Is it just me or did we skip right over the 80 degree days and go directly to 90 and 100 degree days? It has been sweltering hot lately and, like anyone else who works outside, it is really important to stay cool and hydrated. For the keepers (as well as our volunteers), this means keeping coolers of ice water around and making sure to stay in shady areas whenever possible. A lot of the work we do is prettyRead more
Posts tagged: #lemurs
Big word of the Month: Gestation
Spring is the time that many species give birth. Gestation is the period of time that a developing offspring is carried inside the mother. Biologists usually reserve this term for mammals but it is used more loosely in common speech. Below I provide some examples of gestational periods for some of the animals at the museum. Keep in mind that exact times may vary by several days depending on the condition of the mother and environmental changes.Explore the Wild BlackRead more
It’s Time for Leafy Treats
Now that spring is here, our animals are able to have special treats (which double as enrichment) that they can’t get all year round. With everything in bloom, it’s a perfect time to give them branches of leaves and new buds, also known as browse. There are only certain types of things we can give them, which have been approved by our veterinarians, because many plants are toxic to animals. Our goats, donkey, sheep and steer receive Russian-olive browse which,Read more
superclean continued…
Piggybacking on Marilyn’s post…Here are some more pictures of those perches, baskets, feeders, etc that we have to scrub and switch around during the lemur house superclean.. For the perches, we use hardwood limbs, pvc pipe, bamboo, trellis pieces, old hose, and thick rope. Laundry baskets, tubs, and closet shelving make good sitting spots and plastic baskets, buckets, plastic milk jugs, frisbees, colanders and the like make great feeders. You have to have a large supply of bungee cords, zipRead more
Lemur exhibit change
This past week was a hectic one in the animal department. We “super cleaned” the entire lemur house so that we could switch a different species into our inside veiwing area. Super cleaning is basically where everything gets taken out of the exhibit, scrubbed down and put back in as a new set up. For the lemur house, this is quite a task as we have many perches, hanging baskets, and assorted feeders to change out and re-arrange. But nowRead more
Spotlight: Debbie Vanderford, DVM
Dr. Debbie Vanderford has been a veterinarian for the Museum for almost 11 years. You can’t really see her under the mask, but she’s getting urine from one of our red ruffed lemurs during its physcial last year. (That’s Katy with her but I’ll tell you more about her in next month’s Spotlight). When Dr. V. started with the Museum she was a veterinarian at a veterinary office in Durham. Then she began her own mobile veterinary practice. She didRead more