Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo
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Blog

Wildly Successful: The North American Moose

7/5/2022

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Written by: Jim Knox
Curator of Education at Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo
“Can we pet him, Daddy?” my young daughters asked in near unison at the sight of the giant creature some yards away.

“No girls. We’ll just watch him safely from here,” I responded in a hush so as not to startle the object of our amazement.

Along with a growing caravan of onlookers, we sat quietly a few car lengths behind the huge animal, with the driver’s window cracked open, observing its every move. When the mountain breeze in the notch shifted, we could hear it munching on the undergrowth along the western shoulder of the ascending road.
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We were treated to a sight of the wild north country. We took in the enormous creature before us. It stood on four impossibly long legs, its blackish-brown barrel-shaped body dominating our field on view. With palm-like antlers crowning its head more than seven feet above the ground, we beheld New England’s largest land mammal.

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Wildly Successful: The Arctic Ground Squirrel

1/31/2022

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Written by: Jim Knox
Curator of Education at Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo

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The frigid blast hit me the instant I stepped outside. While two degrees Fahrenheit was not surprising for a January morning in New England, it was bracing. Before I eased into the comfort of my warming car, I gazed around me, sweeping from north, to east, and then south. I thought of the Whitetail deer and the Red-shouldered hawks in the forest and wetland surrounding me and how they would need to eat to generate vital body heat to survive the freezing day ahead and even colder night to follow. I then thought of the countless woodland denizens who would sleep off the coldest and harshest months of the year, safe, secure, and warm…or at least relatively warm…beneath the frost line of the rock-hard ground. One among these creatures, a cousin from the far north, immediately came to mind.

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Wildly Successful: The Tapanuli Orangutan

9/28/2021

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Written by: Jim Knox
Curator of Education at Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo
“Hey, what do you think about the new orangutan?” my friend asked.
Knowing his sense of humor, I cocked my head and smiled, waiting for the punchline.
“Go ahead…” I encouraged him to finish the joke.
The roar of the crowd under the Friday night lights pulled us from our conversation to focus on the game.
“Seriously. What do you think?” he asked earnestly, after the next set of downs.
“I haven’t heard,” I responded in surprise.
Now it was his time to smile.
“You’re not kidding…” he replied.
“Nope. Tell me. I haven’t read anything about it,” reflecting on an especially busy week gone in a flash.
It was the fall of 2017. Our boys were good friends and teammates, so our friendship had grown as well, our conversations ongoing, wide-ranging, and always fun.
Now confident neither was pulling each other’s leg, he began. I listened and learned of an amazing discovery.

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Member Spotlight: Charlotte D., Age 8

3/25/2021

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​We're very grateful to the many people who make up our Zoo community. Beyond our animals and staff, the Zoo family comprises volunteers, students who engage with us in Conservation Discovery Corps and Explorers, members, and many more who make the Zoo the vibrant place that it is.

We want to share some "Friends of the Zoo.” Today, meet Charlotte D., 8, of Westport. Charlotte and her family have been members of the Zoo since 2018. 

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Secrets of a New England Spring: Vernal Pools

3/18/2021

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While many of us are looking up and out, watching for trees and flowers to burst into bloom, Zoo Director Gregg Dancho is looking down. His gaze is on the here today-gone tomorrow vernal pools.
​Also known as ephemeral pools, vernal pools appear in woodlands for a brief period each spring. Formed during the fall and winter by snow and rain pooling in shallow depressions, by summer they’re gone. While they’re here in spring, however, they offer a critical nursery for many species: tree peepers, wood frogs, and fairy shrimp, among others.
 
When the weather is about fifty degrees at night and a light rain is falling, the spring migration begins. It’s a march of amphibians, from uplands to lowlands. A steady procession starts with spotted salamanders when ice still covers the pools’ surfaces, but then extends to red back salamanders, wood frogs and others. These are obligate vernal pool species, “obligated” to use a vernal pool for a part of their life cycle. 

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Wildly Successful: The Loggerhead Shrike

2/26/2021

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Written by: Jim Knox
Curator of Education at Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo
Would you believe me if I told you there is a pretty little songbird–an occasional visitor to Connecticut–which preys upon snakes (more than twice its size) and fellow songbirds alike? I know…it sounds like a bad sci-fi movie. As outlandish as it may sound, it’s absolutely true. This animal causes us to rethink everything we thought we knew about wild creatures. Overlooked due its small size, and similar in appearance to a common native species, it is simultaneously baffling and amazing.

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Wildly Successful: The White-tailed Deer

1/29/2021

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Written by: Jim Knox
Curator of Education at Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo
When we think of November wildlife, our thoughts turn to the living icon of Thanksgiving, the Wild Turkey. Yet, the colonists’ first harvest feast celebrated in the new world likely included far more than the large game birds. Historians believe the first feast menu included: sea ducks, geese, clams, mussels, lobster, fruit, berries, squash and a gift of five deer from the Wampanoag Tribe.

 These deer would eventually come to be known as White-tailed Deer, for their signature white tail-flagging, displayed as a warning to other members of the herd when fleeing danger. They were a mainstay of the Native American diet and would enable the very survival of the new world’s European colonists.
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The White-tailed Deer, Odocoileus virginianus, was a welcome sight of sustenance for both the Massachusetts Bay and Virginia colonists. In fact, the deer could be found throughout the Atlantic seaboard and far inland, inhabiting diverse habitats from woodlands to palmetto groves. Like the North American Bison and Passenger Pigeon, it was the deer’s ubiquitous nature that led to its unregulated hunting. Reaching lengths of 7 feet and weights exceeding 200 pounds, the tan colored creature was a large and curious target.

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An Interview with Zoo Vet Tech Jenny Gordon

12/7/2020

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Written By: Lorraine Hillgen-Santa, Guest Writer
Zoo Member and Freshman at Choate Rosemary Hall
My name is Lorraine Hillgen-Santa, I am a freshman at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford. I grew up being involved with Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo, from having my birthday parties there to having the Zoo set up educational programs at my school. Since the age of four, I was extremely interested in becoming a Veterinarian. Education Curator Jim Knox and Zoo Director Gregg Dancho have always seen my love for animals and veterinary care and helped foster it from a very young age. In 2013, Mr. Dancho toured me through the Zoo’s Vet Hospital which showed me realistically what it was like to work with animals.

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Wildly Successful: Thor’s Hero Shrew

7/28/2020

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Written By: Jim Knox
Curator of Education at Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo
When I deliver presentations and the topic of discovery comes around, I invariably ask audiences “How many new species do you think we humans discover each year?”

​It’s a simple question. Yet whether it’s an elementary school, a community library, or a research university, the answers are both surprisingly varied and similar.
Contemplating, the audiences respond cautiously. A timid “25”, a questioning “100”, even a bold “500” fall far short of the mark. Would you believe, on average, 20,000 new species are discovered each year? Please do, because it’s a figure that astounds me as well!

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Wildly Successful: The Atlantic Horseshoe Crab

7/27/2020

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Written By: Jim Knox
Curator of Education at Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo
My happiest memories are family memories. Among them, water seemed to be our family theme, and the beach was our special place. Whether walking the edge of the salt marsh at Sherwood Island, swimming in Cape Cod Bay or wading the tidal creeks on the Cape’s Atlantic side, my wife, kids and I explored together. Frequently accompanied by their cousins, they would engage in a morning or afternoon of scanning, searching, digging, scooping and catching.
Our rules were simple; empty shells, feathers and other natural items could be collected. Living creatures could be caught, briefly observed and gently released. This informal biological survey yielded amazing discoveries. Not a search would go by when the kids wouldn’t find a new variety of feather or shell, a new species of fish or a new sight concealed around the next bend of the salt marsh.

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203-394-6565
​info@beardsleyzoo.org 
1875 Noble Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06610
Open 9am-4pm daily
​Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo is dedicated to acquainting a diverse public to the delicate balance that exists between living things and their environment.

Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo is a 501(c)(3) not for profit owned and operated by the Connecticut Zoological Society.

2019 Kids Out and About #1
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© 2022 Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo
  • Home
  • About
    • Blog
    • Centennial
    • Contact Us
    • Donation Requests
    • Jobs
    • Press
  • Guest Info
    • Accessibility
    • Calendar >
      • Chris Rowlands Live!
      • Sky Hunters
    • COVID Guidelines
    • For Kids >
      • Coloring Pages
      • Zoo Patrol
      • Zoo Tots
    • Our Animals
    • Our Plants
    • Parents
    • Photography Exhibition
    • Zoo Cams >
      • Outdoor Red Panda Cam
      • Indoor Red Panda Cam
      • Outdoor Spider Monkey Cam
      • Indoor Spider Monkey Cam
      • Otter Cam
    • Zoo Etiquette
    • Zoo Map
  • Membership
  • Education
    • Citizen Science >
      • FrogWatch
      • MonarchWatch
    • Conservation >
      • City Nature Challenge
      • Conservation Pledge
    • Distance Learning
    • Educational Resources
    • Evening Lectures
    • Field Trips
    • Just 4 Teens >
      • CDC
      • Explorers
    • Teachers
  • Support
    • Animal Sponsorship
    • Appeal
    • Corporate Support
    • Donate
    • Events >
      • Centennial Gala
    • Gift Guide
    • Monthly Giving
    • Naming Opportunities
    • Wish List
  • Parties, Rentals & Weddings
    • Birthdays
    • Private Events
    • Weddings
    • Rates and Details
    • Preferred Vendors
    • Preferred Wedding Vendors
    • Event Guidelines
  • Volunteer
    • Interns
  • En Espanol
  • Buy Tickets