thisandthat123456-blog

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When eating breakfast while prepping diets…

http://www.fmylife.com/article/today-i-found-out-the-coffee-mug-my-house-mate-uses-to-thaw-dead-mice-for-his-snake-is-the-same-mug_215897.html

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Flamingoing is harder than it looks. (via celesse)

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Day 3, 4, and vacation.

Engads! I have been so bad about updating. My apologies to those who actually follow and are notified when I post. As a majority of the people will see this in passing on their dash filled with cute animal pics, I doubt most of you will care. Tbh I had forgotten about doing so until my friend asked me about it. He shall be my motivator to write every week! I gotta keep in shape before fall with all that scientific writing. Booya! (Please note it is also late for me, so much of this may be silly or not make sense.)

June 17th and 18th. Big sis and I prepped diets all morning. Can I just take minute here to discuss my small crush on a very cute Coast Guard? The coast guard sends some of their peeps to volunteer with us on Saturdays. They do the mundane chores like weeding, and repairing fences and whatnot. I get to do all the fun stuff! Anyway there is a really cute one that decided it would be fun to look into the fridges to show his friend all the frozen gophers and quail without asking anyone who was preping diets for the next day, which was irratating because our freezers suck so that the auto lock turns on after opening and shutting it for about a minute. I showed them the gophers and mice we had already pulled and were defrosting for tomorrow and they recoiled in disgust although they seemed to still be intregued. There’s another intern, a young woman (well compared to me she’s old lol no one show her this blog) who has the same volunteer shifts as me, and also goes to my college and is the same major, except a semester ahead of me. I’ve kinda adopted her as my big sis as she offers to take all the jobs I hate. She’s the sweetest thing I love her, like platonically. When preping diets for the raptors, she cut them up for me! I owe her big time! Animal wise, there isn't much to mention for this week except for two: the kite and the gray foxes. In the raptor center we had a juvenile kite brought in. If you've never seen a kite before, they are gray and white in color. They have a cool hunting tactic where they will hover above the ground hundreds of feet in the air like a hummingbird, dive a hundred feet at a time before surprising their prey. This little guy was smaller than some of the other birds before and we had to cut his mice into fourths, and SHOVE IT DOWN HIS THROAT. BUAHAHAHA. I think the worse part was having to grab him because he let out this horrible grating, screeching noise, and we were in this enclosed space. My poor eardrums. Much louder than any of the other raptors I had encoutered. Nini (An intern from last year who still volunteers) taught me how to properly restrain him while she forcefed the little bugger. Afterwards, Nini and I had to go weigh the gray fox pups in enclosure 22. It's a smaller enclosure compared to some of the other ones, and the foxes were small, not as able to get away from us as the larger ones are. Nini taught me how to grab them (They bite!) with our thick gloves and carry them into the weighing box. We put them on the scale. They were around 1200 g which was good for their size and age. As a wildlife rehabilitator I know I am not supposed to say this, but look up pics of juvenile gray foxes. They are so cute! They look and will at times at like puppies, but boy are they not. Weekend of June 24th: Went to LA for grandmother's 80th. It was horrible except being able to visit the LA zoo, which was basically my childhood. I am rather concerned about some of the animals, however as it was in the 90s and there did not appear to be adequate shelter and water in many of the enclosures. I remember when the LA zoo had a polar bear and baby the python, both of whom passed in small enclosures. I keep having flashbacks of that memory of a yellowed bear lying distressed on the rocks on the enclosure that is now the gharial exhibit. I don't know. I'm probably worried for naught. I was a young kid and didn't understand much. As always, please do not take home any wild animals. Let them stay wild.

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The Importance of Zoos -- A Resource Post

Building the Ark – NatGeo

Zoos as Centers for Conservation – Quest: The Science of Sustainability

Zoos Raise Money for Faraway Animals – NYTimes (Highlights how the best zoos make great efforts to put money to conservation, setting the example for more and more facilities to follow in suit.)

AZA-Accredited Zoos and Aquariums Generate $160 Million Annually for Wildlife Conservation – The Association of Zoos and Aquariums

Oakland Zoo Raises More Than $100,000 for Wild Animals – The Association of Zoos and Aquariums

Success Stories: California Condors – San Diego Zoo Global Wildlife Conservancy

Success Stories: The Caribbean Iguana – San Diego Zoo Global Wildlife Conservancy

What We Do – San Diego Zoo Global Wildlife Conservancy (Browse these links at your leisure.  But it’s no question how much the SDZoo does for conservation)

Why Zoos & Aquariums Matter: Assessing the Impact of a Visit to a Zoo or Aquarium – The AZA

Environmental Education – The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums

How Zoos are Saving our Animals – ABC News

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How can you safely AND accurately measure the length of a venomous snake? This is how some researchers studying Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnakes do it! First, rest a snake on a soft bed of foam in a plastic holding pen, gently press down on a clear plastic window to hold the snake still for a few moments, and then trace the outline with a marker. Then, remove this window and follow the curvy outline with a measuring tape. This method seems to be less stressful to the snake than trying to tightly restrain the animal and measure in hand. Photographed by @myfrogcroaked while making a story for National Geographic about snake fungal disease, which can be watched at:  news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/06/snake-fungal-disease-treatment-conservation

Source: Instagram @MyFrogCroaked

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They don’t fly or breathe fire, but Fiji iguanas do look like tiny “neon-colored dragons,“ and they need our help. 

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Human: Dinosaurs went extinct millennia ago.

Birds: *screaming at 5am*

Human: Sometimes I can still hear their voices.

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Meanwhile trying to just feed the exhibit cayotes and they just try to eat and play with the bucket... *grumbles*

LOOK AT THIS INCREDIBLY GOOD BOY

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Nankeen Kestrel practicing its Saturday Night Fever moves.

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Galah family on a very blustery day.

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April 9, 2017 - Pearl Kite (Gampsonyx swainsonii)

These small raptors are found from southern Central America to much of central and eastern South America. They eat mostly lizards, along with other small vertebrates including frogs and birds, and some large insects. Hunting from conspicuous perches, or sometimes from the air, they dive onto their prey. Pairs build insubstantial nests from twigs, high in trees, repairing them with new twigs as the chicks age. Females do most of the incubation, while males bring food to the nest.

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Dinner Handoff by lennycarl08 Via Flickr: Part two of the aerial ballet: Food transfer

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Astronaut readjusts to life back on Earth

> Don’t give him a baby for a while.

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My childhood omg. 😍

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i don't really understand why you would be pro-zoo. like i understand nature reserves and sanctuaries where people can observe from afar, but it doesn't seem right to me when they're locked up in generally small confined areas for people to watch them do nothing all day. idk maybe i'm getting this wrong, and i still really respect you, i just don't understand this. like i interned at a zoo and felt uncomfortable with how small their living areas were and how they had no stimulation

Zoos don’t look like this anymore.

They look like this:

Good zoos do not keep their animals in “tiny spaces” with no enrichment.  I’m not pro-roadside zoo.  I’m pro-accredited zoo.  Zoos are incredibly important for conservation and education.

Are Zoos Necessary?

The Importance of Zoos: Resource Post

Why Zoos and Aquariums Matter: Assessing the Impact of a Visit to a Zoo or Aquarium

Why I Want to be a Keeper

Why I Believe in Zoos

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Fighters are the best. It means they identify humans as the scary predators they are and are healthy enough to fight back or try and escape.

Also, that face. 😍

Working in wildlife rehab can be a bit of a roller coaster ride.  We get to see the best and worst of humanity.  There are those that sacrifice their resources (time, money, welfare) to save an animal, and then those that are doing the damage.  Today was a pretty good example of the ups and downs.

So far (and it is only 3 pm, so there is plenty of time for more excitement), we have admitted 5 new patients.  One of them was a young red-shouldered hawk that was found at a business park in south Charlotte.  The finders were very helpful and we were able to get the bird immediately.  While we were performing the intake exam we realized that we had re-nested a baby at this exact location about 6 weeks ago.  So this bird was either the same one or a sibling.  And it was in great condition.  He was returned to his nest area this afternoon. This was a success!

We also admitted an adult red-tailed hawk with multiple serious injuries caused by gunshot.  One metallic foreign body was even lodged in the anterior chamber of his right eye.  Metal was sprinkled all over his body. 

And to end on a positive note.  We have this little baby Eastern screech owl.  The finder drove two hours to get the bird to us.  No questions asked.  It has a wrist injury but we are hopeful.  He is a fighter.  In fact, when I tried to get a photo this morning, he attacked the camera and was hanging from the lens.  

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Herman Dittrich - Handbuch der Anatomie der Tiere für Künstler - 1898 - via University of Wisconsin Digital Collections