North Georgia Wildlife Park
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Ask a Zookeeper-Where do dolphins live?

3/31/2015

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Question from Cole, age 7: Where does a dolphin live? 

 

Answer: Zookeeper James here! Thanks for your question. There are actually many different kinds of dolphins that all live in different places. 

 

What exactly is or isn't a "dolphin" though is different depending on who you ask, because every living animal has two names--a common name that everybody knows, and a scientific name that usually only scientists know--and so there are disagreements between what an animal is called scientifically and what it should be called commonly. 

 

For example, dolphins are all classified in a group that scientists call "toothed whales," meaning they have teeth, whereas other whales like humpback whales and blue whales instead have special comb-like structures in their mouths called baleens that they use to catch millions of tiny animals like krill and fish. 

 

Most "toothed whales" are either called dolphins or porpoises, however there are a couple of toothed whale groups that are not considered either of those, and one of those groups are the sperm whales. The obvious question is why sperm whales are not considered dolphins or porpoises when they are more closely related to them than baleen whales ("actual" whales) like humpbacks and blue whales. The simple answer is that they look different, so they're called something different. It's important to not get too tied up over what something is called though, because what's more important is what something is. 

 

That being said, dolphins as in what most people think of (the bottlenose dolphin and its closest relatives) live all around the world. Most live in the ocean, but some, such as the Amazon river dolphin, live in fresh water. 

 

Thanks for your question Cole! Dolphins, porpoises, and whales are actually some of my favorite animals, and I'm guessing they're yours too!

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Ask a Zookeeper- Sacrificing Babies

3/17/2015

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Question: My daughter Rachel recently came home and told us that she was told an interesting fact about kangaroos. She explained that when kangaroos are threatened by a predator they actually throw their babies out of their pouches and if necessary throw it at the predator in order for the adult to survive. Is this true?

Answer: Zookeeper Rick here, thanks for your question! It is an excellent one. It may sound strange and counter-intuitive, but it is indeed true. The method behind the madness is likely that if a mother kangaroo gets killed and eaten it can no longer reproduce, so in a sense the mother is sacrificing one baby so that many more can live.

That is actually not the only reason a mother kangaroo will sacrifice its baby, though. When a mother kangaroo has multiple different babies in various stages of development (for example one still in the fetal stage, one in the pouch, and one being weaned from the pouch), during harsh periods when resources are low a busy mom may not be able to support all three babies, and so may sacrifice one to boost the others' chances of survival.

As humans this behavior may sound appalling to us, but we rely on much more than rudimentary instincts to survive. Sacrificing babies for one reason or another is actually relatively common throughout the animal kingdom, for example some spiders such as black widows will eat their offspring as they hatch, and some monkeys will drop their offspring from trees if they are deemed unfit to cope with their group's social structure. In this sin-infected world where death threatens every living creature every day, God gave humans much more than just instincts to preserve ourselves and our kin. He gave us his own breath (Genesis 2:7) and created us in his image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27) so that we are all God's children and equally have a purpose to exist regardless of the circumstance. We are not expendable kangaroo joeys or one-in-a-million spider hatchlings, we are indispensable, one-in-one unique and loved human beings.


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Get to know our Staff-Tyler Hale

3/13/2015

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Come visit Tyler and all of our staff here at North Georgia Zoo!


Get to know our Livestock Manager Tyler Hale!

 Tyler Graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelors
of Science in Forest Resources while majoring in wildlife management, with a pre-veterinary
medicine emphasis. He loves to cuddle with pigs and train cattle!

Tyler tends to "favor animals with elongated snouts." This includes pigs,
javelinas, anteaters, and aardvarks.

What creeps you out? "Chimpanzees, because they resemble humans too much for
my liking. Also, scary movies with small children, as the monster. Now that is creepy."


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    Zoo Keepers at North Georgia Zoo & Farm

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2912 Paradise Valley Rd
​Cleveland, GA 30528
(706)348-7279
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