Carolina Wildlife, the Museum’s oldest exhibit area, is closed for a few weeks while we take care of a bunch of maintenance work. Numerous repairs to exhibits along with some painting and carpeting changes are underway. The next few weeks will be interesting behind the scenes as we manage the work- and the animals. The muskrat exhibit is leaking in a few spots. Pipe repairs, window sealing, den rebuilding, and wall replacement are in the works. We’re brightening up whatRead more
Posts filed in: Exhibits
Wolves in Snow
The 1-3 inches of snow we expected on January 17 turned into 9 inches to almost one foot of snow in some areas. Not the best footage with my phone, sorry, but some quick snips of the wolves in the snow from the 18th of January. Read more
QuikPost: Copperhead
We’ve been so busy here– haven’t found time to even sit at my desk given the weather. Check out what the alpacas have been doing or Ranger Greg’s Blog. So, instead of snow pictures to share, Keeper Mary caught the Copperhead in action last week. (I’ll post about Keeper Mary and the wolves in the snow soon…) Read more
Male Wolf Update
I mentioned in my Christmas Blog post that I spent a bit of time watching the wolves search for food. Some blurry photos of the male wolf, M1803, in his efforts, along with a quick video. Scroll all the way to the bottom so you can see him when he first arrived. I love this video of M1803 when he first arrived on grounds. Keeper Sarah caught this of him in sloth-mode. His nerves- and speed —Read more
You Can Train a Goat?
One of the many things animal keepers are tasked with aside from the expected poop scooping and wall scrubbing is operant conditioning (aka “animal training”). Nearly all the animals at the museum have a primary trainer who thinks of new behaviors they’d like that animal to learn, then builds a step-by-step program to shape that behavior, and ultimately implements that program over the course of days to months (depending on the complexity and the animal’s response) until we’re at aRead more
Christmas 2017
So, I’m sweating at 5:30. Last night I set out shorts and sweat pants and a sweatshirt. I know I am always hot with the heat blowing while working indoors, so I set out layers to wear today. Yay for being prepared. Here’s the but… I decided not to wear them — what the heck was I thinking!! My alarm went off at 4:52 and I drug myself off the couch (with glasses on and not lost this year), brushedRead more