Parthenogenesis is a word of Greek origin that roughly translates into “virgin creation”. You may remember learning about asexual reproduction at some point and recall that it involves an organism producing offspring without mating or exchanging genetic material with another individual. Parthenogenesis is a special type of asexual reproduction seen in organisms that produce seeds or embryos. You might be surprised to learn how widespread this type of reproduction is in the Animal Kingdom. In the Invertebrate world (90% ofRead more
Posts tagged: #animals
Spotlight: Leiana Leon Guerrero
Leiana is the Museum’s Director of Family and School Experiences and has her Master’s degree in Science Education. I worked closely with Leiana in the spring when I trained her and other Museum staff to handle and use our red tailed hawk for programs. Leiana has been at the Museum for almost 7 years, and has been doing all sorts of programs the entire time. She does whatever is necessary, and she’ll do it with a smile on her face.Read more
A rescue of the strangest kind…
Katy and I got a break from our normal Sunday morning routine when we had to rescue our off-exhibit Tiger Salamander from his water dish. If you’re wondering what I mean by that, watch the video below! The salamander didn’t have any injuries from the ordeal and we gave him a different type of water dish so it will not happen again. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd85Y48vZTY[/youtube]Read more
If you love something, set it free
About a month ago, we noticed a new resident in the farmyard at the museum. After some encouragement from Animal keepers with food and calming voices, Keeper Cassidy was able to snag our new visitor. This was no ordinary pigeon as evidenced by his ankle jewelry. Keepers Jill and Katy were able to trace his or her registration numbers at a racing pigeon website and find out that our new resident was a racing pigeon that left Danville, Virginia enRead more
EnrichBits: Keeper Enrichment
EnrichBits: A monthly look at animal enrichment Ok, enough about animal enrichment. It’s time to talk about keeper enrichment!! The idea is the same– animal keepers with choice and changes in their routines are happier creatures! Sherry gives all of us keepers opportunities to change up our routines now and again by giving us the chance to get off museum grounds (or at least out of the animal department area) and do something a little different.Jill, Katy, Erin, and CassidyRead more
Keeping the animals warm
Well, the cold weather is officially here! I took some pictures of a couple of the new things we have done this season to help keep our farmyard animals warm. To the right you can see pig stretched out under his warm heat lamp in the stall where he sleeps at night. Also, you may recall a post about Nimbus‘s new winter box that we were building. We finished it weeks ago and it is complete with insulated walls andRead more