One of my favorite aspects of working in Explore the Wild is the wildlife, whether it be foxes, ground hogs, raccoons, snakes or spiders. I found this spider recently and was quite sure it was a crab spider so I checked with Leon from the Butterfly house, who is an expert. He said it was a Running Crab Spider, they are in the Thomisidae family. They can actually be green, orange, and yellow in color, he also mentioned that they are very quick!

A few days later while showing Ranger Greg some interesting growth on a tree near Lemurs, I asked him what the above spider was. It resembles my favorite spider- the Green Lynx. But this one is actually a Orchid Orb Weaver.