What’s That Click?

Have you watched a training session at the museum lately?  (Click here to see an old video of Marilyn training Chummix) If you see Kent training Max, or Kimberly training the lemurs, or Sarah working with Lightning, you’ve probably heard a clicking sound while they train.  What is that thing?  It’s called a clicker, and it’s used as a conditioned reinforcer.  You can establish any arbitrary sound as a conditioned reinforcer, but clickers and whistles are the two that seem toRead more
1 Comment

Cassandra explores the vet room

Ring Tailed Lemur training is going well! Here’s where we were last time Lemurs in Crates. Last week with  guidance from Julie Grimes and assistance from our Vet Keeper Katy, I let Cassandra, our female ring tailed lemur, out in the vet room. The idea was to let her out of her crate into a vet room cage. This is where she will spend a little time on the day of her physical. In training terms we are desensitizing herRead more
2 Comments

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
2 Comments

Lemurs in Crates

I’ve posted about lemur training before and wanted to give an update. Click here and here to refresh your memory. Ring Tailed Lemur physicals are in September! That’s so soon. But we are making progress. Lycus actually had to be seen earlier than expected. I noticed a change in his eyes, a white cloudiness. We had a few days until Dr. Vanderford would be able to see Lycus so I began using the ophthalmoscope (a lighted instrument that is usedRead 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