I’ve never been good with big goodbyes but here goes. I’m leaving my post at the Museum to head south and work for Epcot’s “The Seas with Nemo and Friends” (part of this little place you might of heard of, Walt Disney World). I’ll be working as an Aquatics Research Associate with the Animal Research Team, assisting with experiments involving the residents of the 5.7 million gallon salt water aquarium at The Seas. I’m excited about working with marine organismsRead more
Posts tagged: #museum
Big Word of the Month: Fimicolous
My wife Sandy, also a lover of big science words, passed along this month’s feature. Fimicolous is an adjective formed from Latin roots that mean “to inhabit dung” and is used to describe organisms that live in, on, and with animal waste. As animal keepers we spend a lot of time dealing with poop and you might be amazed at all the living things that utilize poop. Perhaps most famous are the dung beetles, a group of scarab beetles thatRead more
Big Word of the Month: Cyanobacteria
The warmer temperatures of summer stimulate the growth of an ancient life form in our local waters. Cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, have been pumping oxygen into the environment for billions of years. Their buried remains contributed to the formation of fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. Cyanobacteria live in almost every ecosystem in the world as well as living in symbiotic relationships with fungi to form lichens. You can find them in the ocean, in saltyRead more
An easy way to lose weight fast!
I know it sounds like an infomercial that you would see on TV late at night when you can’t sleep, but it’s not. Unlike those television gimmicks, this method actually has guaranteed results, and doesn’t require any bulky machines that have to get shipped to your house. The unfortunate part about this sure-fire weight loss plan is… It’s only for sheep. You may have guessed what I’m talking about by looking at our freshly sheared wooly friends in the picture below. Yes, that’sRead more
Big Word of the Month: Marsupial
The next time you are strolling through Carolina Wildlife and pass Sonny and Cher opossum, stop to appreciate what a rare beast you are viewing. Pshaw! you protest, it seems you can’t drive 2 miles in North Carolina without seeing a deceased opossum by the road. Although very numerous as individuals, the Virginia opossum is a taxonomic rarity. Didelphis virginiana is in fact the only species of marsupial that exists north of the Rio Grande river. Originally found in theRead more
Acronyms Galore!
SSP, AZA, USFWS, ARNWR, RWC, PDZA, RWSSP, RWRP. These are all acronyms used when talking about the Red Wolf Recovery Program (RWRP). Originally, I was just going to explain what a Species Survival Plan (SSP) is, so that the readers can have a better idea of how the red wolf breeding program works. But it’s not that simple, because there are several facets of the program. Here is an overview for you. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) tookRead more