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Training video

I’ve been meaning to take a video of the keepers and animals doing a training session and finally remembered last week. The keepers each work with a specific animal or group of animals: The red ruffed lemurs are working with Cassidy. The ring tail lemurs are working with Kristen The bears are working with Katy The barred owls are working with Jill Max the steer is working with Kent Lightning the donkey is working with Erin Chummix goat is workingRead more

Always changing

There are a lot of improvements taking place in the animal department right now, and the renovation of our education holding room is one of them. I have never seen such a sparkly room in my life… I mean, that floor looks like an ice skating rink! For the last two weeks, the animals that normally live in the room (such as our ferrets, silky chicken, opossum and salamanders) have been staying in our exam room down the hall soRead more
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Spotlight: Kristen Pormann

This is Kristen. (Can you guess what she has on the other end of her rope?)Kristen started as a volunteer at the Museum- I think back in 2001. She was so good we hired her about seven years ago. Her job is little different than the rest of the Keepers. As the Lead Keeper: Operations, one of Kristen’s main responsibilities is to make sure all the supplies we need are on grounds. Every Wednesday she heads out to the groceryRead more
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Creature Feature: Chummix the boer goat

We have had a couple of recent posts about operant conditioning, so I thought I would do a feature on the animal that I am training right now. Chummix, pronounced “chummy”, lives in our farmyard with Max the steer. He arrived at the museum shortly before I started working here, but he apparently came to us in a very interesting way! The story that I was told (as passed down from one of the other keepers) is that we adoptedRead more
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Bears & Watermelon

Some photos of our bears when we toss watermelons in the pool. It happens like this: Bear comes over to pool and tries to get watermelon without getting in the water. Many attempts made to reach watermelon with paws. Gus in particular seems to not want to go in the water too much. Give up and head into water. Use paws to stabilize watermelon enough to get a good bite. Once watermelon is secure in teeth, paddle to shore. ArriveRead more