Lemurs get new toys, too!

With the holidays comes gifts of new toys! Thanks to a few very generous people the animals have gotten a lot of fun surprises! The keepers have set up an Amazon wishlist for items we would like for the animals and items that just help us do our job! Recently, the lemurs got a new puzzle feeder. Since some of our lemurs are very old, I wasn’t sure if they would want to interact with this new item. I putRead more

The Life of a Keeper

Since becoming an Animal Keeper it always amazes me the things I am no longer grossed out by–the list is continually growing! One day I sat down to lunch and realized I was eating next to two lemur fecal samples. Instead of moving them, I took a picture!Read more

Lemur Enrichment

I’m always looking for new and novel enrichment to give out to the animals which can sometimes be a challenge. One day I was looking for a sensory enrichment for the lemurs and I was tired of using scents or spices. I remembered that we had leftover streamers from Cynthia’s birthday celebration. I decided to wrap some of their perching in it and hang some off the perching. Below are a few pictures of what it looked like! The nextRead more

Where are the Red Ruffed Lemurs?

If you have been to the museum lately you may have noticed the Red Ruffed Lemurs are not on exhibit. While our new Ring Tailed Lemurs are on exhibit in indoor viewing our Red Ruffed Lemurs are on vacation. By “vacation” I mean that they don’t have to come upstairs and be on exhibit. Instead, the girls are hanging out in the downstairs holding areas. They also have access to some outdoor side cages as well.  They would normally onlyRead more

Frogs, Turtles and Foxes, oh my!

Since I spend most of my time out in Explore the Wild, I get to see a lot of our native wildlife. I’m no photographer extraordinaire like Ranger Greg but I thought I would share some of my favorite pictures! To see some of Ranger Greg’s photos–click here! There is so much to see out in Explore the Wild if you take the time to look!Read more

Having fun with Bear Enrichment

Enriching the lives of our animals is a daily task for us keepers. When I have the time, I like to be a little more creative with my enrichment ideas. The other day I decided to put a table and four chairs into the bear side yard. I carefully picked out the tallest chair for Gus and the shortest chair for Yona. Mimi and Virginia received similar sized chairs. To entice them to actually check out my creation, I wroteRead more