With a name like “Baby”, it is probably easy to assume that this spotted salamander is very young. On the contrary, he is 10 years old! That’s right, he actually came to the museum in 1998 as a baby, but old habits die hard in the animal department, so the name has stuck with him for his entire life. Baby is our only spotted salamander, while the rest are barred tiger salamanders. He is one of our many animals thatRead more
Posts tagged: #CreatureFeature
A tough day
Yesterday was a tough day for the keepers. Our very cool Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtle passed away. Sponge Bob, as we knew him, was highlighted in one of Marilyn’s Creature Features. He was a favorite of many of the keepers. His body was taken to our diagnostic lab to be necropsied, which is standard protocol for all of our animals. This is to try to learn the cause of death, and to glean any information that might help us careRead more
Creature Feature: Beaker the Opossum
Opossums are some of the most popular animals we have available for use in programs or at birthday parties. As with other animals you have read about such as Silkie Chicken and Ball Python #1, we also have opossums that live in our Education Holding Room (EHR) behind the scenes. We usually have 2 or 3 at one time, but right now we only have 1 living off-exhibit, whose name is Beaker (we also have an opossum living on exhibitRead more
Creature Feature: Little the Silkie Chicken
Silkie chicken was donated to the museum in December of 1999 and originally lived in the farmyard with two other silkie chickens. In February of 2001, she was moved indoors to live behind the scenes as an education animal because of her good temperament, which is a common trait for the breed. Silkie chickens are one of the oldest breeds of chicken and probably originated in China, although some people have proposed their origin to be India or Java. TheyRead more
Creature Feature: Lycus the ring-tailed lemur
Lycus is one of the oldest lemurs we have, and is a favorite among some of the keepers. He was born at the Duke Lemur Center in March of 1985, and came to live at the museum in October of 2005. He lives with two other ring-tailed lemurs, Cassandra and her son Satyrus. It is hard to tell the three apart, so they all have different colored bands on their tracking collars. But Lycus is the easiest to tell apartRead more
Creature Feature: Squealer the pot-bellied pig
Yes, his name is Squealer, but the keepers just call him Pig! You can probably guess how he got his name, though. Pot-bellied pigs often times react by squealing when they are petted or touched. This is one reason why you might want to think twice about having a pot-bellied pig as a pet, because you will not be successful at cuddling with it like you would a dog or cat! Pig was born in April of 2000, and wasRead more