FOCAS Fest 2025 was a success! 🥳🐻🐯🐵🌿

So proud of our Learning & Discovery team and everyone involved at The Wildheart Animal Sanctuary and all visiting exhibitors! 🤩

An incredible time bringing conservation, science and art all into one jam packed weekend to start the IOW Biosphere festival! 💗

I am finding this work incredibly rewarding, getting to share my knowledge and inspire the younger generation, AND can't complain when I'm surrounded with incredible views and/or the sweetest rescue animals 🫶🏼🐾

Alongside being busy with a couple of papers currently in review or in press (!!), I'm extremelyyyy busy right now with my current visitor experience and education roles!

Here's a few snaps of the last weeks! Lots of fun craft activities, and even better seeing CeCe enjoy her enrichment we made!!

Happy International Day of Women and Girls in Science! 🥳👩🏼‍🔬👩🏼‍💻🔬🧪🐒🐱

Very very grateful for all the incredible, supportive, and inspirational women I've been able to work alongside on this crazy crazy journey 🥰

Nvm... We got there in the end with the last cocktail I thought to try, and yet the one that is so obviously now on the table 🙈
At least now that's another source of thesis procrastination dealt with 😅

In today's hour of procrastination, I managed to finally guess *most* of the Hidden Books game... Except this one!!!! Begging for help here, as any extra hints I've found still don't help 😅

Meerkat skull with my favourite Kalahari flowers 🌺 skull approximately to actual size!

all design and tattooing credit to Holly Valley tattoo 🫶🏼
#ScienceInk

I think hugging the wall heaters is a meerkat's equivalent to getting a sunrise lamp to combat S.A.D 🤭

As part of Switzerland's "future day", some children lucky enough to have parents/family working at UZH helped me with caring for our meerkats today! It's always a fun time sharing meerkat facts to the next gen of animal enthusiasts! 🥰

(pic is from the last time I did a bigger outreach event!)

Figured I should probably start using this app more, and start with a proper intro! 🙋🏼‍♀️
I'm Zoe, currently almost finished with my MSc thesis based upon meerkat sociality 🫂
Huge interest in animal behaviour, social systems, and interactions. 😸
Been a "meerkatter" for almost 5 years now!