94% Eclipse!

Where were you during the solar eclipse of 2017? A little over half of the Animal Department works on Mondays. Normally, you might hear a fair bit of grumbling when something cool is happening but “we have to be at work” during it. Not this time! Working at a science museum has a lot of interesting and often unique perks. I don’t think anyone was bummed to be working at the museum on “Eclipse Day,” we were ready for this! ExtraRead more

What you missed while we were away, Part 3

I’m not sure I can continue to use this header, but for now, it seemed appropriate: This past June, I said goodbye to my flip phone, and entered the modern era of Smart phones. You first learned of this in my Christmas 2016 post.  This past October, I not only got a video of Florian, but was able to send it to the Keepers. It was the first time anyone had seen Florian climbing, or walking on his platforms andRead more

What you missed while we’ve been gone

A lot has happened during the 11 months we’ve been gone from blogging. I’ll be making several posts regarding some items to share with you from 2016. To start of with, in September we received some funding that allowed us to expand the alpaca yard. (in August 2015 we were able to grow it a little, but this time we added much more space). In less than one week, a few trees came down, the fence was moved back, mulchRead more

Keeper Katie’s operant conditioning work

Keeper Katie works with the bears closely and is their primary trainer. You can see how well Katie is doing working with Virginia to open her mouth. (Getting a good look at an animal’s teeth is an important part of veterinary care). We’ll post more videos of the Keepers doing operant conditioning work with the animals if you want- just say the word.Read more

Christmas 2016

So, I arrive this Christmas without any issues at all- waking before my alarm and remembering to pack some food. The Keepers have left me some notes: Compared to Christmas 2015, there are a few primary differences I notice right off the bat: I am using a smart phone this year to take pictures… no more flip phone for me. I set the logbooks up on the Vet Room table rather than the counter- apparently sitting is a desire thisRead more