The American Badger

Ahh yes the American Badger, this animal is synonymous with our very own University of Wisconsin Madison, serving as the university's mascot. For most of us though, that's where the information about this little critter starts and ends.

Obviously Badgers are found in Wisconsin, because it might be a bit weird to have an animal that wasn't a Wisco native on our red and white. The American Badger has been found as far south as the mountain areas of Mexico and as far north as the top of Canada. This little bugger scoots just as far east and west as well. It is generally classified as a Great Plains animal though.

Badgers are solitary animals and seek other badgers for mating. They are primarily nocturnal and don't truly hibernate. They will slow down in the winter but they come out on the warmer days. Badgers will have multiple burrows in their territory and those tunnels can be as far as 10 feet below ground. They'r excellent diggers with claws so sharp that they have been known to cut through black top and two inches of concrete.

Badgers are carnivores. Their diets consist of smaller mammals, ground nesting birds, fish insects and honey combs. Since they are expert tunnel diggers, they typically attack other burrowers, digging at a rapid pace until they have captured their prey. Hence the term "Relentless as a badger". They are also known to store kills for later as well.

Mating for badgers occurs in late autumn but the embryo typically doesn't develop and implant into the mother's uterine wall until December and this can happen as late as February. The True development of the embryo is about six weeks.  Females give birth in early spring and usually have 3 offspring, though they can have up to 5 young when giving birth.

Next time you're at Timbavati Wildlife Park, check out our American Badger!!

New In 2016 The Rare White Emu

G'day mate! 2016 brings a new encounter to Timbavati Wildlife Park, the extremely rare White Emu! We have been researching white emus in the United States and as far as we can see there are only about 20 or so in the entire country, we now have 6.

.Ok, on to the facts! This resident of Australia is the second largest bird in the world. It avoids living in dense forests, areas populated by humans and arid terrains. They have been spotted in deserts but they are much more common near water supplies. Emu are part of the Ratite family which include ostrich, rhea, kiwi, cassowary, and the recently extinct Moa.

Far as I can tell the emu really only has beef with the Dingo. Everything you read about the emu has them seeking to avoid dingos at all costs. With a top sprint speed of up to 30 miles per hour, the ability to stride 9 feet and a 7 foot vertical, the emu is a tough character to corral if you are a predator. Large reptiles like alligators can also be an issue for our feathery friend.

A pair of emu will breed in the summer and a female can lay a clutch of up to 15 eggs at a time. When the female lays her eggs she wanders off and the father tends to the clutch. A female can lay up to 3 clutches in a season and sometime will lay her eggs in another emu's nest and let a surrogate father tend to the clutch.

The male stays with the nest for about 8 weeks, until the clutch hatches. In this period he rarely leaves the nest and as a result of this loses a lot of his fat reserves. The chicks are born "precocial" which means they are pretty well functional at birth taking only a few minutes before they take their first steps. They stay with their father for up to 18 months while he teaches them how to hunt and avoid those pesky dingos.

The emu is a great swimmer and also an omnivore. They eat plants, new grass shoots, insects, lizards and fruit. The average lifespan of an emu is 10 to 20 years in the wild. The emu at birth is less than a foot tall and grows to be about 6 feet tall. weighing up to 120 pounds, this majestic bird is a great addition to the fauna of Timbavati Wildlife Park.

Presidential Pets

We are celebrating President’s Day this week! As many of you may know almost all of our presidents have had house pets.  What you may not know is some of the past White House pets are not your average  “house pets.”  Take a look at some of the past presidential pets the White House has housed. From your common house dog to animals such as lions, tigers and bears! Oh my! 

One of the founding fathers and our first elected president of the United States was indeed a pet owner. Though Mr. George Washington was a resident of Virginia during his entire presidency he did not live in The White House. He was the only president who would not reside there. Though he played a major role in the design of the White House it would not be completed until after his death. Living outside of the White House Mr. George Washington housed pets including horses, 36 hounds, and Polly the parrot. (Which belonged to Mrs. Martha Washington)

John Quincy Adams our 6th president owned an alligator and silkworms!  Wait there’s more! The 26th president Mr. Theodore Roosevelt (like some of the presidents before him) housed dogs and owned horses, but he also had rats, a parrot, bears, a zebra, hyena, a coyote, a lion and a one-legged rooster. His daughter Alice  had a garter snake named Emily Spinach. What a name! What a pet! What a house!

Here’s a quick look at some of the other interesting past first pets of the White House.

Calvin Coolidge owned a Terrier, Airedale, sheepdog, bulldog, shepherd, collies, chows, canaries, cats, raccoons, a donkey, mockingbird, antelope, bear, wallaby, pygmy hippo, some lion cubs thrush, a goose and a bobcat

James Buchanan owned a Newfoundland, an eagle and an elephant.

Benjamin Harrison owned dogs, a goat, and an opossum

Only three of the 44 presidents did not own pets; Mr. Millard Fillmore, Mr. Franklin Pierce, and Mr. Chester Alan Arthur.

If you were president what would your First Pet be?

The Kookaburra, Kingfisher, Cackler

This week we are taking a look at the Kookaburra. This Australian native from the eucalyptus forests is a well known symbol of the continent's birdlife. That's funny because as an american I associate eucalyptus trees with Koala Bears, not Kookaburra. It has also been seen in Tasmania and New Guinea.  Kookaburras occupy woodland and open forests. They live in and nest in the cavities of tree trunks and branches. Kookaburra do not migrate and occupy the same territory all year-round.

Kookaburra can grow to weigh up to a pound with a beak that can be up to 4 inches long. They look to be about the same size as an adult domestic house cat so don't let that light weight fool you, these are really big birds. Matter of fact, the Kookaburra used to be called the "Giant Kingfisher".

The Kookaburra is a carnivore, its diet consists of small vertebrates and invertebrates, the occasional small snake and even other fowl. The Kookaburra are expert divers and attack their prey from the sky in streams and ponds. Kookaburra disable their prey by slamming them into rocks when they have them in their beaks. Natural predators include cats, dogs foxes, and larger predatory bids.

The female will lay one to five eggs. Both parents share incubation duties when it comes to tending the eggs. When the eggs hatch, older siblings also assist with parenting duties. The entire group helps to parent the young.

The most distinguished feature of the Kookaburra is it' laugh. A group of them sound like Gotham City after the Joker has attacked with laughing gas. They make other noises thank the laughing that we are familiar with, but when they laugh, you know it's the Kookabura. Check this video out to hear the laugh and more fun facts and next time you're in Timbavati Wildlife Park hang out by their enclosure, they pipe up quite regularly.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Photograph from forbes.com

Happy Groundhog Day! Groundhogs are most famously known for the American tradition of predicting the end of winter. Each year on February 2 which is Groundhog Day, the Groundhog is brought out to see if it notices its own shadow. If it sees its shadow then it is believed that we will have 6 more weeks of Winter. If February 2 is overcast, the legend says the Groundhog will not see its own shadow and we will have a mild ride for the rest of the Winter.

I took a look at the origin of this tradition and found that it started in Europe as Candlemas Day. This is a derivative of the Pagan observance of Imbolc. Imbolc observes the first changes in the Sun and the first sprouts of buds. The wheel was switching from the position of the Crone to the position of the Maiden, or Winter to Spring.

Early Christians observed this with clergy distributing blessed candles on Candlemas Day to the people in the dark of Winter. A lighted candle was to be placed in the window of each home. The day's weather mattered also because an overcast Candlemas Day meant that the worst part of winter was behind you.

The earliest reference to the Groundhog being a part of Candlemas day came from James Morris' diary in 1841. This credited the Groundhog adaptation to the Germans in Pennsylvania. If the Groundhog saw his shadow then he went back to hibernating, if he stayed awake and moved around then again the worst of winter was over.

The most famous Groundhog in the United States is Punxsutawney Phil. At 7:25 a.m. every February 2nd, Phil is brought out to make his prediction. One thing that most people don't know is a Groundhog is referred to as a Woodchuck because the Native Americans considered all Groundhogs to be descendants of "Wojak the Groundhog".

Enjoy the day! 

Groundhog = Woodchuck = Whistle-Pig = Land-Beaver = Marmota Monax

Photograph Credit NY Times

The Groundhog has more nicknames than former NBA star Shaquille O'Neil. Yet no matter what name you reference it by, it all boils down to the critter pictured above staring you down. The ground is classified as a rodent and is the largest member of the squirrel family. Even though they are typically seen on the ground, they can climb trees and are capable swimmers.

Groundhogs are most famously known for the american tradition of predicting the end of winter. Each year on February 2 which is Groundhog Day, the Groundhog is brought out to see if it sees its own shadow. If it sees its shadow then it is believed that we will have 6 more weeks of winter. If February 2 is overcast, the legend says the Groundhog will not see its own shadow and we will have a mild ride for the rest of the winter.

Groundhogs are fringe animals. They like to hang out where different habitats connect. Like when a forest meets a field. They are native to Central and Eastern North America as well as parts of Canada and Alaska. Groundhogs live in complex burrow systems that they create underground. These burrows are so complex in fact that they have their own dedicated restrooms.

An adult groundhog weighs anywhere from 6-12 pounds and grows to be around two feet long from head to tail. They are herbivores but every so often might snack on an insect or two. You do as well if you don't wash your fruits and vegetables good. A groundhog's unwashed vegetables include apples, dandelions, beans, peas, carrot tops, clovers, flowers, you know all the usual Groundhog stuff.

Groundhogs will eat up to 1/3 of their body weight in a day. And when I say they eat, I mean they eat. They spend their summers stuffing themselves to increase fat reserves. The Groundhog hibernates in the winter so they are bulking up for a deep sleep in the summer. When a groundhog is hibernating their body temperature isn't much warmer than the temperature in their burrow.

Stop by and see our Ground Hogs the next time you're in the Wisconsin Dells!