GCP: Urban Wildlife with Suzanne Akerman

Friend of the podcast, Suzanne Akerman, is in the house, giving us the scoop on her wild adventures and spreading the word about the upcoming Proctor Polar Bear Crawl! Suzanne spends most of her days sharing her passion for animals with visitors at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium where she works as a staff biologist for the Wild Wonders Outdoor Theater. When she is not performing in shows or scooping poop, Suzanne is chair of Drinking for Conservation, a committee dedicated to conserving wildlife through fun social gatherings. Her hobbies include reading, solving crossword puzzles, trivia, dancing, and occasional modeling. Suzanne holds a B.A in English and an M.A. in Education from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma and an M.A. in Biology from Miami University. She’s joined the GCP cast also on episodes 136, 110, 80, 76, and 16!

00:25 – The show kicks off confirming that charcuterie boards are the fancy version of Lunchables, Suzanne expresses her love of the GCP cats, and proposes a purr-fect cat calendar. She explains how parthenogenesis works, turning Party for Polar Bears into Proctor Polar Bear Crawl, and the businesses that will be participating in the crawl.

17:17 – The guys call out how they each pronounce Opossum, Suzanne’s got the lowdown on proper pronunciation of the word, and explains how they have semi-prehensile tails. She talks about how they can become problems, Justin talks about the benefits they bring, and dives into Caster Questions. Suzanne talks about the Zoo Snooze, Scott talks about the Elephant meeting a Sea Lion, and Suzanne expresses the fun of doing the animal drive-by.

33:07 – They ponder on how one might go about teaching an otter to fly, how long it would take, and Scott talks about the article where a mushroom was growing on a frog. Suzanne explains ways people can support animal conservation, how little actions can make a big difference in preservation, and the types of kid-friendly opportunities offered at the zoo to educate kids.

50:28 - Scott talks about the wild burros in Nevada, Justin reminisces on swimming lessons as a kid, and what it would take for him to ride a horse. He talks about the different animals his grandparents had, Scott talks about running into an ostrich on the back roads in Nevada, and Suzanne shares her ostrich sighting.

Special thanks to Suzanne for joining the crew on this episode! Looking forward to the next great update!

• Snoozes at Point Defiance Zoo: Spend the night at the Zoo! — Your group can join us for a special overnight experience at the Zoo!
• Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium — Open 9am - 3:30pm Thur-Mon Closed Tue-Wed
• The Grit City Podcast - Suzanne Akerman
• An Elephant Meets A Sea Lion And It's The Cutest Encounter Ever - YouTube
• Adventures with Jumbo Jet the radiated #tortoise at the #zoo! | TikTok — Adventures with Jumbo Jet the radiated #tortoise at the #zoo!
• Scientists Baffled by Mushroom Growing on Live Frog — In what is believed to be the first ever such documented case, researchers in India came across a live frog with a small mushroom growing on the side of its body.
• Conservation Northwest | Keeping the Northwest Wild — Keeping the Northwest Wild
• Northwest Trek Wildlife Park | Eatonville, Washington
• Tacoma’s injured ‘punk rock’ coyote, Jawless Jerry, has died | Tacoma News Tribune
• 2024 Polar Bear Proctor Crawl - The Proctor District - Tacoma, WA