EnrichBits: A monthly look at animal enrichment In the last EnrichBits post, I showed Max, our steer, getting some time outside his stall and yard on a day we were closed to vistors. He got to experience many new and enriching sights, sounds, and smells while he checked out Loblolly Park (our playground). The goal is to provide new and exciting without crossing the line into stressful, so we had quite a few animal department staff out there to helpRead more
Posts tagged: #Kristen
Virginia comes in for dinner
If you’ve ever been to one of our Meet the Keeper programs at Bear Overlook, a keeper has probably described to you how Virginia and Gus, two of our younger black bears, can climb up to the top ledge of the rock quarry that is their exhibit. They get up there by climbing up this natural ramp on the back wall of the exhibit. It’s pretty steep; I sure wouldn’t want to attempt it, but bears are great climbers andRead more
Devilish thoughts
I’m a big fan of the Duke Women’s Basketball team, and as I watched those Blue Devils put away Georgia Tech on Sunday in Cameron, I was thinking of a devil of another sort. I was reading about the plight of the Tasmanian devil (a marsupial like our Virginia Opossum Beaker) in the paper Sunday morning and how a contagious facial cancer has greatly accelerated this endangered species towards extinction. not as many teeth as an opossum! (Picture from UniversityRead more
EnrichBits: Max’s Monday out
EnrichBits: A monthly look at animal enrichment Occasionally, we’ll get the chance as animal keepers to see our animals react emphatically to a completely different change of routine and surroundings. Over the fall, the Museum was closed to visitors on Mondays, so we used this no-people-on-museum-grounds opportunity to give Max, our Jersey steer, some (unleashed) time out of his exhibit yard. We had never done enrichment like this before, and weren’t sure how Max would react. He is a bigRead more
New Year’s Resolutions
Well, a bit tardy, but here it is: New Year’s Resolutions from the Animal Department! 1.Stay hydrated. 2.Eat more greens. 3.Schedule doctor’s appointments in a timely manner. 4. Work out more. 5. Set goals high, and strive to reach them!Read more
EnrichBits: The Office
EnrichBits: A monthly look at animal enrichment So, I was up on the 3rd floor of the museum the other day, where all of our accounting and business operations people work. As I’m walking through, I spot some old office accordion folders in their recycle bin. I grabbed as many as I could carry downstairs; they had to be good for some kind of enrichment! I decided the bears might like to tear them up while looking for bits ofRead more