Alopecia and depilation are big words that refer to hair loss. Depliation is the intentional removal of hair using mechanical or chemical means, while alopecia refers to hair loss due to physiological processes. During the spring and summer there is a lot of hair loss going on at the museum . Many wild animals shed out of a winter coat into a sleeker, cooler summer coat. Our red wolves are transitioning from thick coat to a thin coat and canRead more
Posts tagged: #red wolf
Species Survival
Many of the posts on our blog have dealt in one way or another with red wolves. Keeper Marilyn has written a detailed series on the plight of the species and the efforts to reestablish it to the wild in North Carolina. Over the last 20 years the eastern North Carolina population has increased dramatically and has become a textbook example of reintroducing an extirpated species. Unfortunately, the only wild population of red wolves has been threatened by one ofRead more
Red Wolf Master Plan Meeting Prep.
I am preparing for next month’s red wolf species survival plan (SSP) master plan meeting. This is an annual meeting where staff from institutions that house red wolves as well as other agencies that support red wolves get together to discuss the goals and issues facing the species. By “preparing” I mean not only dealing with the logistical issues of getting to the meeting but also gathering information to share about our current red wolves, general husbandry and veterinary questions,Read more
Anyone feel hot out here?
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
The importance of red wolf field biologists
In my previous post about red wolves, I discussed the 5 County Recovery Area. This area currently holds the only wild population of red wolves, and is closely monitored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). It takes a lot of hard work to keep updated records and statistics on this wild population because red wolves are notoriously shy and elusive. Some of the people willing to take on the demanding challenge of gathering this information are field biologists.Read more
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