No, no pups at the Museum, although whelping season isn’t over and we are still waiting hopefully. We’ve got about another month to see if our wolves will deliver some little ones. The photos are from red wolves that were born at a holding facility in Manteo on the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. These four pups (3 males and 1 female. In the “zoo” world this would be written 3.1) are living “next door” to our brother wolves thatRead more
Posts tagged: #museum
Friend or foe?
Aaah, springtime! There are so many great things that happen in the spring: beautiful flowers come into bloom, the trees are full of bright green buds, temperatures are perfect for outside adventures, baby animals are in abundance, and suddenly every living thing seems rejuvenated! And those changes in activity and behavior also apply to the museum animals. Wendy the woodchuck has come out of hibernation and is starting to climb around her exhibit and run around the support hall again.Read more
Creature feature: Lightning the Sicilian donkey
Lightning is one of the most well known and popular animals we have amongst our visitors. I have had people tell me they have been coming to the museum for years and that Lightning is their favorite animal! And there is good reason for Lightning to have made such a good impression, because he interacts with the visitors in many different ways. Lightning seems to thrive off of human interaction, whether it be spending time with the visitors or givingRead more
Farmyard Physicals
On Saturday Dr. Mozzachio and Dr. Cannedy came to the Museum for what we call the “farmyard physicals”. This happens every April and October. All the large mammals in the farmyard were checked out, given vaccines, had their hooves trimmed if needed, and their diets and enrichment were reviewed. Pig is hanging in a specially made pig-sling. Dr. Mozzachio, a pot-bellied pig specialist, took great care of him, cleaning around his eyes and giving him treats to keep him contentRead more
BWOM: Biogeochemical cycle
The Big Word of the Month is biogeochemical. You can probably figure out the meaning if you break down the root words. Scientists use the term to refer to the processes by which chemicals like nutrients move through biological (bio) and non-biological (geology and chemical) parts of the Earth’s ecosystem. One of the most important biogeochemical cycles is the Nitrogen cycle. Nitrogen is critical for animal and plant life because it is a constituent of proteins and nucleic acids (likeRead more
The hazards of coyote night lighting
There are many struggles that face the wild red wolf population at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge (ARNWR). I have already mentioned gunshot mortality and domestic dog diseases as two of the main problems that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) must address on a regular basis. However, another pressing issue is the importation of coyotes for the practice of coyote hunting, which can threaten the red wolf population in more ways than one. One of the initialRead more