Guests sample six different concoctions to understand how animals taste. Cats don't taste sweet so a sweet substance was tasted followed by a sweet blocker followed by another draft of the same sweet substance- which tasted like not worth eating or drinking! At the Philadelphia Science Festival event at Rembrandt's Restaurant produced by the Philadelphia Zoo and Monell Center where they study the sense of taste. Watch video here.
Amy Gordon,left, a first year grad student who works at the Monell Center, welcomed guests to a Philadelphia Science Festival program on how animals, smell and taste at Rembrandt's Restaurant and Bar. Gordon studies how humans communicate with body odor, especially how a stranger's body odor may influence threatening visual stimuli from the stranger. Fairmount neighborhood, Philadelphia.Watch video here.
Robert Fleming and his wife returned from vacation 15 years ago to find a flock of pink flamingos planted in their front yard by, as it turned out, good friends who had been watering plants in their absence. The flamingos have become a tradition at their daughters' weddings. In the winter, they migrate south to Hialeah Park, Fleming jokes. In the background, Amanda Shoulson paints an adirondack chair in preparation for an engagement party for the Flemings' third daughter Annie; the flamingos will fly in for wedding next January. Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. Watch video here.
Kids came running to catch their chickens which had wandered away from their back yard near Mermaid Avenue and Winston Road in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. Watch video here.
Sally Taylor, a university reference librarian from Vancouver, Canada is finishing up an 8-month stint as a volunteer librarian at the Charles Darwin Research Station in the Galapagos. She spoke via Skype from her home in the town of Puerto Ayora on Isla Santa Cruz about her work which includes finding materials for staff and volunteers and emptying the dehumidifier. She’s also had the opportunity to do touristy things like a cruise to see flora and the albatrosses nesting on the island of Española. The station is advertising for a volunteer librarian to succeed her. Sally blogs about her adventures on the equator at http://blogs.ubc.ca/galapagos/
SO HOW DID MAGGIE, “D-MAGGIE-O”, GET HER NUMBER “5”? Joe DiMaggio was number 5 because he was fifth in the batting order for the New York Yankees and they were the first team to start using the numbers regularly for their players. IS THAT NUMBER RETIRED NOW? I think it is. And we have Marilyn Monroe with us today because Joe DiMaggio married Marilyn and they were married for just a short while, under a year. And after two hundred and thirty some days she filed for divorce for mental cruelty. But here’s the interesting thing. She goes on to lead a life of fame and fortune but of course it comes to a very sad end. After she dies, Joe DiMaggio arranges her funeral, keeps all the paparazzi away and then after the funeral, he proceeds for the next twenty years to send red roses to her grave every week. Isn’t that wild? So that’s why we have Joe and Marilyn united today. AND THE HORSE? The horse is Maggie and today she’s ‘Jo D-Maggie-O.’” Sue Land, in background,with Maggie and Marissa Hall,Northwestern Equestrian Facility, Philadelphia. Watch video here.
Andrea Shumsky, as Marilyn Monroe, with Maggie.
WHAT IS IT WITH GIRLS AND UNICORNS? WHAT’S THE MAGICAL CONNECTION?
[giggle]
WHAT IS IT WITH GIRLS AND HORSES? HOW COME YOU SEE SO MANY GIRLS AND WOMEN AROUND HORSES BUT NOT BOYS AND MEN THAT MUCH. WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IS?
[giggle]
WHAT QUESTION WOULD YOU LIKE TO ANSWER?
[giggle]
CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT YOUR HORSE?
Jasper’s a good horse. He’s stubborn. And really gentle.
WHAT KIND OF MOVES DO YOU DO WITH HIM?
Jump, cantor and trot.
WHAT DOES HE LIKE TO TO DO BEST?
Jump.
AND YOU?
Jump.
Francesca Franzzo of South Philadelphia at the Northwest Equestrian Facility, Philadelphia, Halloween Parade with Jasper. Watch video here.
WHAT’S NEW? “Well, we have kidney transplants. We have a cat that we had a kidney transplant done. So they take a kidney from a donor, put it in your cat and then you have to adopt that cat. That’s been going on a few years. It’s a nice thing we can do today. DO YOU DO IT HERE? No we send it to Penn. It’s working very well. HOW DOES A CAT BECOME A DONOR CAT? That’s a cat that’s usually from a shelter and the kidney’s taken out or they may have them at Penn, donors ready to go. And then you adopt that cat too. So you have two cats now, instead of one. You have two healthy kidneys in the house one in each cat… and this is Darla, she’s being fostered. She’s a rescue from down south, a real sweetie, so if anyone wants to adopt Darla, she’s here in our hospital. She comes with Julie our technician.” Sheldon Gerstenfeld, VMD, Chestnut Hill Veterinary Clinic, Erdenheim, with Darla and Julie Raymond. Watch video interview here.
“I live on Norwood, Matthew Studner, right behind the hospital. I’m taking a horse to work in Germantown every day now. I drop my son off at Germantown Friends and we carriage.” AND THE HORSE? “The horse doesn’t even have a name yet. We just got him from a nice Amish person yesterday. Our big horse is Jingle Bells and we have a couple minis and we’re starting to give rides. On Stag and Doe night we’ll be riding up and down with our big horse and sleigh.”Watch video here. 
SO THIS IS THE “ZORSE”? “Yes, this is Oxford, the Zebra Horse. We ran out of paint and patience to do the other side. HOW DID HE COME TO BE? “One of the instructors said, ‘Oh, you should make him a zebra’ and I thought that was too much work. But then when I heard about some of the other costumes they sounded pretty good so I thought I had to do a really good costume if we were going to win because Oxford’s a former race horse so I know he’s competitive and he’d want to win." Kristen Kavanagh Bowman with Oxford, “Best in Show” Northwestern Equestrian Facility Halloween Costume Parade.Watch video clip here.
