Happy World Porcupine Day! We don’t currently have a porcupine on exhibit, but please enjoy this throwback video of former Trevor Zoo resident Dakota eating some pineapple.
#porcupine #cuteanimals
Did you know you have endangered species right in your backyard? When we think about saving endangered animals, we often think about them in far-off lands like the Amazon Rainforest of the jungles of Africa. But the Blanding’s turtle lives right here in Dutchess County.
Blanding’s turtles use a variety of special habitats, which are often damaged by human activities in our rapidly suburbanizing region. Blanding’s turtles usually spend the winter below the ice in shrubby swamps. They survive the cold temperatures and low oxygen levels by greatly reducing their metabolic activity. As spring approaches, the turtles become more active and venture out to find food and warmer water temperatures. Often, they leave their winter wetland to take advantage of abundant food or warm water in other wetlands, such as marshes or woodland pools. By late summer, many turtles have moved to deeper water bodies, which serve as “drought refuges.” This habit of moving among different wetlands during the year increases the turtles’ vulnerability to human-related hazards such as busy roads, intensively developed areas, agricultural fields, and collectors.
Here are ways you can help protect Blanding’s turtles in Dutchess County:
* During the warm season (May-September), check for turtles underneath your parked car before driving.
* Drive carefully to avoid accidents with turtles and other wildlife.If you see a “rock” in the road, slow down—it may be a turtle! When you encounter a turtle on the road, stop and move it off the road in the direction it was heading. Do not take it home or move it more than 100 yards. Be careful not to endanger yourself in traffic.
* Watch for turtles when mowing or using motorized equipment, especially during the June nesting season when Blanding’s turtles may be traveling long distances overland.
* Eliminate pitfall hazards such as abandoned swimming pools, open excavations, window wells, ditches, and unscreened storm drains which can t
The red-footed tortoise (Chelonoidis carbonarius) is a species of tortoise from northern South America. We house four of them at the Trevor Zoo and you can see them often in the tortoise pen just outside the Meigs Education Center. Red-footed tortoises are most active at temperatures from 81 to 86 °F, so during the colder months and at night they live in our Tropical Building.
Red-footed tortoises are omnivores, but the bulk of their diet in the wild in some sort of fruit or seed pod. Common fruits come from cacti, figs, pehen, spondias, and more. Up to five different kinds of fruits are often found in fecal pellets.The entire fruit is eaten, and the seeds are passed and can germinate, giving red-footed tortoises a significant role in seed dispersal. Red-footed tortoises have been observed at the base of fruit trees, apparently waiting for fruit to fall.
#tortoise
Red Wolf mom Flora and all four pups are doing great! We have been watching them non-stop on the cameras and it’s great to see Flora’s natural instincts at work as she feeds and grooms the pups. And listening to the constant yelping is well, frankly, adorable! As we keep a hand-off approach with these wolves, we invite you to do join us and check out the live video feeds. You can see all our wolf cameras on our website at the following link: https://www.millbrook.org/animals/trevor-zoo-live/trevor-zoo-live-wolves
From Director Tousignant: “Our work with the red wolves, as well as the entire Red Wolf Recovery Program run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is a concerted effort to try and re-stabilize populations in the wild. Pups born here at the Trevor Zoo could be introduced back into the wild in a process called cross-fostering, where a new wild wolf mother will be given captive born wolves to raise along with her own pups. This process has been successfully accomplished many times. The foster mom raises the pups so that they grow with no knowledge of humans, which is the best way for them to survive in their natural habitat.”
Red Wolves are a species that once thrived in significant numbers throughout southeastern North America but now only a handful currently reside in Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina. Along with other AZA zoos, our goal is to increase the population of red wolves so they can eventually be returned to the wild and help bring balance to ecosystems throughout their historic range.
In this clip, recorded yesterday afternoon, Flora is resting with the pups when the bell of our Flager Memorial Chapel rings, calling all students to Thursday evening’s Chapel Talk. As happens regularly when the bell rings, all the wolves at the zoo start to howl back - in this case Clifford, Juno and Chaco. Well, Flora doesn’t want to miss out on a good howl, so she leaves the pups for a moment, steps outside and joins in!
#
BREAKING NEWS! This morning Red Wolf Flora gave birth to FOUR WOLF PUPS! As Red Wolves are the world’s most endangered canid, with only 257 in captivity and less than 20 in the wild, this is great news for the conservation of this species. This is Flora’s first litter, as well for dad Chaco. Flora was born at the Akron Zoo, in Ohio, in April in 2021. Chaco was born in 2015 at Niabi Zoo in Coal Valley, Illinois.
The Trevor Zoo has been participating in the AZA (American Zoos and Aquariums) Red Wolf breeding program since 1993 when we had our first litter born in Millbrook. Our most recent litter was exactly 12-years-ago today when Luna gave birth to six pups, including Clifford who still lives with us today! (Happy Birthday Clifford!)
At the moment, we are being completely hands-off and letting mom Flora do all the work, and she’s doing a fantastic job. We have a live camera feed in her den so we can keep a close eye on the pups. These wolves are housed in our new Red Wolf Breeding Facility which we completed in 2021. We received a Red Wolf Recovery Grant through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to build this facility in collaboration with C2S2 (Conservation Centers for Species Survival). The grant covered about one third of the construction costs and the Trevor Zoo and Millbrook School funded the rest due to the importance of this program.
If you would like to help our efforts, please consider at donation to the Trevor Zoo which can be made at www.millbrook.org/zoodonations
#redwolf #newborn #zooborn #wolfpups #azasafe #redwolfsafe #wesavespecies
Beaver Family at the Trevor Zoo
In honor of International Beaver Day we share this vintage footage of former zoo residents Napoleon and Josephine, and their children, along with Frank and Janet Trevor and their children! We do not currently house beavers at the Trevor Zoo but we do see them in the waterways around the Millbrook School campus from time to time - a good sign of a healthy ecosystem.
Beavers are ecosystem engineers because they create, modify, and maintain habitat and ecosystems. As our climate changes we will have more rain and less snow. Large, sudden high-flow events will be more common in streams. Beaver dams are like speed bumps in the streams and help slow down the water as it moves through a system. Slower water means less erosion and in some cases less flooding from storms.
Beavers also have a large impact on the biodiversity of an area. The ponds they create are habitat for many insect, bird, amphibian, mammal, and fish species. Beavers bring wood into the water, and that wood provides food and shelter for insects and those insects become food for other species.
Narration by Abigail McEnroe, daughter of Frank and Janet Trevor, and Jono Meigs, former Director of the Trevor Zoo.
#beavers #throwback #familyfun
In honor of National Chinchilla Day check out our brand-new episode of LIVE FROM THE TREVOR ZOO featuring the Chinchillas of the Trevor Zoo! Student Curator Jamie Katis hosts the episode which is chock-full of Chinchillas and lets you know how you can help protect chinchillas in the wild.
Come to the zoo tomorrow, Sunday March 24th, to Chill with the Chinchillas of the Trevor Zoo! Meet our Chinchillas and learn about the AZA Chinchilla SAFE program and efforts to help protect chinchillas and their native habitats.
We’ll have Keeper Talks from 10 AM till 3 PM and free activity booklets for kids. We’ll be raising money to help protect chinchillas in the wild. Get a free Chinchilla Refrigerator Magnet with any donation of $2 or more. Also - Millbrook School’s Food Truck will be serving Chili!
Make your reservation at www.trevorzoo.org
#chinchilla #azasafe #endangeredspecies
Join us for our fourth annual Maple Syrup Madness Weekends!
March 2nd & 3rd, Saturday and Sunday.
We’ll have FREE tastings of Maple Syrup all weekend long! (Dr. T’s syrup is “Fire”)
Crepe Royale Food Truck will be here! @creperoyalellc
Maple syrup making demonstrations with our director, Dr. Alan Tousignant!
Locally made maple syrup and other maple products will be for sale.
Make your reservation now at www.trevorzoo.org.
#familyfun #maplesyrup
Who’s been naughty and who’s been nice!
Video by student curator Jamie Katis ‘25
Red Panda Faces of the Trevor Zoo.
Saturday is International Red Panda Day! Want to help protect this adorable endangered species? Just come visit the zoo! We are donating a portion of our profits from the entire month of September to help Red Panda conservation efforts. Make your reservation at www.trevorzoo.org
#IRPD2023 #redpandas #endangaredspecies
James L. Buckley ’40 passed away last week at the age of 100. Mr. Buckley, was a founding member of the Trevor Zoo when it was founded in 1936. A true man of service, Mr. Buckley was one of the few people in modern times to have served in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the American federal government.
“The greatest influence on me was Frank Trevor. He and I arrived the same year. He with a boa constrictor and a sparrow hawk, and I with two armadillos, and so that made us fast friends.”
Jim would help construct the original zoo building and studied biology under Frank Trevor - a course which Mr. Buckley said was more advanced than anything offered to him at Yale University, which he attended after Millbrook.
We’d like to thank Jim for his support of Millbrook and the Trevor Zoo over the course of his lifetime. He will be missed dearly. Our condolences to his family and the entire Buckley clan.
To watch James Buckley’s entire interview from 2006, please check out our YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/trevorzoomillbrook
#oiriginalzooie #franktrevor #onlyhighschoolwithazoo.
Our ring-tailed lemurs enjoyed the early spring sunshine today. The high temperature reached 59.2 degrees today at the zoo, and will be even warmer tomorrow.
Lemurs are a fascinating group of primates that are endemic to the island of Madagascar. They are known for their unique behaviors, including sunbathing, which is a common sight in the wild. Lemurs sunbathe primarily to regulate their body temperature and stay warm. Lemurs are endothermic (like us), which means they maintain a constant internal body temperature. However, they live in a tropical environment where the temperature can fluctuate, and they need to regulate their body temperature to stay comfortable and healthy.
Sunbathing also provides other benefits, such as increasing vitamin D levels and improving mood and well-being. Observing lemurs sunbathing in the wild, or at the zoo, is a fascinating sight, and it’s a reminder of how adaptive and resilient these primates are in.
#lemur #sunshine #spring #vitamind
Poker Face Episode 5 is now available for your viewing pleasure, only on Peacock! Check out The Trevor Zoo...we mean the Glen Falls Zoo...in this week's episode starring Natasha Lyonne, Judith Light and S. Epatha Merkerson! #PokerFacePeacock
