Live
Animals of the World:
A Conservation Exhibit
The Heard has a passion for nature conservation. April 4th will mark the grand-opening of a new exhibit; an exhibit that emphasizes the importance of animals in nature. The Heard will provide a home to twelve types of non-native animals with the intention of creating an exhibit that teaches people about animals and the pertinent role they have in nature worldwide.
The mission of the Heard Museum is to motivate visitors to care enough about the natural world to take interest in restoring and preserving the earth’s ecosystems. By utilizing wild animal “ambassadors” that emotionally connect our visitors to the places these animals live, we can inspire children and adults to take a more proactive role in conserving wild spaces.
Fun for Kids!
Animal word search
Animal word search key
 Genet
Genets
are carnivorous animals found in Africa, Asia and southern Europe.
They have a cat-like appearance but possess long snouts and large
ears. Like cats, they have retractable claws. They average
2 ft. in length with a tail almost as long. Playful and curious,
they have been kept for centuries as pets and to control rodents.
African
Crested Porcupine 
Unlike North American porcupines, African Crested Porcupines do not climb. They feed on plants, fruits and roots. They live in family groups that burrow together during the day, but forage alone at night. Interestingly, they are good swimmers, aided by their hollow quills that act as floatation devices.
 Macaw
Macaws are large, beautiful, extremely
long-tailed parrots with vivid bright colors. Like other parrots,
they eat all kinds of seeds, nuts and fruits. Since many seeds
in the wild are poisonous, macaws are known to eat clay which contains
chemicals that neutralize toxins.
Brown
Lemur 
Brown Lemurs, like all lemurs, are primates
found only in Madagascar. They are similar to monkeys in that
they are arboreal, spending most of their time in trees, and are
social animals that live in groups. Brown Lemurs are gorgeous
creatures with gold-colored eyes that contrast with their brown
fur.
 Ring-tailed
Lemur
The Ring-tailed Lemur is the most popular
lemur, probably because of their entertaining ways and their striking
colors. Gray colored with a white face and ears and yellow
eyes that are surrounded by black patches and a black & white
banded tail longer than their body, they are a sight to behold!
Like monkeys, they live in trees and on the ground. They also live
in social groups which can appear quite funny as they face the sun
in a yoga-like position to warm up in the morning! When competing
for dominance, males engage in the bizarre practice of stink fighting
in which they coat the tail with a greasy musk produced in the wrist
glands and then wave them at their rivals.
Kinkajou
The Central and South American Kinkajou,
or Honey Bear”, is related to raccoons, ringtails and coatis,
but differs in that it has a prehensile tail, which is as long as
its body. Although they possess a prehensile tail and live
in family units that often groom each other, they are not related
to monkeys. Wooly and cuddly-looking, Kinkajous are nocturnal,
climbing through the trees at night searching for fruit and flower
nectar.
 Bennett's
Wallaby
Small or medium sized kangaroos are called
“wallabies.”The Bennett's Wallaby is the smaller Tasmanian
form of the largest wallaby, the Red Necked Wallaby. Like
most kangaroos and wallabies, they feed on grasses and herbs at
night, usually as solitary individuals, but sometimes as loose groups
called “mobs.”As you would expect for an animal living
in harsh environments, they need little water and can go for months
without drinking. Wallabies, like our native opossum, are
marsupials. The tiny newborn crawls to the mother's pouch and remains
there nursing for six to eleven months. Since these big wallabies
live in the colder regions, they have a thick coat of wooly fur.
Cusimanse
Mongoose
Mongooses are weasel-like animals related
to civets and genets. Although many of the 20 species of mongooses
are solitary, the long-nosed Cusimanse, like the meerkat (another
mongoose species), is a social animal. Several Cusimanse families
form a group of 10 to 24 individuals that forage alone or together.
Most mongooses live in open areas or savannahs, but the Cusimanse
is unique by preferring swamplands and high forests, usually found
near water. Native to the jungles of West Africa, they feed
on almost anything that moves. They are famous for killing venomous
snakes but, contrary to popular belief, are not immune the venom.
 Squirrel
Monkey
Squirrel Monkeys are strikingly-colored
monkeys with white faces and black mouths and eyes. Native
to Central and South America, they are diurnal, arboreal and live
in large groups like most monkeys. Unlike some of the other
monkey species, they do not use their tails for climbing, only for
balance. Somewhat noisy, their vocalizations help them communicate
and warn of danger from predators. They prefer to eat fruits
and insects, but will eat almost anything. Photo by
Luiz Claudio Morigo
Patagonian
Cavy
Large rodents up to 35 lbs. and 2 ½
ft long, cavies look like kangaroos with tiny tails and jackrabbit
bodies. Related to guinea pigs, they feed on grasses and other
plants in the arid grasslands found in the southern tip of Argentina.
In this environment, their best defense is speed and cavies can
run up to 35 mph. In the spring breeding season (August to
November in the southern hemisphere), they gather around a system
of burrows. The young, complete with hair and open eyes and
ears, are born outside the burrow and enter the burrow on their
own. Also called Maras, up to 15 pairs of cavies keep their
young in communal burrows called crèches. Although
the young are capable of grazing a day after they are born, they
remain the crèche for three or four months with the mother
returning at least once a day to nurse her babies. They mate
for life.
 Capybara
The largest rodents in the world, capybaras
can reach 140 lbs, and 4 ft in length. Surprisingly, an extinct
form was 8 times larger! Shaped like a pig, they have a blunt
snout, no tail, and thinly spread course hair, making them prone
to sunburn (which is why they sometimes roll in the mud).
Adults can eat 6-8 lbs of grass per day, using their ever-growing
front teeth and cheek teeth to cut off and grind the food.
Very efficient consumers, they both regurgitate their food (like
a cow chewing its cud) and eat their own feces (to completely digest
the cellulose and renew the bacteria they need for digestion).
They are semi-aquatic animals, spending much of their time in and
around water. Accomplished swimmers with webbed feet, they
can stay underwater for up to 5 minutes. Capybaras are social
animals, forming groups of 10 to 30 with a dominate male who marks
his territory with a scent gland on his nose! Very vocal animals,
an assortment of purrs, barks, whistles, clicks, squeals and grunts
are used for communication. On the average, females give birth
to about 4 young, which will nurse from any lactating female in
the group, until they are weaned after about a month.
Mountain
Coati Mundi 
Related to our native raccoon, coatis do look like very similar
but with an elongated nose and tail. Coatis are found from
South Texas to Argentina, but the Mountain Coati inhabits the mountains
of Chili. Feeding on almost anything edible from worms and
insects to lizards, snakes, or mice, coatis also like fruits, nuts,
roots and eggs. Foraging on the ground or in the trees, they
sleep or rest in elevated crudely-built nests. Coatis travel
in loosely organized bands of 4 to 25 females and young males.
Males 2 years or older, which can be twice as large as the females,
are solitary and only join the band during breeding season.
Males mate with several females, which when pregnant, separate from
the group to give birth and return to the band in 4 or 5 months
with 3 to 7 young. Fascinating, intelligent animals, they
communicate with a wide assortment of sounds and their playful antics
are always fun to watch!
Photos by
Roger Sanderson |
