<p>Joey Thurman: When someone truly cares about you, they make an effort, not an excuse. And that's what Phillips Park Zoo does with all of their animals. They're not just collecting, they're part of their family and they truly do care and believe in what they do. Here's the Phillips Park Zoo.</p> <p>Joey Thurman: Smells like animals and all sorts of stuff here. Dan, where are we at?</p> <p>Dan Powell: This is the domestics area of the Phillips Park Zoo. It's in the southwest corner of the zoo, right across from the birds of the Prairie. And next to the wolves.</p> <p>Joey Thurman: Tell me about the Phillips Park Zoo.</p> <p>Dan Powell: Oh boy. The zoo is located in the southeast corner of Aurora. We have about seven acres of developed enclosure space here. We exhibit primarily North American native animals. We do mix it up a little bit with some of the parrots and some of the reptiles, but the large mammals right now are primarily from North America and the rescued birds of prey are also from North America.</p> <p>Joey Thurman: Okay. So, you have a wide variety of animals and what distinguishes this zoo versus something else that people would see?</p> <p>Dan Powell: I would say the amount of time that it takes to learn and visit the zoo is really good for children of an age where they have the shorter attention span, or for families that want to just be able to kind of hop out, do something really fun, have some fun in the park, eat some lunch or whatever and then go back in. They don't have to commit a whole day to being at the zoo to enjoy being [inaudible 00:01:43].</p> <p>Joey Thurman: All right. Cool. Let's check out the rest of the zoo. Huh?</p> <p>Dan Powell: Fantastic. Joey Thurman: Cool.</p> <p>Emma Lohenry: Probably taking guess at why she's called a ball python. They curl up in this nice little ball to keep themselves safe and usually they'll hide their head in the middle of the ball. And then when they feel comfortable, they'll start to venture out.</p> <p>Joey Thurman: Okay. So Boo is feeling comfortable now she's feeling now?</p> <p>Emma Lohenry: She's feeling pretty comfortable. Would you like to pet her?</p> <p>Joey Thurman: You know...</p> <p>Emma Lohenry: Right here. So a lot of people expect that snakes are going to be really slimy because they're very glossy looking.</p> <p>Joey Thurman: Yeah. Yeah.</p> <p>Emma Lohenry: But they honestly, they kind of feel more like a basketball.</p> <p>Joey Thurman: A lot like a basketball.</p> <p>Emma Lohenry: Yeah.</p> <p>Joey Thurman: That's a great analogy.</p> <p>Emma Lohenry: And when she's in the sunlight, she's got this really nice rainbow sheen on her there.</p> <p>Emma Lohenry: So these guys had quite a bit of trouble in their native areas of Africa. A lot of people were killing them because they mistook these guys for dangerous venomous snakes. But these are actually really docile snakes and they're really beneficial to people.</p> <p>Emma Lohenry: Yeah. That's one of the things that Boo helps us with here at the zoo is, she spends a lot of time visiting with guests, giving people their first chance to pet a reptile.</p> <p>Joey Thurman: Yeah.</p> <p>Emma Lohenry: And a lot of people come into our programs and I'll ask people to raise their hands. You know, "Who's a little afraid of snakes?" And most people will raise their hands. But after watching her be really calm and laid back and be very gentle and then having an opportunity to pet her, and see how sweet she is and how lovable. A lot of people, by the end of a program will say like, "I actually think maybe I like snakes."</p> <p>Joey Thurman: Wow.</p> <p>Emma Lohenry: And they're at least a little bit less of afraid of them.</p> <p>Joey Thurman: Boo. Thank you very much. You're very kind. Just got to get rid of that [inaudible 00:03:45], okay.</p>