EXHIBITS | ANIMALS
From snakes to parakeets... be sure to visit our animal exhibits for lots of fun! All of the animals at the Science Center were either donated to us or were rescued on Exotic Animal Amnesty Day, and we are so happy that the Science Center gets to be their forever home. All of our animals offer a great opportunity to teach guests about various species, how to safely interact with animals, and bring joy to the hearts of all who visit our center. Interested in sponsoring an animal? Click here!
Birds
Cici
the Blue and Gold Macaw
Cici is a Blue and Gold Macaw. Blue and Golds are native to South America. These gorgeous birds can live to be 80 years old. She is named after Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin — a British-American astronomer and astrophysicist whose doctoral thesis discussed the composition and physical makeup of stars.
Ivan the Timneh African Grey Parrot
Ivan is a Timneh African Grey Parrot, the smaller of the two sub-species of African Greys. They are native to equatorial Africa. He is named after Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, Russian physiologist and Nobel Prize winner. He is most famous for his groundbreaking research on the conditioned reflex as discovered with “Pavlov’s dogs.”
Florey, Fenner, Finkle, Fleming, & Friedrich the Budgerigars
Florey and Fenner are Budgerigars, a.k.a Budgies or Parakeets. Budgies are the only Australian species of their genus. They are named after Howard Florey, Frank Fenner, Alan Simon Finkle, Alexander Fleming, and Freidrich Wilhelm Adam Sertürner. Florey (1898-1968) was an Australian pharmacologist and pathologist who aided in the development of Penicillin. Fenner (1914-2010) was an Australian virologist who helped eradicate smallpox. Alan (1953-present) is an Australian neuroscientist, inventor, researcher, and entrepreneur, educator, policy advisor, & philanthropist. He was Australia’s Chief Scientist from 2016-2020. Alexander (1881-1955) was a Scottish physician & microbiologist, best known for discovering the world’s first broadly effective antibiotic substance, named penicillin. Freidrich (1783-1841) was a German pharmacist & a pioneer of alkaloid chemistry. He is best known for his discovery of morphine, which he isolated from opium in 1804.
Simon the Nanday Conure
Simon is a Nanday Conure, also known as the black-hooded parakeet, native to South America. Its most distinguishing characteristic, for which it is named, is its black facial mask and beak. A conure has a few distinct sounds that are very loud; their call can be carried for miles. Simon is named after Simon Boyes, a British ornithologist and tour guide, with over 30 years experience of leading groups to watch wildlife and identify birds on every continent.
Adenine &Thymine the Budgerigars
Adenine and Thymine are Budgerigars. Parakeets love to sing and talk, and will provide you with endless entertainment. They can even learn to do tricks and count, too! The word "parakeet" means long tail, and they are also called budgerigars. They are named after two of the five nucleobases - adenine (A) and cytosine (C)- are called primary or canonical along with guanine (G), thymine (T) , and uracil (U). Nucleobases are nitrogen-containing biological compounds that form nucleosides, which, in turn, are components of nucleotides, with all of these monomers constituting the basic building blocks of nucleic acids.
Leah the Blue and Gold Macaw
Leah is a blue and gold macaw. A macaw’s unique appearance is akin to a human fingerprint. Ranging in color from the brightest red through to turquoise, yellow and bright indigo, these birds are a sight to be seen. What’s amazing is that each bird’s coloring is distinct to where they live and their vibrant colors actually blend quite well with the Amazon’s rainbow-colored plants and foliage. She is named for Leah Crane, a physics and space reporter for New Scientist, who covers topics ranging from private space flight and cosmology to quantum mechanics. Her work has also been published in the Smithsonian magazine.
Rosemary the Blue and Gold Macaw
Rosemary is a blue and gold macaw. Macaws are able to reach speeds of up to 35 miles per hour (56 kph) and can fly up to 15 miles (24 kph) a day. Macaws are monogamous and often fly in large flocks with bonded pairs flying close together. There are more than 350 types of parrots, and macaws are the largest of them all. Weighing up to four-ish pounds with lengths of more than three feet, macaws are extremely sizable for birds. Rosemary is named for Rosemary Trout, program director and associate clinical professor of Culinary Arts & Food Science at Drexel University. Trout teaches laboratory exercises for food science, food microbiology, food composition, and sensory analysis courses.
Simona the Umbrella Cockatoo
Simona is an umbrella cockatoo.These cockatoos are named for their crest of feathers which fans out like an umbrella when open. One of the umbrella cockatoo’s primary methods of communication is by using its crest. As mentioned, a raised crest can indicate several different emotions. If you approach a cockatoo with a raised crest, this is a sign to be careful since it may be scared, upset, or feel like it needs to defend its territory. They are also the loudest of parrots and can live up to 80 years. She is named for Simona Kossak (1943-2007), a Polish scientist, ecologist, and the author of award-winning films–as well as an activist who fought to protect Europe’s oldest forest.
Sabrina the Yellow-headed Amazon
Sabrina is a yellow-headed amazon, an endangered Amazon parrot of Mexico and northern Central America. They prefer to live in mangrove forests or forests near rivers or other bodies of water. It is a popular pet and an excellent talker...be sure to stop by Sabrina's cage to listen to some of her favorite phrases; she is bilingual, and speaks phrases in Spanish and English. Sabrina is named after Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski (1993- ), a Cuban-American theoretical physicist from Chicago who studies high energy physics. Her early work resulted in discovery of the spin memory effect which may be used to detect or verify the net effects of gravitational waves. At age 27, she founded the Celestial Holography Initiative.
Mammals
Sam & Dean the Degus
Pierre the Sugar Glider
Pierre is a Sugar Glider. These marsupials are named for their preference for sugary foods and their ability to glide through the air. They are nocturnal animals that typically live in groups. Pierre is named after Marie Curie's husband, Pierre Curie, both known for their pioneering work in the study of radioactivity and their discovery of the elements radium and polonium.
Sam and Dean are our other degus. They are diurnal, which means they are awake during the day and sleep at night, just like us. They are also highly social animals. Sam is named after the IBM AI bot, Sam (left), a custom data platform aimed at reducing ocean pollution. Dean is named after Dean Kamen (right), founder of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a nationwide robotics program for ages 4-18.
Molly the Sugar Glider
Molly is a sugar glider. Sugar gliders can produce four types of sounds under normal circumstances: barking, hissing, crabbing, and hissing or purring. These sounds can represent many things, just like a human cry, shout, or squeak is used to signify various situations. Molly is named after Molly Schauffler, Assistant Research Professor at the School of Earth and Climate Sciences Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine. She conducts education research in overlapping areas of environmental science and mathematics education.
Ella the African Pygmy Hedgehog
Ella is a hedgehog. They have spines, also called quills, that cover their back and sides. If they are scared or feel threatened they will raise those spines to look larger and tuck their head and feet to roll up in a ball. Ella is named after Ruth Ella Moore (1903-1994). Ruth was a bacteriologist and microbiologist, who in 1933, became the first African-American woman to be awarded a Ph.D. in a natural science.
James the Guinea Pig
James is a guinea pig. They communicate using several noises, including the well-known ‘wheek-wheek’ call – a sign of excitement or to find a friend – and a low ‘purring’ sound, which they make when they are feeling content and chilled out. James is named for James Edward Maceo West (1931-). He is an American inventor and acoustician. He holds over 250 foreign and U.S. patents for the production and design of microphones and techniques for creating polymer foil electrets. Nearly 90 percent of the microphones produced annually are based on the principles of the foil-electret and are used in everyday items such as telephones, camcorders, hearing aids, baby monitors, and audio recording devices among others.
Caroline the Sugar Glider
Caroline is a sugar glider. Even though they are fur covered, their ears are hairless. Their ears move independent of each other in constant motion picking up sounds. Their tail is used for stability and balance and direction of flight when gliding. She is named after Caroline Herschel (1750-1848), a British astronomer whose most significant contributions to astronomy were the discoveries of several comets, including the periodic comet 35P/Herschel–Rigollet. She was the first woman to receive a salary as a scientist and the first woman in England to hold a government position. In 1835, she and Mary Somerville were elected as the first female Honorary Members of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Amy the African Pygmy Hedgehog
Amy is an African pygmy hedgehog. Hedgehogs have around 5000 to 7000 spines on their back. These can be raised and lowered to respond to threatening situations. Each quill/spine lasts about a year before dropping out and being replaced. As nocturnal creatures, when they are out to forage in the evening, they can travel for up to 2 miles, an incredibly a long way for little legs! Amy is named for Amy Mainzer (1974-), an American astronomer, specializing in astrophysical instrumentation and infrared astronomy. As principal investigator of NASA's Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) mission, Mainzer has overseen the largest space-based asteroid-hunting project in history.
Penrose, Ghez, and Genzel the Guinea Pigs
Penrose, Ghez, and Genzel are guinea pigs. They scent mark by rubbing their chin or cheek across things which helps keep their home smelling familiar and reassuring. They are named after 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics winners, Roger Penrose (pictured left), Andrea Ghez (center), and Reinhard Genzel (right). Penrose was awarded half for showing how black holes could form and the other half was awarded to Genzel and Ghez for discovering a supermassive object at the Milky Way's center. Ghez is only the fourth woman to be awarded a Nobel in Physics ever.
Niels the Sugar Glider
Niels is a sugar glider. Sugar gliders are marsupials, so they raise their young in a pouch on a female's stomach. They only weigh between 4 to 5 ounces when fully grown. Niels is named after Niels Bohr (1885-1962), a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922.
Stevie the Sugar Glider
Stevie is a sugar glider. She has Anopthalmia, a birth defect where a baby is born without one or both eyes. This means she does not know when it is day or night, so she is not nocturnal like most sugar gliders. Stevie is named after Steve Irwin (1962-2006), Australian zookeeper, conservationist, television personality, wildlife expert, and environmentalist. His wife Terri and two children, Robert and Bindi, continue to operate the Australia Zoo in his honor.
Thomas and Theodore the Sugar Gliders
Thomas and Theordore are father-son duo that are sugar gliders. These marsupials are able to glide up to 45 meters (148.5 ft.) and have been observed to leap at and catch moths in flight. They are named after Thomas Edison (1847-1931) and his son Theodore Edison (1888-1992). One of America's greatest inventors, Edison is responsible for the electric light bulb, the motion picture camera, even the phonograph. Theodore joined his father's company, Thomas A. Edison, Inc. as a lab assistant before he ventured off on his own and formed Calibron Industries. Throughout his career, he held over 80 patents of his own.
Dax the Chincilla
Dax is a chinchilla. Chinchillas are one of the longest-lived rodents, normally with a 20-year lifespan. Their fur is dense, with 50 to 75 hairs springing from a single hair follicle. In contrast, humans have only 2 to 3 hairs growing out of a single follicle. Dax is named for Dax Ovid, a biology and data science education researcher who studies interdisciplinary approaches to teaching and learning for STEM at the University of Georgia. Dax's work focuses on creating materials and programs in STEM that are inclusive for students from diverse backgrounds by applying scientific research for social change.
Lux the Chinchilla
Max the Chinchilla
Lux is a chinchilla; their natural habitat is the Andes of northern Chile at unforgiving altitudes of 9,800 to over 16,000 feet (hence their thick fur for survival). They typically live in groups and are nocturnal. Lux is named for Hermann Lux (1904-1999), a prominent inorganic chemist from Germany. He extensively studied chemical reactions in molten salts, leading up to the Lux-Flood acid-base theory. According to this theory, acid and base are defined as acid being an oxide acceptor and the base being an oxide donor.
Max is a chinchilla. Chinchillas produce as many as ten different sounds depending upon what’s going on in their environment. Chinchillas in the wild do not bathe in water because water may cause their dense fur to clamp and mat. Instead, chinchillas take dust baths. Max is named for Max Planck (1858-1947), a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. He was the originator of quantum theory, which revolutionized human understanding of atomic and subatomic processes.
Mary the Sugar Glider
Mary is a sugar glider. In the wild their diet is made up of insects, small vertebrates, tree sap from Eucalyptus, Acacia and Gum trees, nectar, pollen and fruits. They are native to Australia, Tasmania, Indonesia & Papua-New Guinea. She is named after Mary Somerville (1780-1872), a Scottish scientist, writer, and polymath. In 1834, the British intellectual William Whewell ran into a problem when writing a review of one of Somerville’s books. At that time, practitioners of science were called “men of science.” Because he couldn’t very well refer to Mary Somerville as a “man of science,” he needed another term. So, he invented one: “scientist.” In one sense, therefore, we might say that Mary Somerville was the world’s first scientist.
Leo the Lionhead Rabbit
Leo is a Lionhead rabbit. The Lionhead rabbit has a wool mane encircling the head, reminiscent of a male lion as its name implies; it is relatively new to the United States, having only been imported in 1998 from Belgium. A small breed, the Lionhead only weighs up to 4 lbs. They have a compact body type and their ears stand erect on top of their head. Leo is named for the constellation, Leo. Leo, also known as the "lion" constellation, is one of the 12 constellations that lie in the path of Earth's orbit around the Sun. In astronomy, Leo lies in the northern sky between Cancer and Virgo, at about 10 hours 30 minutes right ascension and 15° north declination.
Albert the Guinea Pig
Einstein is a guinea pig. Guinea pigs have four toes on each of their front feet and three toes on each of their back feet, for a grand total of fourteen toes! Having so many toes is great for digging and burrowing in their natural environments. However, all these toes can mean that guinea pigs are not very agile and are rather clumsy. Einstein is named after Albert Einstein (1879-1955), a German-born theoretical physicist who is widely held as one of the most influential scientists. Best known for developing the theory of relativity, Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics.Einstein is best known for his equation E = mc2, which states that energy and mass (matter) are the same thing, just in different forms.
Newton the Guinea Pig
Newton is a guinea pig. Guinea pigs have more bones than humans! Adult humans have 206 bones in their bodies, but adult guinea pigs have a whopping 258 bones! Their front legs have 43 bones each, while their back legs have 36 bones each. That’s a lot of bones for such a little creature! In fact, the bones in a guinea pig’s legs make up over 50% of the bones in its entire body. Newton is named for Isaac Newton (1643-1727), an English mathematician and physicist. Although Newton is well known for his discoveries in optics (white light composition) and mathematics (calculus), it is his formulation of the three laws of motion, a.k.a, Newton's Laws of Motion—the basic principles of modern physics—for which he is most famous.
Arachnids
Alexander the Rose Hair Tarantula
Alex is a Rose Hair Tarantula. Rose Hairs are nomadic, meaning they spend their life moving all the time in search of food or a mate. They live mostly solitary lives and are mostly blind. They are native to South America. He is named after Baron Alexander Von Humboldt — a Prussian biologist. Humboldt and an associate traveled extensively to South America and explored its large variety of animal and plant species. They soon discovered the first animal that produced electricity--the electric eel.
Reptiles
Lovelace the Amelanistic Red Rat Snake
Lovelace is an Amelanistic Red Rat Snake. They are a non-venomous constrictor species native to the southeastern and central United States. He is named after Ada Lovelace — a writer and mathematician who worked with Charles Babbage on the Analytical Engine (the first computer prototype). She is credited with being the first female computer programmer.
Edwin the Leopard Gecko
Edwin is a Leopard Gecko. Leopard geckos can see better than other gecko species. Their vision is comparable to that of a cat. Edwin is named after Edwin Hubble, an American astronomer. He played a crucial role in establishing the fields of extragalactic astronomy and observational cosmology and is regarded as one of the most important astronomers of all time.
Babbage the Creamsicle Corn Snake
Babbage is a Creamsicle Corn Snake. Corn snakes are a species of Rat Snake. Creamsicles are a hybrid of an albino corn and an Emory's Rat snake. He is named after Charles Babbage — an English mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer. He is most famous for his creation of the programmable computer and his Difference Engine. He worked closely with Ada Lovelace to program his Analytical Engine, the successor to the Difference Engine.
Sebastian the African Spurred Tortoise
Sebastian is an African Spurred Tortoise. These are the largest mainland species of tortoise. They can weigh up to 200 pounds and live for more than 70 years. African Spurred Tortoises are native to the Sahara Desert and can even live for weeks without water. He is named after Johann Sebastian Bach, a German composer and musician generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Western art musical canon. Follow Sebastian in action on his Facebook and Instagram! @sebastianthetortoise
Nina
the Bearded Dragon
Nina is a Pogona, a.k.a a Bearded Dragon. They are a small species of lizards native to the desert and shrub-lands of Australia. She is named after Nina Tandon, an American biomedical engineer. She is the CEO and co-founder of EpiBone. As a biomedical engineer, she works to force growth and stimulation of cells, using electrical currents. She has grown cells on rat hearts to beat, but her ultimate goal is to have the ability to create a process where scientists can grow entire human organs.
Letty the Leopard Gecko
Letty is a Leopard Gecko. In the wild, they use their keen senses of hearing and sight to avoid threats; and their skin helps them camouflage themselves in their habitat. Letty is named after Cyntha Lindenberg Letty (1895-1985), a South African botanical artist regarded as a doyenne of South African botanical art by virtue of the quality and quantity of her meticulously executed paintings and pencil sketches, produced over a period of 40 years with the National Herbarium in Pretoria.
Tully the
Red-Eared Slider
Tully is a Red-Eared Slider. The are an amphibious species of turtle, meaning they like to spend time in the water and on the land. This species is invasive in Florida. He is named after Tullimonstrum, or the “Tully Monster” — a fossil of a soft bodied vertebrate that lived over 300 million years ago. Red eared Sliders are not native to Florida and have become an invasive species due to pet owners releasing them into the wild aquatic ecosystems of Florida.
Scooter the Florida River Cooter
Scooter is a Florida River Cooter, a species of turtles native to Central and Eastern United States. River Cooters can live up to 40 years and are usually about 12" in diameter. He is named after Scooter, a small irregular white cloud that spins around Neptune about every 16 hours. This cloud was discovered by the Voyager in 1989.
Fang the Bearded Dragon
Fang is a Bearded Dragon. Natural habitats of bearded dragons include deserts, arid and rocky areas, dry forests and scrublands. They are able to regulate their body temperature by changing the shades of the color of the skin to light to dark. Fang is named after Fang Haung, a geochemist that wants to understand how the Earth works and improve our environment using the knowledge of geochemistry.
Arday the Aregentinian Tegu
Arday is a black and white Argentinian Tegu. They are an invasive species originally found in eastern and central South America.Tegus are incredibly intelligent and curious lizards that can be tamed and trained with regular handling and interaction. Arday is named for Jason Arday (1985-), a sociology professor and the youngest black person ever appointed to a professorship at Cambridge. He was diagnosed as autistic at age 3, and due to global developmental delay, learned to speak at the age of 11 and to read and write at the age of 18.
Hero the Leopard Gecko
Hero is a leopard gecko. These lizards shed their skin periodically like others, which isn't unusual. What is a bit odd about the leopard geckos is that they eat their shedded skin so that its predators are less likely to detect it as the skin won't give off any scent markers. Hero is named for Hero of Alexandria (10 AD-70 AD), a Greek mathematician and engineer who was active in his native city of Alexandria, Roman Egypt. He is often considered the greatest experimenter of antiquity and his work is representative of the Hellenistic scientific tradition.
Lilly the Pastel Morph Ball Python
Pastel ball pythons are genetic variants of the wild type ball python. They are more brightly colored than normal ball pythons and are easily identified by their pale green eyes. Lilly is named for Eli Lilly (1838-1898) an American soldier, pharmacist, chemist, and businessman who founded the Eli Lilly and Company pharmaceutical corporation. He was an advocate of federal regulation of the pharmaceutical industry, and many of his suggested reforms were enacted into law in 1906, resulting in the creation of the Food and Drug Administration.
Walter the Leopard Gecko
Walter is a Leopard Gecko. They are crepuscular (active during twilight hours), ground-dwelling lizards native to desert areas of Asia. Leopard geckos cannot climb up smooth surfaces because they do not have toe pads like most geckos. He is named after Walter Alvarez — a scientist who posited that the mass extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by a large asteroid.
Sammi
the
Box Turtle
Sammi is Box Turtle. They are a ground-dwelling turtle but enjoy taking dips in the pond. Box turtles generally live for 25-35 years but have been known to survive to over 100 years old! This species of turtle is native to Florida. She is named after Samantha Cristoforetti—an Italian European Space Agency Astronaut. She holds the record for the longest uninterrupted spaceflight by a European astronaut (199 days, 16 hours). She is also the first Italian woman in space
Lucy the Red Tailed Boa
Lucy is a Red Tailed Boa, with a lifespan in captivity of 20 years or more. They can grow to about 6-12 feet long. She is named after the common name of AL 288-1, or Lucy, a collection of several hundred pieces of bone fossils representing 40% of the skeleton of a female of the hominin species Australopithecus afarensis.
Leonardo the False Map Turtle
Leonardo is a False Map Turtle, also commonly referred to as a Sawback Turtle. They love deep water and can be found in regions across the Southern US. He is named after Leonardo da Vinci, painter, sculptor, architect, inventor, military engineer and draftsman. His ideas and body of work have influenced countless artists and made da Vinci a leading light of the Italian Renaissance.
Katie the Harlequin Crested Gecko
Katie is a Harlequin Crested Gecko. They live for up to 20 years and love climbing vertical surfaces. These nocturnal creatures don't have eyelids, so they use their tongues to moisten their eyes. Katie is named after Katie Bouman, American computer scientist and member of the Event Horizon team that captured the first photo of a black hole. She led the development of an algorithm for imaging black holes, known as Continuous High-resolution Image Reconstruction using Patch priors (CHIRP).
Brian the
Day Gecko
Brian is a day gecko. These geckos are native to Eastern Madagascar. They are the largest of the gecko species and can grow up to a foot long. At the end of each of their toes is an adhesive scale known as the lamellae, used to cling on to smooth surfaces. Because of the incredible grip strength of the lamellae, each foot is capable of supporting up to 40kg (88lbs) of weight. Brian is named after Brian Cox (1968-), an English physicist and former musician who serves as professor of particle physics at University of Manchester.
Fletcher the Crested Gecko
Fletcher is a crested gecko; among the most distinctive features of these geckos are the hair-like projections found above the eyes, which greatly resemble eyelashes.They are primarily nocturnal, and will generally spend the daylight hours sleeping in secure spots in high branches. Fletcher is named for Tiera Fletcher (1995-), an American engineer who graduated from MIT in 2017 and works for Boeing. She is one of the designers and structural analysts building the Space Launch System for NASA which is set to send people to Mars.
Beau the Banana Spider Morph Ball Python
Beau is a banana spider morph ball python, a type of ball python morph that is famous for its strong yellow colored blotches and dark freckles. Banana snakes are selectively bred from the West African ball python species to produce a beautiful yellow and tan patterning. The banana morph originated naturally in the wild – but is very rare. Beau is named for Joan Beauchamp Procter (1897-1931), a British zoologist and herpetologist. She was the first female Curator of Reptiles at the London Zoo, and made significant innovative contributions to veterinary practice and zoo displays.
Wolfgang the African Spurred Tortoise
Wolfgang, or Wolfie for short, is an African spurred tortoise. Spurred tortoises are very aggressive with each other, starting from when they hatch. Ramming each other and attempts at flipping each other over are behaviors that are common for males. Wolfie is named for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Austrian composer of the Classical period. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest composers of Western music. In a creative lifetime spanning only 30 years but featuring more than 600 works, he redefined the symphony, composed some of the greatest operas ever written and lifted chamber music to new heights of artistic achievement.
Hypatia the Leopard Gecko
Hypatia is a leopard gecko. The leopard-like spots you see on her will go away as she ages. By the time a leopard gecko is fully mature, it will look a lot different than what it did when it was young. She is named for Hypatia (350 AD-415 AD), a neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician. She was a prominent thinker in Alexandria where she taught philosophy and astronomy. Although preceded by Pandrosion, another Alexandrine female mathematician, she is the first female mathematician whose life is reasonably well recorded.
Flare the Bearded Dragon
Flare is a bearded dragon. Bearded dragons get their name from the spiny projections under their necks that resemble a man’s beard. When they feel threatened or excited, they puff out their beards and open their mouths to make themselves look bigger. Flare is named for the flare gun, also known as a Very pistol or signal pistol, is a large-bore handgun that discharges flares, blanks, and smoke. The most common type of flare gun is a Very, named after Edward Wilson Very (1847-1910), an American naval officer who developed and popularized a single-shot breech-loading snub-nosed pistol that fired flares.
Regulus the Ball Python
Regulus is a ball python; they have the calmest temperament of the African pythons and are non-venomous. Ball pythons are named after their natural defensive behaviors as they tend to curl up into a ball with their head toward the center of the ball when threatened. He is named for Regulus, also known as Alpha Leonis, the brightest object in the constellation Leo and one of the brightest stars in the night sky. Regulus lies around 79.3 light years from Earth and can be seen in the night sky throughout the year except for a month on either side of August 22, when the Sun comes too close to the star.
Percy the Western Hognose
Percy is a hognose snake. They get their name from the upturned scale at the end of their nose which they use to dig in loose sand and soil. They are rear-fanged, nonvenomous snakes, with potentially irritating saliva that may cause slight swelling and itching if bitten. He is named for Percival Lowell (1855-1916), an American businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars, and furthered theories of a ninth planet within the Solar System. He founded the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, and formed the beginning of the effort that led to the discovery of Pluto 14 years after his passing.
Ludwig the African Spurred Tortoise
Ludwig is an African Spurred Tortoises; they are very strong animals and can move just about anything that is not nailed down. Unlike other species of tortoises, they do not hibernate. Tortoises like to dig so they can access areas containing higher amounts of moisture--an ideal way to cool down in the scorching sun. He is named for Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), German composer and pianist who went deaf around the age of 28 but continued to compose some of the most revered works of classical music in history, including “Für Elise,” “Ode to Joy,” and “Moonlight Sonata.”
Izzy the Leopard Gecko
Izzy is a Leopard Gecko. Leopard geckos aren’t particularly vocal creatures, but they do produce a variety of sounds to communicate. The noises they make range from chirps and squeaks to clicks, and even barks and screams when they feel stressed or threatened. Izzy named for Isabel Clifton Cookson (1893-1973), an Australian botanist who specialized in palaeobotany and palynology, or the study of identification, distribution, classification, and origin of microscopic plant parts. It was her discovery of pollen in fossils that led Isabel to become Australia’s first palynologist.
Eddie the Florida Kingsnake
Eddie is a Florida Kingsnake. Most adult Florida Kingsnakes are about 36-48 inches (90-122 cm) in total length; they are found throughout the Florida peninsula and are non-venomous. Eddie is named after Edmond Albius (1829-1880), a horticulturalist from Réunion. Born into slavery, Albius became an important figure in the cultivation of vanilla. At the age of 12, he invented a technique for pollinating vanilla orchids quickly and profitably. Albius's technique revolutionized the cultivation of vanilla and made it possible to profitably grow Vanilla planifolia away from its native habitat.