Have you ever looked closely at a goat or sheep and noticed their weird rectangular eyes? I hear guests commenting on them every few weeks; some people love them, some people are disturbed by them, I think they’re awesome! Ungulates (hooved animals) are prey animals and need to have a great field of vision to avoid being snuck up on by a predator while they’re grazing. The rectangular pupil of the sheep and goats allow them to see in nearlyRead more
Big Word of the Month: Symbiosis
Many of the animals at the museum live with another animal of a different specie. They might live together because they seem to like each other or because they don’t bother one another and fit the exhibit well (large exhibits with 1 animal are pretty boring if that one animal doesn’t want to be in sight of guests). Some of the animals we have together are a donkey and dwarf goats, a steer and a boer goat, a pine snakeRead more
Meet A Biologist: Christina Kocer
Meet Christina Kocer, the White-Nose Syndrome National Assistant Coordinator (and Northeast Regional Coordinator) for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Christina works with BATS! Specifically, she works with people, bats, and a newly discovered disease called White-Nose Syndrome (WNS). I asked her a few questions about her job; her answers are in blue text. What is it that you do? As a WNS coordinator, I work closely with state, federal, and academic institutions, asRead more
A Morning Stroll
Exercise is important for everyone! The little goats are no exception and both Rocky and Patches enjoy time to wander around the farmyard freely when the museum is still closed in the mornings. Sometimes, though, if we finish cleaning the farmyard early and there are enough volunteers, we get to do a little something extra special like washing Max, brushing the little goats or taking them on walks. What you can’t see in this picture is Lightning, the donkey, justRead more
The Plot Thickens…
Scout seems to have overheard Lightning and Max plotting a few months back and Lightning and Auggie, too! It’s time for some investigation into what all the fuss is about. What do you think all the chatter is about? Maybe our former interns were right, it is all about the sheep.Read more
Don’t Burn Your Melons
Last summer, we got a whole truck load of watermelons donated from a local farmer. At the time, we were using them to give Ursula bear her daily medicines as well as for enrichment with the other animals. The farmer gave us so many because he couldn’t sell them; they had sunburn! He assured us that there was nothing wrong with the fruit inside, but the sun damaged the rind and watermelons that aren’t pretty don’t sell well. So we gotRead more