Not knowing the meaning of the word “enough,” the staff here at the Houston Zoo work tirelessly to provide a wealth of information and insight into the secret lives of our animals. We often say that it is a new zoo everyday; it is quite easy to understand this when one reflects on the various births and changes at the zoo, encouraged with the goal of providing a better experience for our treasured guests.

The variety of blogs posted here with special “behind-the-scenes” information is yet another way that we attempt to continually provide more data on a great variety of animal species. However, we have decided to take this interactive media one step further by giving our valued blog readers the opportunity to win a prize: an animal painting!  A colorful 9″ x 12″ canvas created by some of the new ducklings we have raised this year.

Your prize made by the pitter patter of painted duck feet

Winning this painting is simple: all you need to do is participate in our BIRD BRAINED CHALLENGE and accumulate the highest score to win our fabulous prize.

LET'S PLAY THE BIRD BRAINED CHALLENGE

Over the following week, daily blog posts will go up with clues pertaining to a certain bird found on display at the Houston Zoo. While each of the individual clues might apply to a variety of avian species, collectively the clues will only apply to one species.

You must go through these clues and correctly identify the bird in question to earn points towards our amazing prize. It’s this author’s unbiased opinion that our birds are arguably amongst the smartest animals in the zoo, and such problem-solving skills are crucial to be worthy of a trophy created by…. THEM!

Monday, July 11 will mark the start of our challenge. New blog posts will go up daily through Friday, and  you will have the chance to submit your guess on the avian species in question.

Monday, July 18 through Friday, July 22 will be a week of revealing the answers to our challenge.  And finally, on Monday, July 25, we will announce our winner!

This is a wonderful way for you to test your knowledge on the large collection of avian species on display at the Houston Zoo (one of the largest avian collections in the country!) and it also gives you the chance to win a wonderful animal painting!

Who needs SUDOKU or Words with Friends? 

This is going to be FUN!

HERE ARE THE RULES:

• The contest will start with the first clue on Monday, July 11. There are 5 question posts total, one posted per day, Monday through Friday, July 15.
• The following week, July 18-22, there will be an answer post published each day, on the corresponding day to the question post. So Monday July 11th’s question post will have it’s answer post published on the following Monday, July 18.
• Last guesses must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, July 17.
• Only one guess per clue post per person.
• Participants can not be an employee of the Zoo. 

SCORING:

• Please put your answers in the corresponding blog’s comment area ONLY. Answers posted on Facebook and Twitter will not be considered valid.
• The first person to guess right gets 5 points, the second correct guess gets 4 points, the third correct guess gets 3 points, and all other correct guesses get 2 points. Comments have time stamps to clarify this.

WINNER NOTIFICATION:

• Once the winner is determined, you will be contacted via e-mail.
• Winner will be announced on the Monday, July 25 ,via blog post on the Official Houston Zoo Blog. The winner’s name and any photos may be used on the Houston Zoo, Inc. website, Facebook and/or Twitter pages.

RECEIVING THE PRIZE:
If the winner lives in the greater Houston area, we encourage picking up the prize in person, so we can take photos to post. Otherwise the prize will be mailed to the winner.

 And there you have it! 

Get ready to join us on Monday for the first clue — and no worries if you are seeing this later in the week of July 11-15. You can go through all the posts and leave your guesses in the comments as long as they are all done by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, July 17.

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