Wildlife Conservation - Blog Posts

i just hope you all know that i love raccoons a lot. i would die for a raccoon i never met. the only reason i would ever be a vet is to help raccoons and other Tennessee native wildlife. and i fully believe i was born in this stupid red state JUST BECAUSE the state animal is a raccoon and i was put here to help them. middle tn is being rapidly industiralized and i hate these stupid outlet malls and stupid condos THAT NO ONE CAN EVEN AFFORD BTW that are stealing wild life’s homes. and they made my water hella hard and gives me dry skin :3

i just really love raccoons guys-

We aren’t gonna actually keep him/her. Going to a wildlife rescue around here later. Little baby was in the street this morning 😕

🐢🐢🐢

Mood: If I had a theme song 👇👇👇

As promised: Some white tailed kite studies in gouache! I was gonna clean up with a red background but I'm lazy so we're goin naturalistic.

Inprnt

Malayan Tapirs 5-6-23

Hell is a place where you have to draw a tapir’s head at ¾ view. 

I didn’t end up drawing any baby tapirs, but it's important for you all to know they have markings like a watermelon.

Capybara 5-1-23

It’s taken me an embarrassingly long time to figure out using textured brushes is important- this lil round man was good practice

Pronghorns 4-26-23

Dude I spent like a full hour trying to sketch the big guy’s face, then finished the rest of the body in five minutes. Fml

Red river hog studies. (4-26-23)

These guys are really cute- they've got little tassels on their ears!!!

My boy screaming at god.

I'll be posting some backlog cuz why not- this is a sketch I finished like a month ago but the original sketches were from 1-2 years ago. Thylacines are really goofy looking, basically Kangaroos but with dog configuration.

Decline of the Everglades Snail Kite

The Everglades Snail Kite is a hallmark of Florida wildlife. Found in central and south Florida, this magnificent bird of prey thrives in swampy, wetland habitats (Audubon Society, 2020). Unfortunately the population of this seasoned hunter has dropped at an alarming rate.

The Everglades, a vital habitat to the Snail Kite, has been significantly reduced in size due to expanding infrastructure and construction of surrounding human populations (National Park Service, 2019). Fortuitously, organizations such as the Everglades Foundation have worked tirelessly throughout the years to restore and conserve the Everglades which is home to many of Florida’s unique species. (The Everglades Foundation, 2020).

But habitat loss is not the only struggle the Everglades Snail Kite faces. Their curved beaks are adapted specifically to feed on its namesake: Florida Apple Snails, or Pomacea paludosa. While there are several species of Apple Snails currently located in Florida, Pomacea paludosa is the native species of apple snail to Florida. There is some debate over whether local populations of the Florida Apple Snail may be a separate species from Pomacea paludosa (Schad, 2018), but we will only be referring to Pomacea paludosa for the purpose of this article.

One might think that the addition of new types of apple snails to Florida would mean the expansion of food for the Everglades Snail Kite, but that does not seem to be the case. Their beaks are so specifically adapted to the smaller, curved shells of the Pomacea paludosa, that the Everglades Snail Kite cannot use its beak successfully to feed on larger species of Apple Snails that are invading Florida wetlands. This poses another problem where the larger species of invasive apple snails are outcompeting and displacing the smaller Pomacea paludosa. The Everglades Snail Kite is facing food loss in addition to habitat loss.

But all is not lost. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, located in Fort Pierce, Florida has successfully completed research on the practice of captive breeding the Florida Apple Snail with a long-term goal of finding ways to replenish wild populations of Pomacea paludosa (Garr, Amber, Helen Posch, Margaret McQuillan, Megan Davis, 2012). These practices, if safely regulated and approved, could be used to help replenish the population of the Everglades Snail Kite by providing it with more food. Regulations and controls are needed to ensure that captive populations would not introduce new bacteria, or diseases to wild populations.

The Everglades Snail Kite is not the only endangered species in Florida, but it is a wonderful example of how—when united—people have the chance to improve many environmental problems.

Audubon Society, 2020. The Everglades Snail Kite. Audubon Florida.

[https://fl.audubon.org/birds/everglade-snail-kite]

Schad, Morgan. 2018. The Discovery of a Forgotten Species in an Unexpected Location: Pomaceamiamiensis in Palm Beach County. Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College.

The Everglades Foundation, 2020. About. [https://www.evergladesfoundation.org/about]

Garr, Amber. Helen Posch. Margaret McQuillan. Megan Davis. 2012. Development of a captive breeding program for the Florida apple snail, Pomacea paludosa: Relaxation and sex ratio recommendations.

Aquaculture. Volume 370-371, Pages 166-171.

[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0044848612006163?via%3Dihub]

National Park Service. 2019. Restoration of Everglades National Park. U.S. Department of the Interior.

South Florida Natural Resources Center. Everglades National Park.

[https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/nature/upload/RestorationFactSheet%20Lo%20Secure.pdf]

Raccoons are a familiar sight for many environments because they eat just about anything. The raccoon’s scientific name, Procyon lotor translates to “before-dog washer.” 

Raccoons are one of the many wild animals the SNC takes in regularly. If you find abandoned baby raccoons in the wild, please contact your local nature center or wildlife rehabber. We do not encourage keeping them as there is a lot that can go wrong in early development and they do NOT make good pets.

The Sawgrass Nature Center was notified via email today that we will be one of the many businesses featured on the Female-Founded Business Finder. This is a joint project between the Stacy’s Rise Project and the Hello Alice social business platform. The directory is featuring businesses run and founded by women. It can be found by scanning the QR Code on a bag of Stacy’s Pita Chips during the month of November or by clicking here:  www.femalefounderfinder.com. 

It is important for women to come together and support each other to close the gap between genders in leadership. We are proud to promote this business finder and other businesses of all backgrounds being run by women for women. 

Friendly reminder that the Sawgrass Nature Center (legally Coral Springs Nature Center and Wildlife Hospital) is a non-profit, charitable organization that runs on donations and is dedicated to the conservation of wildlife and environmental stewardship. We rehabilitate and released injured, sick, or orphaned wildlife brought to us by the surrounding communities. We also provide a home to over 100 non-releasable animals due to permanent injuries or their non-native status. Our education department is responsible for organize on and offsite programming as well as developing a program to provide free educational and professional development resources to Title I schools in South Florida. 

Feel free to check us out on our website, or like us on social media. We really appreciate the support :)

Shoutout to our volunteers who managed to catch some great pics of a few of the SNC’s permanent residents. Featured is Cory the Red Rat Snake, Leonidas the Bearded Dragon, and one of the blue jays in our aviary. 

The reptiles featured here are used as educational ambassadors for their species. That means they’re used by professionals to teach visitors about their ecological roles and niche in the environment and why it is so important to protect their species. Leonidas the Bearded Dragon is used in particular as an example of an exotic species. Both reptiles featured here were surrendered pets that the previous owner could no longer care for. Used to a domesticated life rather than hunting for and sheltering themselves, these animals would not survive in the wild on their own. 

Check out our resident Yellow-Footed Tortoise, Carlos! Yellow-Footed Tortoises are native to the rainforests of South America.

In honor of World Animal Day, the SNC is spotlighting our Eurasian Collared Dove, named Ginger. Ginger was rescued from a pet store that wanted to put him down because of his inability to stand up straight. When he came to the SNC, we found that he could stand perfectly when he was given a proper perching space. 

Because Ginger is an exotic animal to Florida, we are not allowed to release him. Instead, he will live at the SNC with loving care takers as an Educational Ambassador. 

This Wildlife Wednesday we are featuring our resident Red Rat Snake. This guy in particular has a permanent stay at the Nature Center due to a degenerative nerve disease that causes him to twitch. 

Rat Snakes are non-venomous, constrictor snakes. They also happen to be very skilled climbers, to the point where they have been known to scale brick walls! This helps them catch prey like lizards, small mammals, and hatchlings. 

Rat Snakes are popular in the pet trade and have been bred in many different colors and patterns.

This African Spur Thigh Tortoise is named Bubba and he is a permanent resident at the Sawgrass Nature Center. He was previously kept as a pet, but his owners did not realize that he would get this large. And since he is an exotic species to Florida, he is non-releasable. 

The African Spur-Thigh is a native species of tortoise to Northern Africa, specifically along the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. They dig burrows in the ground to spend the hottest parts of the day in. This is known as aestivation. 

Fun fact: The African Spur Thigh Tortoise is the third largest tortoise in the world. Surpassed only by the Galapagos Tortoise and the Aldabra Giant Tortoise. 

Today was a rainy day in South Florida. Some of our resident animals were particularly enjoying this weather, including our gator Wally. Wally is a female American Alligator. Most people think of Alligators as green in color, but most have a darker coloring that enables them to camouflage better in dark, swampy water. 

SNC's resident Yellow-Naped Amazon Parrots were domesticated pets that were donated to us upon their owner's death. While in the wild their life expectancy is about 20-30 years, but in captivity that increases to 60-80 years. Talk about a life long companion!

The Yellow-Naped Amazon Parrots are one of the most intelligent species of parrots. They can typically be found along the Pacific Coast through Mexico and Costa Rica. Two of their main stressors are deforestation and illegal removal of young for the pet trade.