While we didn’t go out yesterday and buy bread and milk, we did prepare in other ways for the possibility of winter weather.Monitoring the weather forecast was probably highest on the list. If the forecast had been worse, there would have been less watching the forecast and more preparing for the upcoming event, but since the forecast was iffy, a lot of watching took place.As for things we did do, we made sure the outdoor animals had enough bedding toRead more
Posts tagged: #animals
The rewards of stonedusting
One of the most physically demanding jobs we have as keepers is the maintenance of our farmyard animal yards. The substrate in their yards is called stonedust, and as the months pass the stonedust in the donkey, goat, steer, pig, and even poultry yards gets packed down, raked up, and washed away. So every so often we have to re-stonedust the yards, which is back-breaking work and involves carrying heavy shovelfuls from a pile of stonedust and distributing a 1-2Read more
Animals in the News
Below is an excerpt from a report on recent findings in wolf paleontology. This extinct species of wolf sounds a lot more vicous than the red wolves we have the museum! To read more about the research follow the links at the bottom of the post. A fearsome über-wolf that once roamed the snowy plains of Alaska may hold warning for the fate of large carnivores today, its discoverers say. The creature’s massive jaws and powerful hulking frame made theRead more
More on venomous snakes
My last post on the tools we use to work with our venomous snakes led to some good questions… like what is the difference between venomous and poisonous? As keepers talking to visitors, we try really carefully to use the correct terminology, but most people use the words venomous and poisonous interchangeably. Technically speaking, they are different. For feeding or self defense, venomous animals produce and store venom and deliver it through a specific set of organs. Examples of venomousRead more
Creature Feature: Templeton the Goat
When it comes to our goats, there are some frequently asked questions by our visitors. The most popular question is,”Are they pregnant?” (The answer to that one is no, they just have gas!) Another frequently asked question is about Templeton, and from the picture you may be able to guess what it is. People often ask us why Templeton’s face is crooked, or if he got kicked in the face by another animal. Fortunately, his crooked face was not causedRead more
Bear Escape…I don’t think so.
The tiger escape at the San Francisco Zoo was a horrible tragedy. I have been asked by many people my opinion, seeing that I am in the “zoo industry”. More than anything else, this incident has caused me to reflect on the safety and security of our animals and exhibits at the Museum. First and foremost, let me assure you that our bear compound is a completely different situation than the tiger exhibit in San Francisco, and is safe forRead more