Virginia Bear Update- Post #2, Transport

The last post about Virginia ended with us needing to make a plan to get Virginia off the cliff. We gathered our bear crate out of storage and began planning. Numerous ( I think 20) people began working on all the details needed. My notes outline for this project is 6 pages long and it’s called CLIFF CATCH CRATE. (I like alliteration). In general, the points below were those to focus on. crate security and functionality securing crate in positionRead more

Black Bear Paws

Black Bear paws are used for many things: Walking Rooting around looking for food Scratching Marking trees Climbing trees Swimming And as plates This last use is one of my favorites and all of our bears do this. Sometimes they will place a piece of food on their paw and raise their paw up to their mouth. So cute and functional.Read more

QuikPic: Virginia Bear

Lately, you may have noticed the bears are harder to find on exhibit. Our black bears don’t actually hibernate- it’s not cold enough in Durham but they do slow down a lot! Typically, you can find Gus and Mimi in or by the cave and Virginia and Yona spend their days up on the cliff. You may be able to see a big bear body if you use the camera. Here’s a picture of Virginia sitting up in her comfyRead more

All Grown Up

Here’s a few then and now photos of some of your favorite Museum critters. Enjoy.   MAX OUR STEER    SCOUT OUR DUCK    AUGGIE OUR PIG   VIRGINIA BEAR     ME (really)    Read more

Black Bears: True or False

Thanks to the Appalachian Bear Rescue website I found this true or false quiz. See if you can answer them correctly- I’ll post the answers soon. The Appalachian Bear Rescue Mission Statement is: (a) to rehabilitate orphaned and injured bears for release to the wild; (b) to educate the public about black bears and the regional threats facing them; and (c) to research bear attributes which may help solve other environmental or health-related issues   When a bear stands upRead more

Sheep and Waffles

It’s time to say goodbye to our wonderful interns, Casey and Jessica.  They have worked as keepers, with us, 3 days a week for 4 months- we will miss them!  Casey and Jessica are in the Zoo and Aquarium Science Program at Davidson County Community College. On top of working and classes, the interns had to present an enrichment project.  They choose to create a teepee tree for the lemurs.  The goal of their creation was to increase social interactionRead more