Frogs, Turtles and Foxes, oh my!

Since I spend most of my time out in Explore the Wild, I get to see a lot of our native wildlife. I’m no photographer extraordinaire like Ranger Greg but I thought I would share some of my favorite pictures! To see some of Ranger Greg’s photos–click here! There is so much to see out in Explore the Wild if you take the time to look!Read more

Colorful Chemistry

We run weekly water quality tests on all of our fish, alligator and turtle tanks in the Animal Department. We monitor the waters’ pH and the levels of Ammonia and Nitrates. This is important because aquatic animals are often very sensitive to chemical changes in the water they live in and drink; more so than their terrestrial relatives.   10 tanks plus 1 “control” tank (filtered water, to make sure the tests are working properly)   The end result: 33Read 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

Delusions of Grandeur

I did a search of the Animal Department blog for “turtles” and I have to say, we don’t have very much (except about Zoe). I think some of the other turtles figured this out and decided to do something about it. One of our exhibit water turtles (a painted turtle) decided to garner our attention by trying to convince us of his superpower status with a superhero cape. The off-exhibit box turtles saw how much attention Godzilla got when heRead more

QuikPost:Turtle Enrichment

Enrichment for the animals is a big part of our job here at the museum.I walked into the reptile room and was able to snap this photo of  Zoe who appears to be looking at his. The turtles also have had rubber ducks,tunnels and rubber balls.If you have a suggestion what Zoe might like, let us know in the comments section.Read more