Who’s Who (Niko and Oak)

Top Photo: Oak (front) and Niko. On November 12, I posted about the arrival of our two red wolves, Niko and Oak. In that post I also mentioned a bit about how to differentiate the two, tell them apart from one another. Besides the white cheek patch (very small and barely noticeable) and white area surrounding the base of her tail (quite evident), Oak has a much narrower face than Niko. The broader snout and forehead of Niko is discernibleRead more

Oak and Niko

Top Photo: Oak (left) and Niko carefully watch members of the Animal Care crew in their enclosure during routine maintenance. Now that word is out about the new pair of red wolves having arrived at the museum, Niko and Oak, you may want to come have a look at them. Both wolves are still getting used to their enclosure and the rush of people stopping in or passing by the exhibit space. They’ve only been on-site a handful of daysRead more

A Few Things To Look For

Top Photo: Hermit thrush inspects sumac seeds for possible consumption. While walking the outdoor loop through Explore the Wild and Catch the Wind, it’d be worth your while to keep an eye out for what’s around you. Winter residents, hermit thrushes eat fruit, seeds, and invertebrates when available. Some trees retain the seeds they produced during the growing season until well into the winter, even within the same species. Most white ash trees typically disperse their seeds in fall. SomeRead more

Eno, Ellerbe and the Bones

Top Photo: Ellerbe left and Eno. The animal keepers occasionally place deer legs into the Red Wolf Enclosure. The wolves appreciate the additional offerings of nutrition and behavioral enrichment, though it’s not always clear what is appreciated more. To further harmony, Eno finds his own leg bone to gnaw on. Entente.Read more

Sharing

Our two sibling red wolves, Eno and Ellerbe, share the same enclosure. As you might expect, each wolf has its own personality. Eno often seems to desire, what appears to be, playful interaction between himself and his brother. From my observations, Ellerbe prefers to be left alone and does not share his brother’s enthusiasm for “playfulness.” It’s part of the captive animal experience to be offered enrichment. Environmental Enrichment, in the case here, is the placement of objects inside theRead more

The Howling

Top: Father and three of his sons from this year’s liter enjoy a group howl. Our ten red wolves howl regularly. We don’t howl at them, but their howling has become a nearly daily routine. The museum happens to be located within a quarter mile of a hospital. We hear a lot of sirens. Most are off in the distance, but our wolves hear them just the same, and they react to the sirens by howling. It’s quite an experienceRead more

Run Wolf Run

We have here at the museum, one adult breeding pair of red wolves, two yearling male red wolves, and six three-month old pup red wolves. Every now and then, the year-old wolves get frisky and chase each other around their enclosure. It’s often a vigorous jaunt with more than just a few circuits around the yard. The parents sometimes join in but usually don’t make it past the first lap. After all, the male is 9 years old and theRead more

Nest Box Update 7.23.19

We currently have 8 nestlings in two of our six nest boxes. Four of those are house wrens, the remainder bluebirds. Four bluebirds have fledged and a new nest started atop that nest. There are, as best as I can tell, four house wrens nestlings in the nest box at the Cow Pasture near the Ellerbe Creek Railway Tunnel. There had been five eggs in the nest but as you can see from the photo, it appears only four hatched.Read more