Current at 11/6/2011 (Online waypoint URL) You have already found this cache! Master Index    Nearest Caches Oh Give Me a Home by Flotsom and Jetsom (2/1.5) (Archived) N49° 52.360  W97° 14.294 (WGS84) UTM  14U   E 626590  N 5525962 Use waypoint: GC1B8V1 Size: Micro    Hidden on 4/15/2008 In Manitoba, Canada Difficulty:     Terrain:                       This cache is one of a series placed in collaboration with the Zoological Society of Manitoba as a part of the Endangered Species Cache Game. The Cache is in the Assiniboine Park Zoo. There is a nominal entrance fee. You can download the game sheet at www.mbgeocaching.ca or obtain one from the Zoo Shop NOTE: You do not have to cross any barriers to easily find this cache Oh Give Me A Home The prospect of extinction is a reality for many species of plant and animal. In the past 300 years, over 300 large and prominent animals have become extinct due to the pressures put on them and their habitat by human activity. Some have been able to come back from that brink because of human care and concern. The European Bison or Wisent is now found in the wild in five countries from Poland to Russia, formerly occurred in mixed and deciduous forests and meadows of Europe and eastern Asia. Endangered , but increasing in numbers on wild reserves and in captivity, this bovine species may be distinguished from American bison by its longer legs and more powerful rear legs. Exceptional males of both species may reach 1,000 kg. Studies have found an activity pattern of 30% feeding, 60% resting, and 10% moving to new pasture. Its diet consists of grass, forbs, shrubs and trees. Individuals have lived 40 years in zoos. The European bison was once an important game animal to prehistoric and historic peoples from England to Siberia, but decades over-hunting and habitat destruction exterminated the species in the wild – dying out in Poland in 1919. The species was saved thanks to cooperative breeding programs starting in 1929 using only five survivors from European zoos. The current wild range includes Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Russia. Over half of the 3,500 animals live in conservation areas in over 25 herds, and over 250 animals occur in zoos under a special European Endangered Species Plan, of which our herd is registered. This herd is one of only several in North America.

Additional Hints (There are no hints for this cache)

5/2/2009 by Kabuthunk
YES! For the longest while, I was concerned that this cache was no longer there. And then, I got a notification that it was found, and thus... still existed. And then I got another notification. And then I got a PILE of notifications. Looks like a ton of people tackled the zoo caches when the snow disappeared .

In either case, this cache officially gets the honour of being find number 496. Why is it an honour? Glad you asked! Find number 496 is probably the most significant number in my mind, with the possible exception of number 1000 MAYBE edging it out due to it being the first foray into four digits. Ahh, but what is it about 496 that makes it so special?

Simply put... it is a perfect number. What makes it perfect? Why, math of course. As a perfect number, it's defined as a positive integer which is the sum of its proper positive divisors. In this case, 1+ 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 + 31 + 62 + 124 + 248 = 496. There are only four such perfect numbers below 10000... 6, 28, 496, and 8128. The odds of me getting to find number 8128 is slim, and reaching find 33550336 (the next perfect number) is not even possible statistically, as there arent over 33 million caches on earth (as of yet, anyway). As an added bonus, 496 is also a triangular number, a hexagonal number, a centered nonagonal number, and a centered 11-gonal number.

Aren't numbers fun .

But anyway... why this cache? Because... the whole zoo series was absolutely phenominal! Each cache was unique and interesting, showing me interesting areas, and showing me things. You have no clue how badly I wanted to have found this cache back when I first tackled the zoo caches. Although, in my defense, having found it NOW, the cache was indeed buried deep in the snow. I probably stepped on top of it a number of times in winter looking for it . And so, with the recent knowledge that this cache was still in the realm of existance, it didn't take me long to decide which cache I wanted for find number 496. Even if it DID cost me $4.78 for my 5-minute stay at the Zoo . I had other caches to find... don't look at me like that!

Anyway... I got to see some interesting things, even in my 5 minutes. As I entered and was walking towards the coordinates, a group of employees passed, each leading an animal (on a leash) down the walkway. One had a baby buffalo (it was about 4 feet high... couldn't have been THAT old), and a few... reindeer? Deer with fuzzy-looking antlers, anyway. I'd think they were smallish, but baby animals don't grow antlers... especially ones that size... so I'm not entirely sure what animal those were. Pretty interesting to see them from that close, though .

This group of animals also added a pleasant distraction away from where I was and towards... that barn-looking enclosure just South of the entrance. While whatever was happening there was happening... I made my way to the coordinates and began to look. Actually having read the previous finder's log helped me a lot, and I focused in on the cache. A quick poke later, and I had indeed confirmed that I had found the cache . I snagged the logbook and stepped to the side for a bit (and watched the buffalo while I was at it), to try to avoid looking too suspicious. After signing it up, I quickly replaced it and lobbed a chainmail ball into the container. Closing it up, I made my way away from ground zero. I debated for a minute whether or not to tour the zoo... but had various other things planned today. The zoo staff had just finished shuffling the animals-on-leashes into their area, and the crowd was dispersing. With that, I continued on my merry way to other caches.

Thanks once again for placing the zoo caches. I'm glad I was able to find the entire set, and was pleasantly amused by the style of each hide .

Took: Nothing
Left: Logbook entry and chainmail ball

2/1/2009 by Kabuthunk
It looks like I'm among several other geocachers whom indicated this was the only cache at the Zoo they weren't able to locate. I attempted this cache second on my list today (my circuit being of a somewhat figure-8, so I actually made two attempts today... but will only be logged as one DNF, since it's in the same caching effort of the day). For much of my hunting for this cache, I was BLINDLY hoping that I'd run across another geocacher who was either looking for it, or had already found it. Given (as far as I can tell from the ones I've looked at thus far) none of these caches have been found since October (although some of the actual paper logs for the caches I found indicated November 1st if I'm not mistaken... they may just not log things online), I figured the cache was slim to nil .

Although strangely, I DID run across another geocacher later on, but that's a story for THAT geocache .

Anyway, after the abnormally noisy 'Whoo's Next' cache a bit to the North, I headed over here, where thankfully all was quiet. One good thing about geocaching at the Zoo in winter... you come across virtually noone . The fact however that the entrance and shop was visible from the coordinates made me a bit uneasy. I figured that I was far enough away though that neither the ticket-taker nor none of the staff at the shop would see me.

Speaking of which... methinks the staff at the Zoo aren't being told about these geocaches. Like... at all. I first asked the ticket-taker about a pamphlet for the geocaches at the Zoo... they had no clue what I was referring to, and had never heard of geocaching. Ok, no problem... I'm supposed to ask at the Zoo Shop anyway apparently. So I head straight into the shop, whereupon I find that the employees there as well have never heard of geocaching, or any such things at the Zoo... and one of them indicated she had worked there for about 6 months. Oh well, no great loss... just a little unsettling that if I'm called upon by security or something, noone who works here would have any idea what I'm referring to to back me up. Although, if that unlikely situation were to arise, I'd take them to a geocache (probably Whoo's Next) and show them the sticker on the inside saying it's placed in part by the Zoological Society of Manitoba, and gave someone's name... I think it was Eric somethingorother. But yeah... made me a bit more nervous than I ought to have been is all.

But... wow, I digressed pretty hard there. Anyway, where was I. Right... looking around. The coordinates unfortunately kept placing me right in the center of the path, not really close to any single... thing. Hence, I searched along the edges of all of the paths near that point. I of course spent most of my searching by the Bison. I scoured everything, but couldn't find squat, despite spending a total of about 30 minutes around there today. There's one object which I think had something to do with it... a black funky-looking thing on a wire... but if there was anything once attached to it, it's gone now . There was plenty of wires around not attached to anything, and I couldn't find anything in the snow beneath. I'm very glad it was quiet, because I was poking and prodding every square inch of that area.

But alas... no dice. It looks like it'll take one more entrance fee before I can polish off all of the caches at the zoo . But hey... at least that means I get to go to the zoo again .

Although I'll probably wait for confirmation that it's still there. No sense trying for just this one cache again when it could for all I know simply be hidden under a thick layer of ice right now, or outright missing. I may poke around for a hint, too .

I shall return, and dinifra!