Zookeeper Appreciation Week: Hanging with the Sloths and the Black & White Ruffed Lemur

We are pleased to introduce Wildwood Wildlife Park's newest zookeeper Marisa Levin. She may be new to the park but it didn't take her long to select her favorite animal for National Zookeeper Week: the sloths. Sloths spend a lot of their time sleeping so it is only natural that Marisa would demonstrate how relaxing and comfortable a sloth's favorite sleeping spot is! 

Sloths are tropical mammals that live in Central and South America. A sloths long arms allow them to spend most of their time hanging upside-down from trees. They use their huge hooked claws to hang onto branches while munching on leaves that other animals can't reach. As you can imagine, a sloth's long claws make walking on the ground difficult, which dictates that they spend their lives in the tree tops of the tropical rain forests. It may surprise you to learn that sloths are excellent swimmers! From time to time they will drop down into the water from their treetop perches. 

It can take up to one month for a sloth to digest one meal. The sloth's diets consist of tough leaves that are difficult to digest. Their leafy diet isn't very nutritious and do not get much energy from it. This may be why sloths are so slow!

Sloths both mate and give birth to their young in trees. Courting starts when a female yells a mating scream letting the males in the area know that she's ready to mate. Males will fight for her by hanging from branches by their feet and pawing at each other. After 5-6 months females will give birth to a single baby. Babies cling to their mother's belly for several weeks after birth, and will remain by their mother's side for up to four years. These drowsy tree-dwellers can sleep up to 20-hours a day and when they are awake they barely move at all!

While four of the sloth species range over large portions of norther South America and are common in protected areas, two species of the three-toed sloths, the maned three-toed sloth and the pygmy three-toed sloth are listed as endangered species on the IUCN Red List.

Wildwood Wildlife Park's zookeeper Brooke Rose is showing off her balancing skills as she recreates the amazing climbing ability of Wildwood's male Black and White Ruffed Lemur, Bobby. Brooke has been here at Wildwood for 6 years! 

Populations of wild ruffed lemurs are critically endangered in Madagascar, which is the only place lemurs are found in. This species is endangered primarily due to the loss of habitat as the forests are cleared for logging and farming. The name “lemur” means “ghost “ in Latin. The first people to hear their loud calls thought they were ghosts in the forest. Lemurs have a wide range of vocalizations.

Black and white ruffed lemurs live in social groups made up of many males and many females, who are in charge. They live primarily in trees are are excellent climbers and jumpers. 

Ruffed lemurs are frugivores, eating mainly fruit, but also eat edible plants and flowers. The black and white ruffed lemur is one of only two types of lemurs to build nests for their young. Females typically have 2 babies, though they can have as many as six. Unlike other lemurs, the babies stay in the nest while the mother looks for food and if the mother needs to move them, she carries them in her mouth. Other lemur species continually carry their young on their backs. 

Continuing Education and Conservation: Wildwood Wildlife Park Lemur Exhibit

The zoo may be closed for the season but that doesn’t mean that we’ve been hibernating waiting for spring. If you’ve driven by the zoo lately you know that nothing could be farther from the truth! We can’t wait for spring to show off the new and exciting changes at Wildwood Wildlife Park.

We’ve got that reputation among our zoo members and visitors that there is always something New at the Zoo. Today we take you on a behind the scenes look at the new lemur house.

Did you know all species of lemurs are native to Madagascar?

Wildwood Wildlife Park is fortunate to house four different species: the Ring-Tailed Lemur, the Brown Lemur, the Red Ruffed Lemur and the Black and White Lemur.

The Red Ruffed and the Black and White are two species of ruffed lemurs named for the “ruff” of long hair that runs from the ears along the cheeks to beneath their chin. Ruffed lemurs are the largest of the lemurs - about the size of a large house cat. 

The name “lemur” comes from the Latin word for “ghost.” Lemurs communicate with each other using a complex system of at least 12 different vocalizations. These vocalizations can be low grunts, gurgling sounds or a cackle like roar. It’s no wonder that the first people to hear the loud calls of a lemur thought they were ghosts in the forest!

Can you guess the favorite food of the lemur? If you guess fruit - you’re right! But they also eat other food including leaves, flowers, buds and fungi. When the lemurs aren’t foraging for their food in the treetops you’ll find them dangling from their arms or legs to get to a hard-to-reach treat if they can’t get it from a standing position.

When a female lemur is ready to give birth she begins making a nest - in the wild the nest can be high up in a tree usually 60 to 80 feet from the ground. Would you be surprised to know that baby ruffed lemurs don’t cling to their mothers: the mom thinks it is time to move her baby, she carries him or her in her mouth.

Lemurs are critically endangered. The main reason is the loss of their rain forest habitat. Madagascar’s forests have been reduced by as much as 85% due to extensive logging for cooking fuel, building materials and what is called slash-and-burn farming.

Wildwood Wildlife Park is dedicated to help save these beautiful, inquisitive and vocal animals. We look forward to your visiting the new lemur exhibit.

Helping Our Animal Friends Beat the Heat

One of my favorite "ism's" is the one that says: be careful what you wish for. Somewhere around January 18th when the thermometer was coming perilously close to twenty below, I'll bet I wasn't the only Wisconsinite who was wishing for the heat of summer. Extreme temperatures such as the heat wave we are currently experiencing offer the challenge of keeping our animal residents safe during oppressive heat wave. Like zoos around the world, Wildwood is using a variety of methods to help beat the heat.

The Zookeepers at Wildwood Wildlife Park have been preparing cold treats to help the animals cool down in the hot weather. They offer the perfect cool treat that also provides an enrichment activity.

To help prevent heat illness the animals are given daily treats: the otters are given frozen fish lollies while the lemurs and coatimundi are given ice lollies made from frozen fruit and juice.  Other animals such as the capybara, otters, beavers, and tigers keep cool by swimming in their pools, streams offer other animals a chance to splash in the water. The water helps cool them off and the animals can be seen going in and out of the water quite a few times throughout the day.

All the animals have shady spots around their enclosures including shade cloth tops. The zoo incorporates fans, spray misters and sprinklers to help the animals keep cool in extreme weather conditions as well as providing a shady place to rest.

Many of the zoo animals are enjoying the heat wave including the lemurs who can be seen sitting up on their hind legs, with their arms splayed out. Our giant tortoise has been hanging out in the paddock, soaking up the sun and munching on the grass but the Zoo Keepers still have taken measures to keep them comfortable and keep a close watch on all the animals.