Creature Feature: Franklin Tortoise

Franklin, is a red footed tortoise. They can be found in the wild in South America and their conservation status is labeled as “vulnerable” right now because of habitat destruction and the wild population is being over harvested for the pet trade. Franklin is one of our education animals so he lives with the other educational reptiles in a temperature controlled room. Here at the museum, Franklin’s diet consists of a big salad every day. He gets 100g of greens,Read more
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Safety First!

I was going through my locker and realized that I have a LOT of work gloves; some of them weren’t even in there! Can you figure out what these gloves are all for?   Just because I think it’s funny, here’s a photo of my brown leather glove from up top sitting on Kent’s version of the same glove! I don’t have the smallest hands in the department, but Kent’s glove makes my hands seem tiny.  Read more

Creature Feature: The Killdeer

This is the first Killdeer I have had the pleasure to work with. Killdeers are a type of shorebird that you can see usually running around in shorts bursts, stopping, peeking around and bolting off again. You’ll see them in freshly cut fields,golf courses etc…, occasionally you will see them at the shore.They have really skinny  long legs and can be heard shouting KILLDEER. I personally have not heard anything like that except for a few screams once in aRead more

Bear aggression

  This time of year the bears are getting more and more hungry.  We are getting closer to fall and for bears that means that it is time to pack on weight for winter.  The bear diet changes throughout the year to accommodate their dietary needs.  Those changes in the diet occur because of the behaviors that we observe from the bears.  When the bears get hungry, they display aggressive behaviors towards each other.  These behaviors include vocalizing, stomping, jawRead more

National Farm Animal Awareness Week 2014

September 14th – 20th is National Farm Animal Awareness Week!     While the museum isn’t celebrating the week in the same way we do Bear Awareness Week or Wolf Awareness Week, you should still come out and say hello to your favorite Farmyard animals. You can even buy a Duck to help offset the cost of feeding our hoofstock and maybe win a really awesome prize on October 4th when the ducks race at the American Tobacco campus!Read more