Some of the small animals on display in the Raptor Center at the Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo have been moved around and three newcomers added to the exhibit, Curator and Zoo Supervisor Ashley Burdick reports.
“We got a new Green Keel-bellied Lizard that is housed next to the chinchillas,” she said. “These guys are found in Africa and have a long prehensile tail.”
According to the website Josh’s Frogs, the species comes mainly from the coastal forests of Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya.
Another new animal is a Madagascar Ground Gecko. These critters spend the majority of their time in the leaf litter on the forest floor.
As their name implies, these tropical geckos are native to the southern part of the island of Madagascar, located east of Africa in the Indian Ocean, according to Reptiles magazine.
“Lastly, we added an Antilles Pink-toed Tarantula, found on the island of Martinique. This spider is currently the size of a penny, but you can still sometimes catch a glimpse of her in the enclosure.”
Martinique is located in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea, off the coast of South America.
These tarantulas can grow to 4.5-6 inches long. The Dallas World Aquarium notes that the species is also known as the Martinique red-toed tarantula. As spiderlings, their color is a dark bluish-black but will become very colorful as it matures. The metallic green carapace is in contrast to the hairy red abdomen. The black legs are covered with red, brown and purple hairs and, as the name suggests, the toes are rather pinkish in color.
Later, gators
In other zoo news, the interior of the new alligator building is almost finished. Once it is ready, Burdick will call the two alligators up the chute that connects their yard to the building, so that they can spend the winter indoors.
“They will be housed inside for the duration of winter and people will be able to view them through the window on their new building when they are inside.”
No Zoo Boo
Once again, there will NOT be an October Zoo Boo. However, a non-zoo tradition will return as the Great Bend Kiwanis Club is making plans for a downtown Halloween Parade at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 30.
