Whatever you call it, if you have a pet cat at home (especially if it’s a male) you’ve likely seen this face before. It goes by many variations of the same name: Flehmen Response, Flehmen Position, Flehmen Reaction, or simply Flehming. Flehmen (pronounced: FLAY-men) Responses are used by a wide variety of hoofstock (ungulates) and many cats (felids). Males and females, adults and babies, all exhibit this silly facial expression. The silly look on the animal’s face helps toRead more
Farmyard Pumpkin Fest 2012
Only a couple days after we were given that truckload of giant pumpkins, I answered a radio call from Sherry telling me to drive the gator very carefully so I wouldn’t spill the cargo (I didn’t spill any). With our Quarantine stall in the Farmyard already full of pumpkins, something needed to be done to whittle down the collection. The result: Pumpkin Fest 2012 There was even some pumpkin smashing! Read more
Signs of the Season
Ranger Greg may have noticed the first signs of the impending season change back in August, but here in the Animal Department, we hold off until the middle of October to make our changes from the summer heat to the winter cold. We also have our animals to let us know when it’s time to shut off the fans and turn on the heaters. Scout, the duck, molts all of his old summer feathers to prepare for what would be aRead more
QuickPic: Goats on Spools
The bears and lemurs have stumps to learn to station with and the little goats have spools! Even Lightning, the donkey, gets into station training. Teaching “station” or “place” is a great way to get an animal to give you some breathing room when you’re training multiple animals at once. Read more
Painting the Roses Red
Patches, the goat, decided to add his own artistic touch to the freshly painted barns. Who needs thumbs or a prehensile lip to hold a paintbrush when you’ve got a tail?Read more
Time For a Tune-Up
Now that we’re 1 month away from the grand re-opening of the Farmyard, it’s time to trade-in your well practiced sheep “baa” and try out your newly acquired alpaca “hum.” Here’s Retro, short for “Retroversion,” one of our new alpaca moms– and by far the most vocal– giving you a lesson in alpaca communication. So get practicing and in 30 days you will be ready to welcome the humming quartet into their new Farmyard home. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUVKqObrlvM[/youtube]Read more