08/11/2025
The Wild World of Animals visited the community last week, and our residents got up close with many magnificent creatures!
Rosy the Mexican red-knee tarantula does not have enough venom to hurt us. Some tarantulas can go without eating for up to three years.
Bertha the Toad lives on the land and has two big pockets on her back filled with poison that can coat her body. Toads absorb water through the pores in their skin.
Flower the Skunk, who cannot spray, can live up to 20 years in captivity, though only two to three years in the wild. Skunks are nocturnal and will eat anything they can find.
Brutus is a three banded armadillo who can roll himself into a complete ball. From South America, he mainly eats insects and has a sticky tongue.
Larry the legless lizard has blinking eyelids, ears and nostrils. Native to North and South America, he can grow to two feet long and will shed his skin just like a snake.
Bandit is a king snake and will continue to grow his whole life. He is a non-venomous constrictor who smells with his tongue, and a carnivore who will go after other venomous snakes.
Gilligan is a barn owl, which are native to Pennsylvania. True to their name, barn owls mostly make their homes in old barns. They are nocturnal and do most of their hunting at dusk. Gilligan has silent flight feathers so animals can't hear him coming. He also has 37 extra vertebrae’s in his neck that help him turn his head up to 180°.
Choppy the baby alligator is six months old, and could live to be over 100 years old. He will never stop growing and could be anywhere from 12 to 20 feet long and 500 to 1000 pounds. Alligators have short stubby noses, while crocodiles have long noses. Alligators mostly live in fresh water - they love swamps in Florida.
George the sloth loves sweet potato sticks and the sun. He has very poor eyesight and sleeps 22 hours a day. Sloths are very slow and only come down from trees to use the bathroom and to find a new area to stay. They can’t walk, but they can swim very well.
Jules the Capybara is part of the rodent family, originally from South America. Capybaras spent about 60% of time in the water and are very good swimmers. They are very social animals.
Needless to say, we learned so much from this visit and thank everyone for making it such a fun event.