Groundhog Fun-day 2013!

Eddie the Groundhog painted his first masterpiece of 2013 earlier this week!

Painting is a good enrichment activity for our animals and also produces unique animal artwork humans can enjoy. Eddie paints by walking through non-toxic paint and then onto a blank canvas. He is rewarded throughout the process with tasty banana chips, his favorite treat.

His artwork will be raffled at our Groundhog Fun-day event on Saturday, February 2nd. Eddie will make two appearances in the museum's auditorium as well. This Groundhog Day festival will also feature crafts, activities, and live animal programs showcasing Ohio hibernators.

More information (including the schedule) can be found at this link:

http://cmnh.org/site/ClassesandPrograms/SpecialEvents/Groundhog.aspx

I look forward to spending Groundhog Day this year with a real live groundhog and hope you will come join in the fun too!

Michelle Leighty
Perkins Wildlife Center Co-Manager

Christmas Trees for Critters!

Each year after the winter holidays the Wildlife Resources department takes donations of Christmas trees. The trees are wonderful natural enrichment items for the animals and they also dress up our exhibits a bit.

This year we received a record number of trees, so nearly every animal at the museum has had a chance to interact with one. The birds use them for perching, the opossums and snakes climb in the branches, and the bobcats and hares like to hide deep within the greenery.

Here are a few pictures I took earlier today of the raccoons enjoying one of the trees! I hid some of their vegetables for the day far inside of the evergreen so that they had to climb and forage in order to get their snack. Click the images to enlarge.

Thank you to everyone who brought us a tree and helped provide the animals with a festive and fun enrichment activity!

Michelle Leighty
Perkins Wildlife Center Co-Manager