Curious
Creatures in Deering!
On the
afternoon of Wednesday, 26 February, our Town Hall was the site of a thrilling
display of exotic, and cuddly (but mostly not so cuddly) critters all brought
to us by Curious Creatures, of Massachusetts, and sponsored by the Trustees of
theDeering Public Library. Jason, an obviously well trained, well informed and
fearless (at least as regards a bunch of pre-teens!) expert released, or at
least brought forth, a small ark of exotic and familiar animals from their
cages. First was a flying squirrel (that just loved to hide in Jason's shirt pocket) and then a mama and two baby
Sugar Gliders that look a bit like flying squirrels but that have pouches for their
young and, being marsupials, are actually related to kangaroos and not flying
squirrels (isn't Evolution wonderful!?).
These were followed by a furry rabbit and then a Chinchilla, which hails
from the Andes Mountains of South America (and has wonderfully soft fur). The
OOH! factor then jumped a notch with the introduction of a pretty big, but --
so Jason said -- non venomous scorpion. Scorpions don't have to really DO anything
to project evil and this big blue guy/gal did just that (I can tell you from
personal experience that you definitely do NOT want to be stung by even a wee
scorpion!). After the scorpion there
followed a kind of 'nervous twitter' stage when our guide brought out the reptiles.
The Corn Snake is a non venomous North American native that we were informed dines
on and control rats and mice (I love Wikipedia!) -- rodents that feed on, and
foul, stored grain on farms and spread disease. This Corn Snake obligingly
coiled around the necks of various audience members, providing them with
unusual but lasting 'Kodak Moments.' Next Jason brought out of the box a nearly
5 ft long python, long enough to be stroked by several kids all at once -- with
a little bit of nervous twittering. The last was a cute baby alligator. When
our guide Jason introduced the little thing the kids and adults gave out one big WOW! All eyes snapped to the front toward
the alligator with its gaping mouth!
From
all appearances about 70 kids, and their adult guests, thoroughly enjoyed the hour as Jason worked through the crowd with the animals in his care. Everybody
enjoyed this opportunity to be up close with Curious Creatures: The afternoon was a great success! Here are some pictures.
 |
Jason, Curious Creatures guide |
 |
Flying Squirrel |
 |
Sugar Glider mama and babies |
 |
The Andean Chinchilla is oh so soft! |
 |
The Corn Snake as necklace: nervous are we? |
 |
Er, ah.. Look Ma, no hands? |
 |
"I hope he doesn't drop this Python!" |
 |
Not EVERYBODY was impressed with the Python! |
 |
Oh, so elegant! "Really, dahling!" |
 |
Enough of this Python..., |
 |
.... to go around! |
 |
This is a little closer than I anticipated! |