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In-Person Natural History Programs

Bear Necessities

Age range: Grade K-1

Discover the different types of bears that live in our backyard! Compare and contrast their characteristics. Students will then investigate their eating habits.

Length: 60mins

Benefits to being a Community Keeper

All donations come with a receipt for income tax purposes
You will receive an invitation for you and a guest to join us for our annual Evening with the Vet, for Community Keepers only!
With donations of $25 or more, or with a monthly recurring donation, you will receive a personalized digital certificate
With donations of $100 or more, or with a monthly recurring donation, your name or business logo will be displayed on our website for one year
Invitation to our Members & Sponsors Christmas Party
Invitations to other special events throughout the year

Ball Python

Juju joined our Ambassador team during our closure. Ball pythons are shy by nature, but with some time and effort, they learn to trust their caregivers. She is still a bit hesitant but is slowly starting to feel more comfortable around people. In the wild, you can find ball pythons throughout the grasslands and open forests of West and Central Africa. As the most popular snake species kept as a pet worldwide, most people have had the pleasure of seeing one of these beautiful animals at some point in their lives. Unfortunately, due to their extreme popularity as pets, one of the greatest threats to this species in terms of conservation is the over-collection of wild populations for distribution in the pet trade. While captive breeding has seen an increase in recent years, most of those sold in the pet trade are still wild-caught, simply because the cost is much lower than that of breeding and raising captive specimens. For this reason, tens of thousands of these animals are collected from the wild and exported from Africa for the pet trade every year. The ball python is one of the smallest species in their genus, reaching maximum lengths of 3-5 feet, with females being larger than their male counterparts. In the wild, these snakes are estimated to live roughly ten years, while in captivity, a lifespan of about 20-30 years is typical. There have been many documented cases of captive individuals living 40-60 years, including one 62-year-old female who mysteriously produced a fertile clutch of eggs despite being housed alone at the Saint Louis Zoo for more than 20 years.

BECOME A COMMUNITY KEEPER

VIDEO

Black-Billed Magpie

Anyone who’s been to the museum in person since 2015 will likely recognize this cheeky bird. Loki has formed unique relationships with many guests and staff alike over the years and definitely isn’t shy about picking favourites. The stimulation of observing and interacting with guests of all ages is something that he certainly enjoys.

Did you know that magpies, a member of the corvid family, are some of the most intelligent birds on the planet? In fact, corvids are some of the most intelligent animals known to exist, with a brain-to-body mass outmatched only by humans, great apes, and aquatic mammals such as dolphins. Magpies have shown the ability to imitate human speech in numerous languages and voices, are capable of tool use, and possess problem-solving ability on par with that of a small human child.

Loki was rescued from a dog attack as a hatchling when he and his siblings fell from their nest. Unfortunately, he was the lone survivor of his brood. Because he is very imprinted on humans, thus not eligible for release into the wild, Loki was brought to live in the museum and was integrated into the Biome as an Animal Ambassador. He has been one of our most interactive and popular Ambassadors ever since. Loki is very intelligent, able to mimic human speech, and performs many different little tricks and games.