Jack Hanna and His Animal Friends Visit The Maritime Aquarium

He is arguably the most famous zookeeper in America and he has been on “Good Morning America,” “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” he is a regular guest on David Letterman’s “The Late Show,” and you have certainly seen him on a bunch of other talk shows, but now Jack Hanna has been to The Maritime Aquarium.

All the gossip in the aquarium’s IMAX lobby was of course centered on what animals Hanna might bring to show off and then ticketholders glanced to the right and had the opportunity to confirm their guesses with the man himself. Sitting right in the lobby before the show, allowing photographs, signing autographs, and chatting with fans, was Jack Hanna himself!

And those animals…Well, in traditional Jungle Jack style, he did not disappoint according to the crowd’s “Ooh’s and ahh’s.”

All in attendance got an up close look at a wallaby, a kangaroo, three fennec foxes, a very large python, an “oh so cute” baby black bear, an alligator, a swift fox, a ring-tailed lemur, a lesser anteater, a beaver, a black-footed penguin, and a lynx.

With each animal that was brought out, Hanna gave a mini lecture, and even told a few war stories about being bitten by his favorite animal, the beaver, and said he often refuses to touch one ever since one gave him a nasty bite on Letterman’s show in 1978 that resulted in an “almost lost” thumb.

Hanna also brought with him a few rarer animals which he said we “may never see again.” A mammal like the echidna is native to Australia and New Guinea and is not allowed outside of those countries. The audience also got a peek at a King Vulture, the only surviving member of its genus and a bird that is decreasing in the world due to habitat loss.

In between animal entrances, Hanna told everyone stories of how he got started and how it was always his dream to become a zookeeper and through “hard work and enthusiasm” he made it happen. He even screened a few short video clips of a couple of his favorite moments like when he got to go inside a black bear’s den and held a cub, and when he got to spend time with silverback gorillas in Rwanda with his film crew and his family. Hanna did show us all one more video of outtakes from his television appearances and the show he had a handful of years ago, “Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures.” One clip that got big laughs from the crowd was Jack showing David Letterman how to milk a goat. YouTube it and you’ll see what was so funny.

Hanna mentioned at the end of the show that he hopes to come back to The Maritime Aquarium in the future, but he stressed this point, “Please support your local zoos and aquariums,” he said. “With that support you are passing along education.”

 

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