BATTLE CREEK, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Monday, Binder Park Zoo (BPZ) announced changes to its popular two-day Reptile Weekend event.
Reptile Weekend is set to happen this Saturday, August 1, and Sunday, August 2, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be structured differently.
The zoo typically hosts guest vendors who bring a collection of reptiles, amphibians and other unusual animal species to the zoo, allowing visitors up-close experiences to learn about these creatures and dispel myths about them.
However, current social distancing guidelines don’t allow for these encounters to happen, so the zoo is presenting a “scaled back” version of Reptile Weekend – and the pun is intended, according to zoo officials.
As an alternative, a smaller number of the zoo’s own resident reptiles will be on special exhibit for visitors to see in designated spaces throughout the zoo.
“Since the zoo opened on May 29, the Adventure Station in the Binda Conservation Discovery Center hasn’t been able to open to the public because of the need to maintain the six-foot requirement in the space. The Adventure Station is where many of these animals live so guests haven’t been able to see them,” Curator of Collections at the zoo Kathryn Sippel said in a statement. “There will also be some very interesting reptiles that are our animal ambassadors on display as well. These too are animals that the average zoo visitor would not see, since our education programs were suspended for the season due to the pandemic.”
Among the special species guests can expect to see are a rhinoceros iguana named Phish Styx, a blue-tongued skink, a black-headed monitor, and a 105-pound, 18-foot-long reticulated python.
Guests can also visit Al, the Aldabra giant tortoise at his exhibit in Wild Africa. Zoo officials say that Al is a longtime zoo favorite who enjoys celebrity status at BPZ.
Approximately nine temporary exhibits at the zoo will feature these and other animals for guests to check out when they visit.
Reptile Weekend – Scaled Back happens on Saturday, August 1, from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Sunday, August 2, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. General admission rates apply.
For more information on the program and how the Zoo is taking COVID-19 precautions, visit https://binderparkzoo.org/.
