News From The Mews

When I started studying cat behavior last year, I did not expect it to have an impact on my work with the Museum's raptors. What could solving litter box problems have to do with wild birds? On the surface, they are very different. But by digging deeper I have gained a new lens to view our raptor care and training. For one example, I've already written about applying pattern games (commonly used with dogs and cats) with Otto the Great Horned Owl.  Cat behavior has also given me the idea of enrichment to mull over. I have had the opportunity to observe many client meetings with a Certified Cat Behavior Consultant and there is one thing that stands out across these sessions. In every case - whether the cat is peeing on the carpet, fighting with other cats in the home, scratching the couch, or waking them up at 3am - part of the solution is enrichment. Each client is prescribed the task of scheduling daily play sessions and providing one new thing for their cat to explore each d...

Have you ever wondered why birds are usually photographed from the side? From the side, a hawk looks majestic. But when I catch a look from Carson head-on, I have to chuckle. Her noble appearance instantly turns a little silly. The camera's angle can make all the difference!

My Halloween started with a midwest blizzard and ended with a desert mountain sunset. I had arrived in Phoenix for the Pet Professional Guild conference and had strategically planned my flight a day early so I would have time for some sightseeing. It was my first time in the southwest and I could hardly wait to explore the desert.  Saguaro National Park Everything was strange to me as I wandered the trails at Saguaro National Park. The wind whistled through the spines of massive saguaro cacti. Leafless ocotillo stalks sported intimidating thorns. The palo verde's green branches seemed to glow against the brilliantly blue sky. Prickly pear cacti emerged out of the gravelly ground. It felt like another planet.  Then I spotted a familiar face. A kestrel sat on a power line, bobbing his tail. Just like Aldo! In a place that felt so foreign, it was nice to see someone that reminded me that I wasn't so far from home after all.  American Kestrel perched on a cactus (stock photo)...

Enrichment is all about providing outlets for an animal's natural behaviors. If a Red-tailed Hawk caught a sparrow, they would likely spend time plucking its feathers before eating it. So this week when I had an extra quail wing for Carson the hawk, I wondered how I could make this a plucking activity rather than a swallow-in-one-gulp activity. I pulled out a toilet paper tube from our handy stash. I cut a hole in the side and squeezed half of the wing through. For a little extra interest, I snipped each end of the tube for a starburst effect. When Carson finally pounced on her new toy, she spent several minutes tearing at the treat. Sometimes it takes a little creativity to come up with something new for the birds to do!

My 7th anniversary of working at the Museum flew by in the heat of the summer. That's 7 years of weekly News From The Mews posts, adding up to over 370 articles! I'm amazed that I haven't run out of ideas yet. But I think it's about time I asked for help. What do YOU want to know about our live collections at the Museum? What would you like to see covered in future News From The Mews? Send me an email at haley@cablemuseum.org and let me know!

Just like we provide daily enrichment for our raptors at the Museum, the snakes get enrichment, too! Digger the Western Hognose Snake searches for her mouse partially hidden in a muffin tin. To make her search more challenging, mouse scent was placed in several of the muffin cups! Will she find her mouse?

On Sunday, I found Emory in this odd position with part of her body draped over her rock hide. I had a theory as to why. The clues were as follows: The rat snake ate a tasty mouse the day before. A snake's stomach is about one-third of the way down their body. This rock was the warmest place in her habitat, directly under the heat lamp.  If her full stomach was placed in the warmest spot, she must have been working on digestion! There's even a technical term for this behavior: post-prandial thermophilic response .  For the word nerds out there... Post = after Prandial = relating to a meal Thermo = heat Philic = loving Post-prandial thermophilic response = after-meal heat-loving! Basically, snakes seek out a warm spot after eating to help with digestion. Reptiles can't produce their own body heat so they rely on the environment to get the perfect temperature. The warmer they are, the faster their meal is processed. Higher temperatures may also mean more efficient uptake of n...