Lio. Copyright 2008 Mark Tatulli. Use by permission of Universal Press Syndicate. All rights reserved. CLICK ON THE STRIP TO MAKE IT BIGGER Lio is one of my new favorite comic strips –if you haven’t read it before, it’s a mostly pictorial view of one slightly weird little boy who hangs with under-the-bed monsters and assorted aliens and other creatures, and who deals with school bullies using his own imaginative inventions. It’s pretty funny, and the Sunday color illustrations areRead more
Month: April 2008
Spotlight: Volunteer Donald
Donald has been coming to the museum for 25 years as a visitor, bringing his children and grandchildren here, which gives him a very unique and committed viewpoint as a volunteer. For over two years now he has been coming in every week and helping care for our farmyard animals. On the right you can see him preparing feed bags for the farmyard critters. He is so important to our collective mood, that the Keepers actually argue (in a funRead more
It’s Time for Leafy Treats
Now that spring is here, our animals are able to have special treats (which double as enrichment) that they can’t get all year round. With everything in bloom, it’s a perfect time to give them branches of leaves and new buds, also known as browse. There are only certain types of things we can give them, which have been approved by our veterinarians, because many plants are toxic to animals. Our goats, donkey, sheep and steer receive Russian-olive browse which,Read more
See it, smell it!
EnrichBits: A monthly look at animal enrichment So I’ve tried to explain a lot of the categories of a full enrichment program (if you click the EnrichBits link on the side bar, you can read them), but we haven’t talked about olfactory or visual enrichment yet. Our animals need interesting things to look at and unusual scents that may encourage exploration! For interesting visual stuff, we use windsocks, shimmering wind twirly things (yes, that’s their official name), and other objectsRead more
Wendy the thief!
Last week I was on my way out of the office to bring invoices to the business office. I set my papers down to answer a phone call. A few minutes later, I went to pick up my stack of papers, and noticed my pink copy of an invoice on the floor, but the white receipt that was stapled to it was missing. I searched the desk, my office, everywhere, and repeatedly. I was so frustrated having lost the invoice-Read more
Red Wolf Re-Introduction: The 5-County Area
My last post about red wolves ended on the topic of re-introduction into the wild. In 1987, four breeding pairs were released at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge (ARNWR), located in eastern North Carolina. This was a monumental step in the recovery program for the species; if these 8 individuals were successful at holding territories and reproducing, there was a good chance that a wild population of red wolves could be established once again. To improve the odds ofRead more