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
Posts tagged: #Marilyn
A winter box for Nimbus
We tend to keep busy in the animal department, whether we are doing our regular daily tasks or working on projects such as the new duck yard or the outside exercise area. Right now we are trying to complete a winter box for our farmyard rabbit, Nimbus. She used to live in a rabbit hutch that had things like a fan and a heat lamp built into it, so that we could keep her cool in the summer and warmRead more
It’s sad to see them go
Yesterday, I took our two red wolves to their new home at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge has an area that is situated far away from the main road, where there are nicely wooded and grassy holding pens for keeping captive wolves that are currently not being moved to museums or zoos. But our two boys have a greater purpose for being sent to the refuge, because they are known to be good howlers. That might soundRead more
Our weekly meeting
Every Thursday at 2:00pm, we gather into our quaint little office and have our Animal Department meeting. This is time for Sherry and all of the keepers to sit down and discuss the week’s events and what is happening in the department. It is a great way to keep everyone updated on important information about our animals’ health and well-being, their diets and enclosures, new enrichment ideas and other things going on inside the department. For instance, some of theRead 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
The tale of the pig and the duck
Once upon a time there was a pig that lived at the town’s local museum. His home was in a farmyard and he had neighbors such as sheep and goats that lived there, too. Pig lived with his good friend Goose, but one day she passed away of old age. Pig became confused by not having Goose with him anymore, so Pig’s caretakers decided he needed a new bird companion. They decided on a muscovy duck, so they went andRead more