More weird animals and animan traits.

I worked in zoos for a number of years, as a general and as a reptile keeper. However, I've been an avid naturalist for most of my life. How about yourself?

If you're asking about employment in zoos, that's another matter. When I first started in zoos it was 1965, and it was easy to get a job without schooling especially in a small zoo. Nowdays it's best to get some education, a bachelor's degree at least. You could still get a job in a small zoo, but your options of moving up to a large zoo in a specialized field--such as reptile keeper--or advancement would be limited and with much competition.

Yes, I can imagine that one would need a good education nowadays., and that it could be quite specialized, depending on the animals in your care.

No, I've got nothing to do with zoos. In fact, I haven't been to one in a very long time.

I was just curious as to the training one had to have.

In a previous post I talked about dung beetles in Africa and Australia; of course they're also in the U.S. Good ranch management means a good population of dung beetles to quickly refertilize the soil. However, if you has a dog or even a cat you can see dung beeltes at work in your backyard. Cats, not so much because they bury their feces. Shortly after the deposit of the said dung, the beetles will arrive, small and black with green irridesence. They take off a small chunk, form it into a ball, roll it of an appropriate spot, and bury it with an egg right in the center. So instead of picking up the dog crap, let it remain and the beetles will fertilize your yard.

The giant swallowtail caterpillar appears as a bird turd and lives on plants of the citrus family. I discovered several on my Zanthoxylem clava-herculis--tickletongue tree or Hercule's club tree. Birds got all of them showing the limited effectiveness of the turd mimicry. Two more have now appeared and are quite large, but, alas, one has disappeared.
http://www.butterflygardeningandconservation.com/butterfly/st/giant.php

This is another form of the robber fly family-Asilidae- called the "hanging thief," Diogmites sp. We saw one that had captured a honey bee and, suspended by one leg, proceeded to eat it.


More common form of robber fly.