywhere around the world. So
before I let you go, one more time for anybody
(10:42):
who wants to vote for Henry door Ley Zoo and
Aquarium to be number one best Zoo, bestzoo exhibit for
the Desert Dome, the best safari park for the Lee
Simmons Wildlife Safari, and then of course the best to membership.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
All of those things can be voted on. Where can they.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Vote omahazoo dot com slash ten best and we are
encouraging our community to vote every day until March tenth.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
And then let's just celebrate some wins, some w's, you know,
I hope, yeah, that'd be awesome. Zoo also is open
every day still unless you guys otherwise mention it right, So.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yep, that's right.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
And again we have seven acres of indoor exhibits, so
that's part of what we have to offer from an
environmental perspective. If it's cold outside, come to the Desert Dome.
It's warm in there.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
And on top of that, all the animals are still
doing their thing, right, you know, they don't take days off,
So that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
JC, thanks so much for coming in. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Thanks for having me
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