Fun Animal Facts by Hackman Museum of Natural History

17/06/2020

In the midst of the baby anole excitement, we also celebrated the arrival of a Ghost Mantis (phyllocrania paradoxa) to our collection last week. Ghost mantises are native to Africa. That are well known for their remarkable camouflage as a dried leaf. They even sway back and forth when moving to mimic being rocked by the wind. Ghost mantises eat flightless fruit flies and tiny "pinhead" crickets. Fortunately for us keepers, that's also what baby anoles eat. This is one of the smaller varieties of mantis. "Ghost," as we call him, will reach about two inches long as an adult.

Post by Daddy - juvenile male expert

17/06/2020

It has been a busy week for our collection. Sadly, the baby anole that hatched last week did not survive. We believe she was either born with a spinal issue, or had been attacked by an adult before we found her. She had some strange tail issues, and struggled to engage her rear legs when moving. Our sadness at this loss was diminished yesterday, when we discovered a second baby anole, who appears much more active and robust than the first. We are also guessing that this one is a female, due to the white stripe down her spine. Pictures below.

Post by Daddy - juvenile male expert.

10/06/2020

This morning there was a surprise for us in the anole enclosure. We found a baby anole, and four eggs! Anoles mate and lay eggs through the summer. Baby anoles need to be moved into a new enclosure, because their father will eat them. They need to be misted three times a day, and given a constant supply of flightless fruits flies. We are keeping our baby in a smaller container in the big enclosure, to protect her, but still let her benefit from the heat lamp. We think this baby is a girl, but it might be too early to tell. Below are pictures of the new arrival and four buried eggs. The new girl doesn’t look great in the pictures, but she has been moving around, and eating! She is kind of lazy, because she takes a lot of naps.

By Caleb - 🐊 Reptile Expert

22/05/2020

By Jacob avian expert

12/05/2020

Baby mantis feeding, and fun praying mantis facts!

Video by Caleb - Reptile 🦎 Expert

08/05/2020

Our other ootheca hatched yesterday !

08/05/2020

Check out our new nesting box it is for buddy to feel safe and have a warm place to sleep without worrying that there are predators.

By Jacob avian expert

06/05/2020

Our ootheca has just hatched!

23/04/2020

Every year, we hatch and release Painted Lady butterflies! Butterflies go through four life-cycle stages.
First, they are eggs. 🥚
Second, they hatch into caterpillars. 🐛
Third, they become chrysalides.
Last, they hatch again into butterflies! 🦋
Here are some pictures of our butterflies this year in three of the stages. We don’t have any pictures of them as eggs.

By Isaac - Aquatic Expert 🕷

20/04/2020

Buddy wants to say hi and show you how we do interesting activities

20/04/2020

17/04/2020

Big Announcement!

Join us tomorrow, Saturday 4/18, at 11am for a live lizard feeding! They eat like crazy!

17/04/2020

We try to only keep one male brown anole in our enclosure at a time. This is because male brown anoles like to be dominant. If two male brown anoles live together, they will bully and fight each other, using some of the behaviors from our last anole post. One brown anole can live with up to twelve females, but our enclosure isn’t that big. Female anoles don’t usually fight. This is why it is important to know if you are getting a male or female anole as a pet. Here is a video of male anoles competing for dominance.

By Caleb - Reptile 🦎 Expert

https://youtu.be/o3uzMpTgStA

Anoles represent a fascinating group of lizards that visually communicate with one another. Male anoles, for example, extend a colorful dewlap to signal to r...

16/04/2020

Cockatiels live in flocks . That is why in captivity they need to be loved and be part of the family. In the pictures of cockatiels in a flock they are very happy to be together. Cockatiels are very sociable animals and need to be in groups. If you are not able to interact with one cocktail regularly and you have a habitat large enough you could get a second cocktail.

14/04/2020

Sticker Contest Answer:

It's an ootheca! But what is an ootheca? An ootheca a praying mantis egg sack. We have two oothecas right now. One we ordered online. After it came, we found another one in the backyard. In about one month, each ootheca will hatch between 75 and 200 baby praying mantises. Here are some pictures of our very first ootheca hatch in 2017, when I wasn't even four yet.

If you didn't get the answer to this contest, but still want a sticker. Send us a private message and we will give you one.

By Isaac - Aquatic Expert

13/04/2020

These my worms. They pretty like me. They try to get away from me. I call them “Paw Patrol.”

By Adam - Invertebrate 🐛 Expert

09/04/2020

Cockatiels have a diverse group of colors in captivity, but in the wild they are all pied, mostly grey. In the first picture there is a wild cockatiel. In the second is buddy my cocktail. In the last is a captive cocktail and it has a unique color. Now you can see the differences between the wild and captive cockatiels.

By Jacob Avian expert

08/04/2020

Brown anoles defend themselves in many cool ways, if you try to hurt them. First, they they will blare their dewlap at you. A dewlap is a piece of skin under the brown anole’s chin. Males and females both have them, but but females do not use theirs. Dewlaps, can be spotted, striped, or a solid color. This color is normally red or pink. Second, males can raise their dorsal fin. The dorsal fin is a strip of skin along the backbone (including the tail) that can be raised or lowered. Anole’s use these two methods to make themselves look larger and scarier. Third, they will open their mouth, blare their dewlap, and hiss at you at the same time. When they hiss at you, it is kind of scary. Fourth, they will bite you. This causes a medium amount of pain, like being pinched by a small crab. Fifth, if something grabs their tale, they can make the tail fall off (more on this in a later post). These defense methods make anoles very exciting pets to keep! In my opinion, anoles are the best pet lizard, unless you can get an Argentine Tegu (seriously, google it).

If you are still struggling to find the answer to our sticker contest, here’s a hint: ootheca.

By Caleb - Reptile🦎 Expert

07/04/2020

Contest Time!

We just got these cool new Hackman Museum of Natural History stickers! Want one? Just send us a private message telling us what I’m holding in the first picture and we will mail one to you. Bonus points if you know it’s official name. No giving away the answer in the comments, please!

By Isaac - Aquatic Expert

06/04/2020

Sometimes, it can be hard to figure out which hermit crab is yours. That’s because they can change their shells. We’ve even had two crabs swap shells! A hermit crab’s shell is not a part of its body. They use ones they find in the wild. As a crab grows, it needs a larger shell and will try to find a new one. We always keep a bunch of extra shells in our crab enclosure, so they have options. When we first got our crabs, things were a little crazy for a week or two as they all wanted to try out the new shells in the pen! This is one reason why it is important to make sure you do not leave garbage on the beach when you visit. Crabs will sometimes use pieces of garbage instead of a shell. These items don’t give the crabs the protection they need and can even make them sick.

By Adam - Invertebrate Expert

03/04/2020

Cockatiels need to be mentally stimulated and not be bored. In the first picture is a foraging toy inside the ball is a little bit of millet. In the second picture is his chew toy . In the third picture are some baby rings. In the last video Buddy is eating his food.

By Jacob Avian 🐦 expert

02/04/2020

Anoles have three eyes! The third eye is on the top of its head. It is called the parietal eye. This eye can only see light and dark. It protects them from predators like birds. Chameleons, iguanas, and komodo dragons have one too, but in chameleons it is covered in scales. This is a picture of Flash’s third eye.

By Caleb - Reptile 🦎 Expert

01/04/2020

These are my hedgehogs (These are not hedgehogs)

I caught them at the playground (They were just laying under a tree)

I have eight hedgehogs (Again, these are not hedgehogs)

They live in a hedgehog cage (It’s a box with holes in it)

They eat grass (We don’t give them anything to eat. They are not alive)

They can live 100 years (Who knows?)

They make good pets (They are the perfect pet until you step on them in the dark)

By Isaac - April Fools Expert (editorial comments by Daddy)

31/03/2020

Despite their names, Hermit Crabs do not like to be alone. In the wild, they live in colonies of hundreds, even thousands! So, if you want to get a pet hermit crab, get a whole bunch. This is a video that our Mom and Dad took in Costa Rica (back before we were born and they had time to do things like go to Costa Rica). The tide is coming in and a colony of hermit crabs is leaving the beach to find safety in the trees and bushes. The video is one minute long. See how many crabs you can spot!

By Adam - Inverterbrate Expert (not really he just ate applesauce)

30/03/2020

Cockatiels have a crop. It holds food when they are not hungry.it is in between their mouth and stomach.

Almost all birds have a crop.

Buddy is eating his crop is full.

By Jacob avian expert

27/03/2020

Big news! Today’s post will include an animal unboxing! We expect arrival by 10:30am and will go Live to introduce our new friend to his habitat!

26/03/2020

African Dwarf Frogs are blind! But if they are blind how do they find food? Here are some hints: their food doesn’t make noise, so they can’t hear it. Their food is pretty stinky. That’s right! They find their food by smelling it! We think these frogs are pretty cool!

By Isaac - Aquatic Expert

25/03/2020

Of all our animals, Hermit Crabs might be the strangest. If a hermit crab loses a limb, it can grow it back! Some lizards can do this with their tails, but the new tail isn’t as long or flexible as the old one. Hermit crabs can grow a new, fully functioning leg. This is a picture of Marshmallow. When we got Marshmallow he was missing a leg. After a few weeks of good food and care at our house, Marshmallow dug deep down into the sand of his cage. We didn’t see him for many days. We were afraid he might have died, but he didn’t. He was molting. While buried in the sand, Marshmallow lost his hard outer skin. He became soft and squishy. A hermit crab is very vulnerable while molting. He can be harmed, killed, or even eaten by other crabs. But while he is soft, he can grow. Marshmallow grew a whole new leg while buried in the sand. When he was done growing, his skin became hard again and he came back to the surface to play! You can see his new leg in the picture below. We call it his “pink” leg. Over time it will become reddish-brown like his other limbs.

By Adam - invertebrate expert (not really, he just likes to eat yogurt).

24/03/2020

Cockatiels and cockatoos have crests. They tell their moods and how they are feeling. For example when their crest is up that means that they are happy. In the first picture he is mad in the second picture he woke up from a nap. In the last one he is probably happy.

By Jacob - avian expert

23/03/2020

This post is about how anoles can change colors. Thay change from black to gray to brown and also cream. They change color depending on their mood. The first picture is the first time Stripes and Flash met. Stripes is light brown because she is scared. The second picture is from a few minutes later. In this one Stripes is dark brown because she is not scared. Flash and Stripes have decided to be friends. Anoles are not the only lizards that change colors. Chameleons and Iguanas change colors too.

By Caleb - Reptile🦎 Expert

22/03/2020

Hermit Crab fun!

20/03/2020

African Dwarf Frogs can sing! Only the boys sing, which is how we know that at least one of our frogs is a boy. Girls frogs are also bigger than boys. The boys sing when they are happy, usually when girls are around (weird, we know). Our boy sings in the evening. We don’t have a video of him singing, but here’s one we found on YouTube. It sounds like someone is ringing a very small bell, or unzipping a tiny zipper.

By Isaac - Aquatic Expert

https://youtu.be/FyDZCDMtL4E

19/03/2020

These are our Caribbean Hermit Crabs (Coenobita clypeatus). We have three of them. Their names are Flipper, Marshmallow, and Darth Vader. We don’t know how old they are, but we’ve had them for seven months. They can live for twelve years or longer. We feed them coconut and hermit crab food. We spray them every other day to help them breathe (more on that later). They are found all over the Caribbean islands and coastline from Florida to Venezuela. They are cute, interesting, and crawl around a lot. One of their nicknames is “purple pincher,” because of their giant purple claws.

By Adam (not really, all he did was shake hermit crabs)

18/03/2020

This is a cockatiel. Their scientific name is Nymphicus hollandicus. We have one 7 month old male cockatiel named Buddy. They can live 15 to 20 years but can live longer. They are found all over Australia. They need pellets and chlorine free water. We get him out and play with him. He needs a lot of toys to keep him busy. We like him because he’s friendly and cute. There are many cool things about this bird. Stay tuned to learn more.

By Jacob - Avian Expert

17/03/2020

These are Brown Anoles. The scientific name is anolis sagrei. We have two of them. Their names are Flash and Stripes. They can live three to five years. They are from the Bahamas and Cuba, but now live in Florida too. We feed them crickets and mealworms. Every day we have to spray them with water two times. They need a heat lamp and a UVA/UVB light. We like them because they are cool and they look like little Komodo Dragons. There are lots of other cool things about these lizards. We can’t wait to tell you more!

By Caleb - Reptile 🦎 Expert

16/03/2020

These are our African Dwarf Frogs (Hymenochirus boettgeri). We have three of them! They live in an aquarium with our fish in our fireplace room. They are about two years old. Their names are Tiny, Lazy, and Spots. They come from Nigeria and other parts of Africa. We feed them frog food. We love them because they jump! There are a few really cool secrets about these frogs. Stay tuned for more fun facts about them!

By Isaac - Aquatic Expert