Big Word of the Month: Refraction

Check out this photo Keeper Elaina took of our mud turtle and water snake! Notice something odd about the turtle’s head? There’s nothing wrong with our little mud turtle, he didn’t get decapitated just prior to this photo being taken! His head looks detached from his body for another –less macabre– reason: refraction. Refraction is why, when you look through or into water, objects aren’t exactly where you expect them to be. Light travels at different speeds through solids, liquidsRead more

Big Word of the Month: Prehensile

If you’ve been to a Meet the Keeper program at Lemurs, you may have heard someone ask if the Red Ruffed Lemurs have “thumbs” or “fingers” on the ends of their tails. The answer is “no”; the little bit of naked tail that sticks out in varying lengths from the normally furry tails of our lemurs is a by-product of over grooming. The Red Ruffed lemurs will occasionally groom their tail tips by licking, chewing or rubbing at them withRead more

Big Word of the Month: Flehmen Response

  Whatever you call it, if you have a pet cat at home (especially if it’s a male) you’ve likely seen this face before. It goes by many variations of the same name: Flehmen Response, Flehmen Position, Flehmen Reaction, or simply Flehming. Flehmen (pronounced: FLAY-men) Responses are used by a wide variety of  hoofstock (ungulates) and many cats (felids). Males and females, adults and babies, all exhibit this silly facial expression. The silly look on the animal’s face helps toRead more

Big Word of the Month: Farrier

Our Farrier was in last week to check on Lightning‘s hooves. A farrier is someone who specializes in the care of the hooves of horses, donkeys, and other equines. They make sure  hooves are trimmed evenly and are healthy. Farriers also can shoe a horse or donkey if needed. Good hoof care helps to prevent abscesses in the foot. Abscesses (a collection or pocket of pus or infection in an area) can occur when a small particular of sand ofRead more

Big Word of the Month: Myrmecophily

Uli, our Butterfly House Director, after reading Rachael’s last post, sent along this information: Myrmecophily: literally “ant-love” (as opposed to Myrmecophobia: the fear of ants). The term is applied to mutually beneficial associations between ants and other organisms such as plants, arthropods, and fungi. An example of a “butterfly-ant love” affair is the Malaysian Hairstreak (Anthene emolus) that selects plants hosting aggressive Weaver ants (Oecophylla smaragdina) to lay eggs so that the ants can protect the growing caterpillar against otherRead more

Big Word of the Month: Fimicolous

My wife Sandy, also a lover of big science words, passed along this month’s feature. Fimicolous is an adjective formed from Latin roots that mean “to inhabit dung” and is used to describe organisms that live in, on, and with animal waste. As animal keepers we spend a lot of time dealing with poop and you might be amazed at all the living things that utilize poop. Perhaps most famous are the dung beetles, a group of scarab beetles thatRead more