It took about 8 and 1/2 hours, but Tracey and I made it back to New Jersey safe & sound. I have a lot to share about my experience at the conference, but for now I figured I would just share one of my favorite photos from the NC Zoo. More tomorrow...
I'm glad to hear that you made it back with no problems! So sorry I had to leave fast last night, but I had a great time hanging out with the Switeks Squared this weekend, looking forward to next year!
Lauren and I win: it took us 11 hours to make it back here.
I remember when meerkats were considered pests, of no interest whatsoever. You went to Africa to study lions, leopards, rhinos, and cape buffalo. The testosterone crew.
Now it's meerkats and pygmy mongooses people think of when they think of Africa. And why? Because they're cute, dangit.
And they take to people like nobody's business. People in Africa have started keeping them as pets, and in a few meerkat generations we'll be talking about domesticated meerkats. Is fact, with all we're learning about animal behavior and human/non-human interactions the early 21st century could well become known as the second great age of animal domestication. The domestic barn owl, the domestic rhino, the domestic tasmanian devil.
Speaking of which, keep your eyes open for news of the results of a genetic study of a pair of deceased tasmanian tigers. Among other things the report says the tazzie tiger may have died out because the species was too inbred. Considering how inbred the tazzie devil is, domestication may be the only way to insure the survival of the species.
In any case don't take too long recovering, you've got blogging to do.