The big word of the month should be procrastination since I’m a little late with this post! Instead I’m inspired to talk about the process of imprinting since Sherry alluded to it in her post about our new bear.In animal species with extended parental care, offspring usually learn to recognize their parents very soon after birth (the process sometimes begins even before birth). This process, called imprinting, varies from species to species but usually includes learning a combination of sight,Read more
Posts tagged: #science
Opossums, vultures, and me.
The 3rd floor of the museum, where almost every department had a ton of stuff in storage, is going to be redone and turned into offices. This means all the stuff had to move, prompting departments to do big clean ups and sorting and such. Many items that hadn’t been used in a long time were up for grabs, and I, who love to scavenge, was able to fill a couple of cartloads of things for the animal department! (OthersRead more
Christmas is coming
I work every Christmas and let the Keepers have off. I reviewed the log books a couple days ago to make sure I was prepared- this way I could ask questions ahead of time. It made Kristen smile to do this with me (really, she was laughing at me I think). Something always happens on the 25th, nothing too horrible, but usually provides some laughs or eye rolling. I’ll try and post some picture on Friday so you can seeRead more
Big Word of the Month: Osteology
Osteology is the scientific study of bones. The skeletal remains of an animal contain many clues about the life of the organism. Diet, disease, and activities all leave tell-tale marks on the framework of the body. Here in the animal department, Keeper Katy is particularly interested in osteological subjects. She is currently working to clean up this group of bones that she and Keeper Jill recently excavated. Before I tell you more about them, I thought it might be interestingRead more
Sneak Peak
So, we’re short staffed again: vacation, sickness, babysitting…and I’m in on my day off. Oh Well.I don’t keep a camera in pocket so I cannot, yet again, show you what’s going on around here: ERIN– HAVE YOU GONE HOME AGAIN WITH THE CAMERA?!? (To be fair to Erin, I could grab another camera). So, for you faithful Blog readers, here’s the deal. We might be getting a new bear. I’ll know more in the next week or two, but here’sRead more
Power Outage: What To Do.
Thanks for the comments and thoughts about what needs to get done when the power goes out at the Museum. From reading your comments on the last post, I think you got the picture of what’s needed. While it’s true in the real world wild animals don’t need power, it’s not the same for the captive critters, or critter care-takers. Many animals do just fine, and many exhibits do just fine too, but there’s still a lot to take careRead more