Flamingos on parade — Photo courtesy of iStock / ANDREYGUDKOV
As our days of social distancing wear on, more and more good news stories are popping up across the Internet. Distilleries are shifting focus to producing hand sanitizer, communities are finding creative ways to support local restaurants and museums are coming up with myriad new ways to keep kids stuck at home both educated and entertained.
Here are three more stories to make you smile this week.
The animals are taking over
With zoos and aquariums across the nation emptied of their usual human visitors, zookeepers are giving animals the opportunity to take a field trip around the facilities, and it’s adorable.
At the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Tyson the prehensile-tailed porcupine paid a visit to the penguin exhibit. He seemed more interested in chowing down on his biscuit.
Meanwhile, the Humboldt penguins at the Saint Louis Zoo got to experience their exhibit from the visitor side and take an elevator ride to the upstairs offices – all part of the park’s #BringTheStlZooToYou initiative.
Tilli the aardvark got her town tour of Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, where she got to meet walruses Pakak and Mitik, and watch the fish in the Pacific Seas Aquarium.
Video courtesy of Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium
A flock of flamingos at the Texas State Aquarium got to explore the underwater exhibits of Caribbean Journey.
Hodari, a milky eagle owl chick at the Dallas Zoo, took a field trip to the Children’s Zoo to meet the koi fish.
Sarah and Jason, a pair of sibling forest Guinea hogs living at the Oakland Zoo, love going out on “hog jogs” to see the otters.
The meerkats were captivated by the visitor they received this week, a red river hog named Sir Francis Bacon, who took an extended walk through the African habitats at the Cincinnati Zoo.
Twitter’s newest sensation is an Oklahoma security guard
If you’re not following the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum on social media, you’re missing out. While the museum is closed for safety reasons, the staff has turned over the museum’s social media accounts to a security guard named Tim.
“I have been asked to take on the additional duty of social media management while the museum is closed,” Tim explained in his first Instagram post. “I’m new to social media but excited to share what I am told is called ‘content’ on all of The Cowboy’s what I am told are ‘platforms’ including the Twitter, the Facebook, and the Instagram.”
His posts range from the educational…
Looks like a rough commute! LOL Morning, Friends. This is actually a part of our new outdoor expansion for learning and family fun called Liichokoshkomo’. It’s the Chickasaw phrase for “Let’s play!” #HashtagTheCowboy Thanks, Tim pic.twitter.com/1qy4dH1ZI2
— Nat’l Cowboy Museum (@ncwhm) March 26, 2020
to the humorous…
Asked how I ended up doing the social media. I got roped into it. LOL. Here’s a twisted rawhide rope used by the Argentinian Gauchos. Gauchos were the South American equivalent of the American Cowboy. Argentina 1880-1900. Leather, iron 1983.62.37 #HashtagTheCowboy Thanks, Tim pic.twitter.com/qXjQ2BBmJi
— Nat’l Cowboy Museum (@ncwhm) March 24, 2020
but they’re always charming.
Someone suggested I post a Tick Tock. It’s from our Warhol and The West Exhibition.
Roy Rogers Alarm Clock c 1951 from The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Founding Collection, Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc TC526.36 #HashtagTheCowboy Thanks, Tim pic.twitter.com/FTz9Gp5bZH— Nat’l Cowboy Museum (@ncwhm) March 21, 2020
It takes an orchestra…
With social distancing orders in place across the country, musicians of all genres are finding new and creative ways to both practice and perform their craft. Musicians from John Legend to Garth Brooks are staging intimate concerts via Facebook Live, while the city of Memphis hosted the Get Live Virtual Museum Festival over the weekend, with three days of live performances.
While it’s one thing to perform solo or get a few members of the band together for an online concert, digitally wrangling an entire orchestra is quite another. But that’s just what the Colorado Symphony did this week.
Video courtesy of the Colorado Symphony
As part of the orchestra’s #PlayOn campaign, each member filmed themselves playing their part at home. These video and audio tracks were mixed, mastered and produced into a video.
“Music is the universal language, and it’s one of the things that can give people comfort during a stressful, difficult time. And if there’s a way we can share it, we want to,” Anthony Pierce, chief artistic officer, told The Durango Herald. “And I think maybe it sets an example in a certain way because you see that, ‘Hey, everybody is staying at home and they’re figuring out new ways of working.'”
So far, the orchestra has performed “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and the horn section has put together renditions of “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” and “All By Myself.”