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Love is in the air! Yep, even in the winter. Male opossums go through physiological changes during the winter months that we call rut. As hormones surge through their bodies, their minds are focused on one thing, and only one thing. They lose interest in food and spend hours simply wandering around, noses in the … Continue reading "Keeper Stories – Thursday, January 12"

Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes are the largest venomous snakes the U.S. They are maligned and slaughtered, both opportunistically by rural citizens and systematically in locally promoted rattlesnake roundups. Despite their large size and the medical importance of the rare accidental bite to a human, these are quiet and reclusive snakes that do very little harm unless harassed or restrained.

Eastern indigo snakes are the largest native non-venomous snake in the United States. Rather than relying on constriction to disable their wide variety of prey items, they simply overpower their prey with their muscular jaws and swallow it whole. Their conservation status is of concern because their preferred habitat, the longleaf pine forest, has been heavily fragmented by agricultural and logging practices.

The Guatemalan beaded lizard lives only in an isolated pocket of desert in eastern Guatemala. Discovered by scientists in the mid-1980s, this distinctive lizard has been well known to local populations in Guatemala for millennia. This species is one of the five closely related species of venomous beaded lizards, including the Gila monster of the southwestern U.S. The venom is used entirely for self-defense and is not used in the capturing of prey.

Komodo dragons are Earth’s largest living lizards and are part of the large family known as monitor lizards.

Reticulated pythons, along with the green anaconda, are the largest snakes in the world. The distinction is that these pythons attain a greater length, with valid records of wild individuals over 20 feet in length. Green anacondas, on the other hand, are not as long but achieve a much more massive girth and mass.

This breed was developed in England when British goats crossed with bucks of African and Indian origin. Goats were among one of the very first domesticated animals, and they have been part of human life as companions and sources of hides and food for millennia. Many thousands of years of selective breeding have produced a large of number of breeds specialized for different purposes and climates.

The breed was originally developed in Switzerland and, though relatively rare in the U.S., remains highly sought after for its abundant production of milk. Goats were among one of the very first domesticated animals, and they have been part of human life as companions and a source of hides and foods for millennia. Many thousands of years of selective breeding have produced a large of number of breeds specialized for different purposes and climates.

Ring-tailed lemurs are named for the distinctive, alternating black-and-white bands along their tails. They reside in southern and southwestern Madagascar and are found in social groups called troops. This species uses both vocal and scent marking as tools of communication.