Yesterday was a tough day for the keepers. Our very cool Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtle passed away. Sponge Bob, as we knew him, was highlighted in one of Marilyn’s Creature Features. He was a favorite of many of the keepers. His body was taken to our diagnostic lab to be necropsied, which is standard protocol for all of our animals. This is to try to learn the cause of death, and to glean any information that might help us careRead more
Posts tagged: #turtles
Big Word of the Month: Poikilotherm
Poikilothermy is one my favorite words in Biology. The first syllable rhymes with “Boy”, the second part is like “key low” and the last part rhymes with “wormy”. This mouthful is the term scientists use for animals with variable body temperatures (poikilos means varied in Greek). You might have heard the term cold-blooded applied to reptiles and fish but decades of research have shown that these animals are more thermally complex than the name implies. Many poikilotherms have a preferredRead more
Creature Feature: Sponge Bob the Softshell Turtle
Sponge Bob was found as a quarter-sized baby in 1993, and was kept as a pet until he was given to the museum by his previous owner in 2004. He lives on exhibit in Carolina Wildlife, but if you visit the museum regularly there is a good chance that you may not have ever seen him before! His exhibit used to be set up differently, and he had a large sandbox that he stayed buried in the majority of theRead more
Young Volunteers Get Hands-On Experience
For some of our young volunteers, working with the Animal Department is a great way to get experience for the future. That’s because some of our kids come to us with great enthusiasm and love for animals and hope to one day be a Veterinarian or maybe even an Animal Keeper like us. One of our volunteers, Sarah (pictured above), enjoys weighing our smaller animals and reptiles to get experience in the field of veterinary care… and we are happyRead more