Holly raking leavesBack to work with a computer that is finally fixed and free of viruses.
Lily Fans captured some interesting video of Holly judiciously raking leaves and leaving sticks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrcEl9zfz-w&feature=youtu.be. As she rearranged the leaves in her den, she paused each time she got near a pile of sticks. Each time, she looked thoughtfully at the sticks and took the proper action to rake the leaves from around them, under them, or behind them without raking the sticks. She pushed the sticks away with her nose or paw and carefully raked only the leaves. She knew what she wanted in her bed. This reminds us of Lily bringing conifer boughs into her den and chewing them up into bedding-size pieces. Does Holly have enough leaves that she doesn’t have to do that? Are these sticks too big for easy chewing? Whatever, it was interesting to watch the decision-making process over and over with the sticks today.
Holly looking at sticksMuch of today was a meeting about the big habitat exhibit that will cover an end of the Northwoods Ecology Hall and hold much of the taxidermy you (Lily Fans) donated. The expert team creating the habitat exhibit (Lily Fans) laid out in more detail what it will be. They will work on it full time in January. The habitat will show a progression from left to right of seasons and forest maturity. The left end will be spring and show a young forest regenerating after a fire. Moving right, it will show increasingly mature forest through the summer, fall, and winter sections. A mural behind the exhibit will reflect that progression. It’s more than we could have hoped, but that’s what comes from working with top creators who travel North America making habitats for stores and museums. We’re lucky they live in Ely and are available at the time we need them. So many things work out this way—more often than not due to the dedication of Lily Fans. In this case, much of the taxidermy was donated by Lily Fans, and other Lily Fans are putting together information about those animals.
On another subject, the technology team checked further into setting up a streaming Live Cam to show local wildlife. Bandwidth is a problem, and we’ll have to wait a year or so until Fiber Optic Cable can solve that problem. Fiber Optic Cable will also solve our bandwidth problems for distance learning using the broadcast room. The delay is minor in the larger scheme of things as we build for the future, being ready for technology that is catching up fast. By the time we open the Northwoods Ecology Hall and upgrade the Bear Center a bit, technology will make it possible to develop the Distance Learning Broadcast Room. We have been fortunate in getting good advice on being ready to use coming technology to expand our educational outreach. We are thankful for the talent and expertise being provided by the technicians and Lily Fans we are working with.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers , Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center