Yay! Finally a day where both the sun and my day off happen at the same time!  It sure is hard to get anything accomplished on a rainy, and windy day; other than sleeping!  It has been very nice to be able to grab my camera and walk around the center without getting blown away.  I first took some snapshots of our lynx.  They turned this dog house into a kitty house I guess you could say.  They are always lounging around in here.

                                  Kaltag is the one that is inside the house while Venetie is on the top.

 If you look very closely you can see a notch in Kaltag's right ear. 

 This was done as they were kittens at the anchorage zoo in order to be able to identify them.  In case treatment ever needs to be given to one of them; it will be easy to identify between the two sisters.






Venetie is lounging on top of the house.  Kaltag seems to like the inside of the house more than Venetie.  It is interesting how much these lynx act like any other normal house cat...they are just a bit more dangerous.                                                                                                                                          

Adonis has been venturing around in his enclosure.  Jonathan, the other winter intern, has changed his branches up a bit since we had some strong winds this winter.  We also like to change up all the enclosures so the animals can have a change in scenery as well.






As I was taking pictures Adonis was moving around and I happened to get this photo of his wing.  It is amazing just how big their wings can be!  They don't look very big when they are tucked in.  Male Bald Eagles, like Adonis, can have a wingspan of about 72-85 inches.  Female bald eagles can have a wingspan of 79-90 inches! 

I wanted to collect some feathers from Hooty and Snappy; our Great Horned Owls.  I am helping a professor from the University of Anchorage in an ecological study on diets of captive animals.  By getting hair and food samples from our animals at the center they can tell how an animals diet changes seasonally.  Along with our owl feathers I have also collected some porcupine quills and Wood Bison hair so far. 

I would also like to collect lynx hair eventually.  Kat, our gift store assistant manager, came up the idea of placing a brush on the entrance of their house so when they walk in and out the hair will collect on the brush.  I will keep you posted on whether or not this invention actually works.

 As I came back around the corner I quickly ran over to our cubs...or now I guess I should say younger bears.  Taquka and Shaggy have been venturing out more and more as the sun comes out.  They were very sluggishly playing around.  They even came to check on me at the fence. 

 Of course, Taquka is still the more curious of the two.










Taquka then started tugging on shaggy's ear to play with her.  I know it looks like it is very painful....but trust me shaggy didn't even flinch.

                                             Then shaggy gave her piece of mind to Taquka

But seeing as they are still sort of hibernating they get tired fairly quickly after they started rolling around. 











Well the sun is still peeking around the mountains for a few more hours or so...better go take some more snapshots while I can...
Goodnight Lower 48,
ErIn