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Trailside Museums & Zoo encourages people to live well with the wildlife. Take steps to coexist with wildlife, protect wildlife from potential hazards in our yards and communities and prevent wildlife from becoming “problem animals.” Protect birds by keeping cats...
In this Trailside Talk, learn about the North American Porcupine. Zookeeping Interpreter Mal Muratori takes you up close and personal with the prickly but cute Rosie, the North American porcupine!
In this Trailside Talk, our zookeeping Interpreter intern Mal Muratori highlights bird migration and winter survival, using the iconic Canada Geese as an example.
Our enthusiastic Zookeeping Interpreter Intern Mal Muratori takes you through the amazing adaptations owls have for surviving the winter!
Rocky summits and outcrops are sparsely vegetated. Soils are thin, nutrient-poor and well-drained. Conditions are harsh in winter and summer. Yet, vegetation is rich in species diversity. Some plants take root in the rock fissures and depressions where soil and...
Forest understory is the layer of trees and shrubs between the forest floor and forest canopy. It’s made up of shrubs, small trees, vines and saplings of canopy trees. Trailside’s forest understory and forest floor have been heavily impacted by deer. Since 2016-17,...
Deciduous forest is the dominant plant community. It’s complex and layered, but it’s not an old-growth forest. The canopy is composed of tall deciduous trees—oak, hickory, tuliptree, maple, beech, and others. White pine and other conifers are scattered throughout the...
Meadows are open, sunny habitats vegetated with forbs, grasses and other non-woody plants Meadow vegetation flowers abundantly. Some meadows are moist or fluctuate between moist and dry and others are dry. Disturbance by fire or clearance of woody vegetation are...
By 2000, the biodiverse brackish tidal marshes of Iona Island were overrun by the invasive, non-native common reed, Phragmites australis. Restoration began in 2008 with the removal of Phragmites from a 10-acre test plot to allow native marsh flora and fauna to...
Protecting and restoring imperiled habitat is a critical component of combatting the decline of wildlife populations. With this notable importance in mind, research staff have been hard at work to protect native species that are suffering from habitat loss.
A significant part of Trailside Museums and Zoo’s mission is encouraging the formation of partnerships between professional scientists and naturalist volunteers through citizen science opportunities.