The last couple of days we have been watching our muskrats closely because we were concerned one of them may have been acting a bit lethargic. So you can imagine what a pleasant surprise it was to see them both running around the exhibit early this morning! Most of our visitors that come regularly usually only see our muskrats sleeping in their wooden house. That’s because they tend to be most active in the morning (at least for the timeRead more
Posts tagged: #diets
Oh yay, produce day…
I can’t speak for all of the keepers, but I do know there are at least some of my fellow co-workers who don’t particularly enjoy produce day. Produce day falls on Wednesday, when our new Lead Keeper, Aaron, goes to several different stores and buys an amazing array of food for the animals. Then, of course, all the food must be put away making sure to place the older stuff on top so that it gets used first. While puttingRead more
QuikPost: Watersnake catching dinner
I came across this old video that I took of our watersnake catching a fish for dinner. Notice how slow and methodical he is while approaching the fish. And the strike was so fast that it even made me jump! Warning: If you are squeamish about animals eating other animals, you may not want to watch this video.Read more
What’s for Dinner?
NOTE: I’m temporarily working part-time in the Animal Department! I love wearing my official purple shirt. You never know what volunteering at the Museum will lead to. If you think it is hard to figure out what to have for dinner at your house, imagine all the various critters at the Museum who want to eat. Preparing food for all the animals on exhibit and behind-the-scenes is a major task for the keepers and volunteers every day. Kristen recently wroteRead more
yum! breakfast!
Our new female wolf is settling in, and can often be seen up top hanging out fairly close to the male. She’s got a history of irritable bowel and diarrhea, and so came to us with an interesting diet: logs of feline diet (that’s right, feline!), which is a ground up meat similar to what we feed the owls, and Prescription Diet Canine low calorie canned food. Our male wolf was on a Mazuri Exotic Canine dry food diet, Read 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