Summer Intern

We have a new summer intern at the Lowcountry Zoo.  His name is Caleb, and he will be with us until August.  Like all of our interns, he is a student of the Zoo and Aquarium Sciences program at Davidson County Community College.  The program teaches classes in zookeeping, and it sends students to gain practical experience at many institutions in North and South Carolina.  Brookgreen Gardens has been proud to be a participating institution for the last five years.

Casey, our intern last year, is administering a baby goat's first health exam.

Robert, a previous intern, is assisting our Curator of Animals in training the alligator.

Tiffany, a previous intern, is feeding five baby deer at once.

Caleb will be assisting the zookeepers with all of our animals.  For example, he will be helping us keep an eye out for baby Spanish Goats!  If any of the females are pregnant (and we suspect they are), they will be due around June 11, 2012.

Whispering Wings Butterfly Experience

Whispering Wings Butterfly Experience will be open April 1- October 31 for 2012

This seasonal exhibit is already looking fantastic!  We will be opening with about 750 butterflies of about 15 different species.  More butterflies will be added weekly, and new species will be added as they become available.  Zookeepers are already busy taking care of butterfly pupae!

Whispering Wings contains a garden, water feature, and pupae emergence room where visitors may observe the transformation of a butterfly from pupae to adults. The exhibit is open daily from 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. In April, the exhibit is open until 6:30 p.m.  In addition to garden admission, butterfly tickets are $3 for adults and $2 for children, for a 30 minute timed visit.  Volunteers and staff will be on hand to help visitors learn and enjoy the exhibit.

The rest of the zoo is free with admission and is open until 7 PM in April.  It is normally open until 5 PM.

Pictures from Otter Birthday Party

We had a great time at our otter birthday party! Thank you to our visitors, and to our wonderful volunteers. It was a successful event.

Please use the link to see a video of our otter triplets on their birthday!
http://youtu.be/dqrY8gtXkc4

This video shows our mother otter with her three triplets.  The triplets were born on March 2, 2011, so they were celebrating their first birthday.  They received a cake, presents, streamers, and jello treats.

The triplets were a little frightened of the streamers, so it took a little time for them to reach the wrapped presents.  In the video, they are eating the fish that zookeepers placed inside the boxes.

Megan baked the otters an angel food cake and decorated it with pet-friendly icing and smelt (small fish).

Sarah used different molds (including sand castle molds) to make popsicles for the otters.

This is what our visitors look like from the otter's view!

The craft table was a big hit with kids.

Wildlife and History Day

On March 10th, Huntington Beach State Park hosted their18th Annual Wildlife and History Day, and they invited our zoo staff!  Zookeepers Megan and Sarah gave a program that featured animals from the Lowcountry Zoo.

We had about 80 people join us in the courtyard of Atalaya.

Megan presented a Striped Skunk

and a Virginia Opossum (shown on the table)

Sarah presented a Scarlet Kingsnake and an Eastern Box Turtle

We had a good time joining the other wildlife professionals who gave programs and set up informational booths.  I hope we get invited back next year!

FrogWatch USA

There have probably been many times when you’ve been sitting on your back porch at night, listening to all of the sounds emanating from the wild.  There’s a good chance you probably don’t know what a lot of those noises are. Many of them are a variety of nocturnal animals including different species of birds, mammals, and insects. In addition to those animals, many frogs and toads are vocal during the night hours. Now is a great opportunity to learn the calls of these amphibians and become a citizen scientist with the introduction of the Brookgreen Gardens FrogWatch USA chapter. Citizen science is a collaboration between scientists and volunteers to expand the collection of scientific data that might not otherwise be possible. The data collected by volunteers is used to help develop practical conservation methods for frogs and toads. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), about 1/3 of amphibian species are threatened with extinction, so the more data we can collect, the better!

FrogWatch USA gives you an opportunity to learn the calls of the many species of frogs and toads of South Carolina, and an opportunity to spend more time outside learning about the natural world with your friends and family. After you complete training, you may register a wetland site of your choosing, and then you go out at night for a monitoring session which only takes 5 minutes. You can do a monitoring session as frequently as you like.

Our first training session is open to members of Brookgreen Gardens. It is March 14^th at the Lowcountry Center Auditorium beginning at 2:30 pm until approximately 4:00 pm. Seating is limited and reservations are required by calling 843-235-6016.

For more information about FrogWatch USA (and amphibian conservation), you can visit aza.org/frogwatch.

Otter Birthday Party

You are invited!

On March 10, 2012, we are celebrating the birthdays of four otters!  This will be the triplets' first birthday, and the fourth birthday of Elliott.  Elliott was abandoned by his mother and found at Brookgreen Gardens.  He was hand-raised by zookeeper Larry Elliott.

Activities start at 10:00 AM, so come early and join us for this celebration!

10:00  Storytime at the Campbell Center

10:30  Birthday Party at River Basin Retreat (otter pond exhibit) - cake and presents for otters.

11:00  Mother Nature's Cafe - tour beginning at Plantation Barn

11:00 to 3:00  Craft and Activity Table - by Small Raptor Aviaries in zoo

12:00  Storytime at the Campbell Center

1:00  Mother Nature's Cafe - tour beginning at Plantation Barn

12:30 to 2:30  Slideshow in Lowcountry Center Auditorium

2:00  Popsicle Party - River Basin Retreat (otter underwater viewing)
 
2:30  Meet the Animals Program - Lowcountry Center Auditorium - otter themed, but sorry, no live otters!

Spanish Goat Ultrasound

Hysterical pregnancy in a goat?

Zookeepers thought that one of our goats was pregnant, and she even started producing milk.  Goats usually have a gestation, or pregnancy, of five months.  When our female was a month overdue, we decided to call in our large animal veterinarian to examine her.

Our vet used an ultrasound machine to determine whether the goat was pregnant.  She used ultrasound jelly on the probe, just like doctors use on people.

It takes a lot of skill to read an ultrasound.  (It looks like wavy lines to me.)  

There was no sign of a baby goat.

After a thorough exam and some medication for bloating, our female goat is totally back to normal.

Did you know...

It is common for otters to have a hysterical pregnancy.  It is called a pseudopregnancy, and they even produce the hormones associated with a real pregnancy.