The County Fair

Yesterday I was at the county fair in my zoo docent capacity. It seems a bit superfluous to bring animals to the county fair, and even more superfluous to tell the fairgoers, many of whom have their own animals (like this adorable bunny) in the fair, about animals. But we managed to bring some interesting creatures they didn't know about, including the common...

Eastern Box Turtle

...and the not so common (around here)...

Eurasian Eagle Owl (brought to you by my bad cell phone camera)

Once I put my friend Oslo back in his carrier I walked through the rabbit and poultry barn to look at all the wonderful chickens and bunnies.

Among the birds were these frilly pigeons, which I found intriguing. But I wonder if they can fly with those messed-up feathers.

Many were marked with ribbon or had trophies. And several had a little note attached to the cage that read "I will be in the small animal sale Saturday at 1:00." Oh, so very tempting...

But I have no time in my life at the moment for more pets. So I went back to my zoo friends and all the small people who were excited to be able to see them up close and touch them.

Someday, I will have chickens.

And maybe a bunny.

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Have You Hugged Your Opossum Today?

Even scavengers that hiss at your dog and root through your trash deserve to be loved. Just watch out for those 52 pointy teeth (that's more than any other land mammal!).

Fun facts about the opossum:

- They are only marsupial found in North America.

- They have prehensile tails but they cannot hang upside down from them once they reach adult size.

- They typically only live 2 or 3 years.

- Gestation is only 12-14 days. When the babies (usually around 15-20 at a time!) are born they can all fit in a tablespoon and must crawl into the mother's pouch and attach themselves to a teat. Only about 12 will manage it.

- They have at least a partial resistance to many kinds of snake venom, including that of cottonmouths and rattlesnakes.

- Playing Possum, in which the animal plays dead, drools, and emits the odor of rotting flesh, is an involuntary behavior. They regain consciousness within a few minutes to an hour.

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Me and Oslo

This is who I have been hanging out with this weekend. His name is Oslo. He is a Eurasian Eagle Owl. I could talk about him for an hour.

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