Reptiles and mammals visit Remsen Public Library for Last Summer Reading Program

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 9.0px Myriad} Sven the guinea pig was the next animal to visit. Guinea pigs are a type of rodent and have very strong teeth. They get their name from the noise that they make. They are loud animals and love to squeal. They also like to hid and at one time were wild in South America. They are mammals and have a lot of predators.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 9.0px Myriad} Pixie the hedgehog was the last visitor from the Blank Park Zoo. She recently celebrated her second birthday and loves to curl up in a ball, as their spikes help protect them from predators. Their favorite thing to do is to snuggle up with their blankets at the zoo. Hedgehogs are also immune to scorpion venom. She has over 5,000 spikes on her back.  

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 9.0px Myriad} Mallory from the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines visited the Remsen Public Library for the last Summer Reading Program of the season on Wed., July 12 at 11 a.m. She brought four animals to talk about and show the children. She would talk and give a little bit of background about each animal, ask anyone if they had any questions about the animal, and then walk around showing the animal making sure everybody got a chance to see each animal. Before talking about the four animals, Mallory first asked the children in attendance questions about how animals can help make the world a better place. Pictured above are the children raising their hands to answer the questions.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 9.0px Myriad} At the end of the program, the children were allowed to pet Pixie the hedgehog, very gently. 

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 9.0px Myriad} Four volunteers helped Mallory make a pizza with pollinators, so items like tomato sauce, cheese, canadian bacon, and pepperoni could be used as toppings on the pizza. Before the children tried to make a pizza without pollinators and the only topping they could use were mushrooms. 

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 9.0px Myriad} Nala the ball python was the first animal to greet the children in the library. She is 25 years old and was  somebody’s pet before coming to the zoo. Ball pythons are native to Africa and can be found in the grassland or dry forest areas. They are wonderful climbers, as Nala tries to demonstrate above, showing her strong muscles as she can lift her head without much effort. She is not poisonous and smells with her tongue. 

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 9.0px Myriad} Nala makes the rounds around the library so that all of the children and adults in attendance could see her. This was done with all four animals. 

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 9.0px Myriad} Shelby the eastern box turtle was the third animal that Mallory talked about. He is 13 years old and will live to be about 40 years old. He is a smaller type of turtle and they get their name from being able to shut their shells, like a box and have a special hinge so they can close their shell. Shelby is a kind of turtle that does not like to swim and is an excellent digger. Above, Mallory shows the details of Shelby’s shell.