It’s been a busy few weeks

I’ve been too busy to write. Medical needs for animals; preparing for bad weather; and just too much work. As far as today, we made it though Hurricane/Tropical Storm Isaias without any major issues, thank goodness. Even in the dark hours early this morning, as the rain stopped by 5 AM, we could see fences intact and nothing major to repair or tend to. It was a much different tour of grounds tonight than last night. We’ve had a bunchRead more

You Can Train a Goat?

One of the many things animal keepers are tasked with aside from the expected poop scooping and wall scrubbing is operant conditioning (aka “animal training”). Nearly all the animals at the museum have a primary trainer who thinks of new behaviors they’d like that animal to learn, then builds a step-by-step program to shape that behavior, and ultimately implements that program over the course of days to months (depending on the complexity and the animal’s response) until we’re at aRead more