Kiwi and Craisins

Well, it’s been a couple of weeks since Keeper Cassidy has left, and I’ve taken over training (for the time being) the red ruffed lemurs.  They are really neat to work closely with– such different personalities from the more hyper ringtails! It took a few weeks for Cassidy to transfer the lemurs over to me.  First, I just stood there while she trained and watched her hand cues, listened to her verbals cues, and made sure I was noting exactlyRead more

Winter Wonderland

Hey everyone, I hope you’ve all had great snow days. There’s still a good bit of snow outside here that you can come see (we’re open even though schools aren’t–although some of the outside is still closed because of ice), but I have more pictures of the fresh snow that Cassidy took on Saturday. Here’s a video of the drive from the building up to the top of the boardwalk in the fresh and falling snow: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS_Mh2-ubH4[/youtube] That’s Larry andRead more
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Buildin’ Stuff

If it looks like it’s going to be a fairly normal week (which rarely happens, mind you), then there’s usually time for some unplanned project time. A “fairly normal” week would include: normal staffing (no one out sick, out on vacation, or otherwise unable to perform as usual), no holidays, no hurricanes/tornadoes/snowstorms/torrential downpours, no huge planned projects or deliveries or special cleans requiring a lot of the keepers, no special events at the Museum (such as Birdapalooza or Wild AboutRead more

Spotlight: Cassidy Walpole

A few weeks ago Kristen wrote a post about our new keeper, Cassidy. I first met Cassidy about 13 years ago when she started volunteering in the animal department. She was a great “youth partner”. So great, that in 1998 she was the Durham Volunteer Center’s Youth Volunteer of the Year and won the Governor’s Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service that same year. She went off to college, and my interaction with Cassidy was limited to providing references for her,Read more

Update on our new keeper

A while ago, I wrote about all our keepers and how each of their strengths make our animal department team better. We were in the process of hiring a new keeper then, so I thought I’d give an update. New keeper Cassidy has worked in the past with lemurs and also with black bears and other native NC wildlife. She was actually a volunteer here at the museum when she was a teenager!One of the great things about having aRead more