This month’s Big Word of the Month post involves two words that are not very big but have very specific meanings in science. Take a look at our collections of hygrometers/thermometers from the reptile room. The electronic and analog meters are in very close agreement on temperature, all around 79°F. There is a little more disagreement in the measurements of relative humidity. The electronic ones are in the 20’s while the analog one is reading around 50%. So which oneRead more
Posts filed in: Education
Where’s Mudsy?
Mudsy is our mud turtle that is used for educational programs, and has lived off exhibit for many years. However, once Sponge Bob our softshell turtle passed away, we had an empty exhibit that needed to be filled. For right now, we have decided to put Mudsy in the tank. But some of our visitors have had a hard time finding Mudsy, because he looks a lot like the other rocks on the bottom of his exhibit. If you don’tRead more
Creature Feature: Donald the eastern box turtle
Donald is another of our education animals that lives behind the scenes. He came to us in March of 2004, and was brought in by one of the animal keepers. The animal keeper had acquired him from one of our volunteers at the time, who had found him injured in the road after being grazed by a car. When first found, one of Donald’s legs was injured and his shell was damaged, and the volunteer thought he was dead. However,Read more
New species for 2008
Time is running out to discover any new species this year! Wired magazine has a series of “top ten” stories for 2008, including one about new species discovered this year. The slide show includes this tiny snake discovered by Blair Hedges of Pennsylvania State University. The post also includes a great story of how a researcher decided to name a new species of catfish after a dedicated worker in the mailroom at his institution. You’ll also find an interesting readRead more
Amazing discoveries
A recent CNN post captures the amazing diversity (like this dragon millipede) scientists have cataloged in the Mekong Delta region of Southeast Asia. From the article: A scientist visiting an outdoor restaurant was startled to see a Laotian rock rat among the nearby wildlife. The hairy, nocturnal, thick-tailed rat, which resembles a squirrel, had been thought for centuries to be extinct. Imagine making a discovery like this while having some lunch! Make sure you check out the slide show ofRead more
Creature Feature: Baby the Spotted Salamander
With a name like “Baby”, it is probably easy to assume that this spotted salamander is very young. On the contrary, he is 10 years old! That’s right, he actually came to the museum in 1998 as a baby, but old habits die hard in the animal department, so the name has stuck with him for his entire life. Baby is our only spotted salamander, while the rest are barred tiger salamanders. He is one of our many animals thatRead more