Two road closures, one tree down, and a two-car smash-up that closed most lanes on I-85. All while inhaling the delightful smell of animal poop, wafting from the rear of the van. It was worth it. Meet Kerby and Styx, our newest acquisitions to the museum family of animals. Both came to us (after 6+ hours of road tripping) from the Carolina Raptor Center (CRC) just outside Charlotte. CRC is very successful in returning injured raptors to the wild afterRead more
Posts tagged: #Sarah
Where Are the Babies Hidden?
This nest of Carolina Wrens (CAWR) is the third we’ve had in the Farmyard this year –that we knew about, anyway–. Mom and Dad wrens have been very protective of their three youngsters, but now that the babies are a little bigger, I managed to sneak a peak at the little ones without being crashed into by a grumpy parent. Normally our CAWR nests are well hidden up in the rafters of the barns. This one, however, is my favoriteRead more
Max, being Max
He’s almost 1,700 pounds and stands about 5 feet tall at the shoulder (the height is a guess, he tried to eat my tape measure). Max weighs more than all 4 of our bears put together and can poop the combined weight of our baby alpacas every day! He has a well documented adoration of shoes and Kent. You’ll just have to trust me on the Kent part, or come visit some day and listen to Max bellow when KentRead more
Grape Bonding
Last week grapes were on sale, it’s summer, very hot, and Aaron has a credit card. Aaron bought well over 100 pounds of grapes. We freeze them and use them as frozen treats for the animals. This batch should last us over 3 months. It takes quite a bit of time to pull grapes off them stems. I only slightly jest that I have never seen the keepers work so well together! What a bonus. I wonder howRead more
Poetry and Identification
Sarah, our resident poet, was asked to take photos of our painted turtles for identification purposes. Below is what showed up on my desk. can you identify the turtles based on the poem and the photos? (The name of each turtle is underlined). Oscar is oval. He’s first on the left. He’s the biggest we have And makes quite a mess. Exhibit is round, She’s shaped like a dot. She matches her tank mate Who’s covered in spots. Shelly isRead more
The Lemurs Meet a Mop Head
Who doesn’t like enrichment videos?? Cereal strung up into a cotton mop head is one of my favorite enrichment items to watch our lemurs interact with. Personally, I think stringing a whole bunch of tiny pieces of cereal onto a mop head is tedious and not at all fun, but the result is worth it. Below are a couple videos I took of the Ringtails and Red Ruffeds spending some quality time with their favorite mops. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCtJ5Sl1a0k[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZK_Thi36H0[/youtube]Read more