Animal Ark Education

Porcu-Picasso!

Our resident porcupine Quillber is sharpening his painting skills for our upcoming Art at the Ark Event, October 8th, 2022 from 10am - 3pm. This is a family friendly event filled with crafts, sweet treats and surprises.

No RSVP Required - Tickets on sale now at www.animalark.org under Buy Tickets and Special Events or at the door!

Meet Santo again! Jaguars have rosettes, or round black rings. They also have a small spot in the middle of most of their rosettes. Leopards also have rosettes, but they don’t have spots in the middle. Other than size, location, and head shape, the fur pattern is the easiest way to spot the difference between a jaguar and a leopard!

Meet Bonnie the raccoon. Raccoons are very adaptable animals, living in many different types of habitats. They can eat just about everything, which makes it easy for them to live anywhere! They live in family groups, so if you see one raccoon, there might be others around!

This is Poppy the tiger. Tigers are critically endangered in the wild. There are fewer than 4000 tigers left in Asia. There are actually more tigers in captivity in America than there are in the wild. Their numbers have dropped due to poaching, habitat loss, and human conflict. Education and knowing these animals are not pets but rather belong in the wild, will help this animal’s populations grow in the wild.

Quillber the porcupine again! North American porcupines are one of the largest rodents in the rodent family. They have flat teeth made for grinding up tough vegetables. They have four front teeth, two on top and two on the bottom. These teeth grow constantly, so they need hard foods to help keep them short. Quillber loves bark from trees, corn, beets and other hard veggies!

This is IO the great horned owl. Owls are nocturnal animals. They hunt their prey at night mostly using their exceptional hearing. They also have large eyes compared to the size of their skull. The large size of their eyes allows the maximum amount of light into their eyes, so they can also see in the dark. The combination of their sensitive hearing and ability to see in the dark makes them formidable nocturnal predators.

The first picture is a peregrine falcon skull, and the second picture is a great horned owl skull. Looking closely at the beak on the falcon, you will see an extra point in the middle of the beak. That is the falcon’s tomial tooth. The falcon is the only raptor to have this point. It is how they kill their prey. The falcon will use this tooth to break its prey’s neck, while other raptors will use their feet to kill their prey.

This is Jonni the desert tortoise. During the winter, desert tortoises hibernate underground. At Animal Ark, both of our desert tortoises spend the winter in a cool, quiet place to mimic a burrow underground in the wild. They’ll stay inside until it starts warming back up in the spring.

While some animals may not be ready for the winter season, Timon the gray wolf and his sister love the snow. Gray wolves have large feet that work like snowshoes. These feet allow the wolf to move across the surface of deep snow rather than sink into it. What’s your favorite wolf fact?

The top feather in this picture is a gyrfalcon feather. The bottom feather is a great horned owl’s. The owl feather is noticeably more fluffy and round while the gyrfalcon feather is more narrow and pointy. Each feather gives the birds a different skill when flying. The gyrfalcon is an incredibly skilled flyer, able to make 90 degree turns in the air on a dime because their feathers are more aerodynamic. The owl is able to fly completely silently because it’s feather is fluffy and soft, allowing the air to move through the feathers, making no sound.

This is Jabari, one of our amazing cheetahs. He is the smallest of the three brothers at Animal Ark, but he has a huge personality!

Cheetahs are unique cats. Unlike most cats, cheetahs do not have round tails. Cheetahs have flat tails that they use like rudders to make sharp turns while at top speeds. They also only have partially retractable claws, which they use similarly to how we use cleats for traction and faster running.