One of the fun parts of my job is when we get new program animals. This week it is a bit more exciting than when we get a new turtle (minus when we got Bernice). This week we acquired two young Opossum; Millie and Sophia! They are about 3 months old and were hand-raised by a woman whose neighbor found the mother dead with the young little (the size of a thumb) ones climbing all over the road. Not everyone can or should have a possum, but we are lucky that we can and should. They eat just about the same things as our mammals (they are omniverous, which makes their diet quite various) and they don't take up much space.
The Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana) is the only North Amercian marsupial (animals with pouches), which in itself makes them interesting. They also have more teeth than most other animals- 50- and they are all pretty pointy. They have a prehensile tail that they use for stabilization, but they don't hang from it; that is one of those possum myths. So is playing possum. They don't play dead on purpose. They have a weak nervous system that kind of shuts down when they are frightened, so they faint.
Mille and Sophia will see lots of kids hopefully over the years. Opossum aren't all that long-lived; 2 to 4 years, but we will take good care of them while they are here. Thanks to their donor! If anyone wants to contribute to their care, please let our Curator, Val Heywood, know: heywoodv@stny.rr.com
A few months ago one of our Board members brought up an animal that had been killed in the road by Tanglewood. She had it in a ziplock bag and I got to get a really good look at it. It was an American Mink (Mustela vision), the cute little guy to the left (photo from www.nyfalls.com). They are native and widespread in New York State, although most people probably haven't seen one except maybe on Grandma's old fur coat. Mink were the first animals trapped and sold for their fur in the United States. Thank goodness furs are not acceptable for the most part anymore. I was really surprised at the weight of the mink in the bag. He was pretty big, solid and quite beautiful. Minks can reach up to 24 inches and 4.5 pounds. They are carniverous relatives of weasels, living in/near watery habitats and eating prey such as fish, crayfish, waterfowl and muskrat (a.k.a. swamp bunny). Because of their dietary needs, they are consequently good swimmers; they can dive up to 20 feet and swim underwater up to 100 feet without coming up for breath. Mink can be ferocious creatures and if they are frightened, they give off a really stinky musk. Hopefully my next mink encounter will not be with a coat or in a bag, I'd prefer the natural habitat, please.
I have tried to be pretty upbeat in my blog (minus the blogs on global warming, or is it global climate change? That's more PC these days), but today I feel a bit distressed. Distressed about money, or the lack of it. It's part of the "business" of not-for-profits, maybe of all businesses, but I think small not-for-profits struggle more than others. We go along for awhile, doing well, feeling momentum, then we hit a dry spell. Where donations are down, fundraising efforts fall short, and we just don't have what we need to make it from week to week. As the Director of a not-for-profit, that's a lot of pressure. I am partially responsible for raising the money to pay my own paycheck as well as 5 other employees. I write grants; of which statistically about 6% of requests are funded. I ask the County for money- hello Mr. Santulli?? I work on fundraising events, programming, talking to prospective corporate members and more, yet somehow, since we are pretty much on our own (we don't get any Federal or State funds) and we don't sell thneeds, which everyone ,everyone, everyone needs (The Lorax- Sr. Seuss), we don't always make it.
We educated over 14,000 children last year. We made our building available with a plethora of unusual and wonderful live animals, and our 9 miles of hiking trails, free (but with donations encouraged) for the public to enjoy. People really are starting to see the value of having a place like Tanglewood for their quality of life, because we are seeing more of them up here, but not everyone supports us like I believe they should and we are struggling at the moment. Distressing.
My husband came home from Sam's Club with a surprise for me. No, it wasn't a 4 gallon tub of ice cream or 7 pounds of broccoli, it was the 7-CD set of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom: The Definitive 50 Episode Collection! I am so excited!! I remember Sunday nights when I was growing up was Wild Kingdom night. Marlin Perkins was just as much a part of my childhood as the Brady Bunch was. I think Wild Kingdom definitely contributed to my love of nature and animals and made me want to get outside and discover more. And shows like The Crocodile Hunter and The Kratt Brothers (does anyone remember them from PBS?) reaffirmed my love and want to discover.
Lately though, I haven't used TV to get me to want to get out more. One because I don't watch as much TV now, and two, some of the new shows having to do with nature are, well, interesting, no doubt, but kind of far-fetched and sometimes go a bit overboard. Imagine THAT these days with television!
One show recently stopped our channel flipping in one of our rare sitting-down-watching-tv moments. The guy was hiking through Australia in the desert region with only a canteen and some flint. He was thirsty. Really thirsty. He hadn't been near any source of water in quite awhile and it hadn't rained. So, in desperation, he turned his back on the camera, took out his canteen and...yep, you guessed it- he urinated in his canteen and then DRANK IT! Oh my gosh. Anything he said after that was hard to focus on because he kept taking sips out of that canteen... And all I could think was, why didn't the cameraman that was following him give him a sip out of HIS canteen? That's a little bit TOO wild for me. Give me a hiking trail and a Nalgene bottle and I am good to go. No pun intended.
I am the Director of Tanglewood Nature Center in Elmira, NY, I love my job the fabulous view out my office window and the people I work with. I have a great family- my firefighter husband, 3 kids, 2 stepkids, a pound puppy and 2 lizards. I am not a huge fan of cell phones and IMing. I think both are ruining our relationships with other people and our social skills. Kids don't need cell phones- not debatable with me so don't try.
