ZooMontana Written Tour - North American Loop

The N. American river otter habitat contains a male and a female otter. They belong to the same large family as the black-footed ferrets. The weasel family includes ferrets, otters, skunks, badgers, wolverines, mink, fisher, pine marten and ermine. Just like the skunk, the entire group can get real stinky when they get angry. The river otter is found from Canada into Mexico. The European river otter is similar in size and appearance to our species. The river otters in Asia are somewhat larger. The S. American river otter is the largest of all, reaching 6 feet in length…and everyone has heard of the sea otters! These are all predators and even though they look “cute”, you wouldn’t want to try and touch them. When you watch these otters swim you can see how their long, flattened shape and webbed feet really help them move through the water. N. American river otters were once found across the country in almost every river and stream. They were hunted extensively for their fur and then pollution levels in our country’s waterways became so bad that we nearly wiped them out. Now they are recolonizing historic waterways. Lifespan in captivity is 19 years, less in the wild.

At the waterfowl ponds we have Canada geese (two subspecies), emperor geese, whitefront geese, snow geese, blue geese, barredheaded geese, Chinese Geese (the plump noisy ones) wood ducks (ours and wild ones), mallards (wild), blue winged teals, green winged teals, tree ducks, redheaded ducks, pintail ducks and western painted turtles (wild). Waterfowl were also impacted by DDT and by the ingestion of spent lead shot that they scooped up with the gravel they ate.

The great horned owl is one of our retired education animals. She was raised by people and developed rickets as a “youngster” due to an inadequate diet. By the time her care was taken over by a veterinarian she had 18 broken bones. She is able to fly but never did learn to hunt and was considered non-releasable. She is a prime example of “If you care for wild animals, leave them in the wild!” Most owls are nocturnal animals and the great horned owl is well camouflaged so she can sleep unmolested during the day. Owls have excellent eyesight; their eyes are so large in their little skulls that they have no room for extra muscles to move the eyes around like we do. Their eyes are fixed in their sockets. Owls have excellent hearing and nearly soundless flight. All these are adaptations for hunting little, quiet rodents in the dark. Owls can’t turn their heads around in a complete circle, but they can turn it 3/4 of a way around which is still very amazing! The oldest know great horned owl lived to be 29 years old in captivity. In the summer months you might see a turkey vulture sharing the habitat with the owl. Our vulture was born in the summer of 1997, again raised by, and imprinted on, people. Vultures are seasonal visitors to our state. They migrate south to escape our cold winters. As you can see, his little bald head and naked legs are not made to survive our winters. Vultures scavenge on the rotting remains of dead animals. Their featherless head and legs are easier for them to keep clean. As nature’s garbage men, they serve an important purpose in the wild. Vultures are able to eat very bad and diseased meat without any ill effects to themselves and their digestive tract is able to destroy harmful bacteria and germs. They literally prevent the spread of diseases. Vultures have very good eyesight and they also have an excellent sense of smell, an unusual trait in birds.

The eastern gray wolves were born in 1997. We have a male and a female. Most people feel our wolves look smaller than a wolf should be but these wolves are about average in size. Wolves are very social animals and communicate among themselves using vocalization, facial expressions and body language. All domestic dogs are descendants of wolf ancestors. Wolves are predators. They work together to catch their food and because they cooperate, are able to bring down animals larger than themselves. Like all predators, they don’t catch an animal every day. Predators are made to gorge on food (when they have it) and to fast (do without) for several days. Zoos learned over the years that when large predators are fed regular diets every day, the animals became overweight and developed diseases they normally would not have developed in the wild. Zoos now replicate what would happen in the wild. We vary the amount of food our large predators get and that includes a day or two of fasting. This keeps our animals healthier. Wolves are very adaptable animals and were once found all over North America. They are endangered in this country only because they were once systematically hunted to near extinction. Average lifespan is 8-13 years.

Two of our newest exhibits at ZooMontana are on our North American “loop”: the Bighorn Sheep and Wolverine. Bighorn sheep are agile climbers. They conduct a vertical migration every year, spending their summers high in the mountains and their winters down at lower elevations in sheltered areas. The males spend most of the year in bachelor herds and the females with their young make up the nursery herds. Bighorn sheep are noted for their head-butting duels every fall. You can count the dark rings on their horns to get an idea of their age! The older sheep teach the younger sheep where the winter and summer pastures are, where the escape routes are, and where the watering holes are. Their numbers in the wild are declining due mainly to diseases they contract from domestic sheep. Trophy hunting also causes problems as it takes the oldest, most knowledgeable members of the herd. Average Bighorn Sheep lifespan is 9 years but some have lived to 24 years. Lifespan for females is shortened by frequent breeding and for males by trophy hunting.

Our Wolverine habitat was completed in 2002. Our wolverine (female) arrived from the Minnesota Zoo. She looks like a small bear with dark brown (chocolate-colored) fur with whitish stripes along her back and across her chest. She has long, strong claws for digging and climbing, strong jaws and sharp teeth for tearing meat. Wolverines are the largest land-dwelling member of the weasel family. Wolverines are not well understood and many myths have evolved over the years about them. Wolverines once covered most of northern North America down the western mountains into California, Arizona and New Mexico but now are only found in a few isolated mountain ranges. They are also found in northern Europe and northern Asia. Average wolverine lifespan is about 13 years in the wild and up to 18 years in captivity.

The North American Porcupine does not shoot its quills as myths indicate. Instead, this rather docile rodent swats a threat with its tail. The quills have small back slanting barbs that make their removal very painful. The porcupine is a herbivore. Their diet consists of forest vegetation and tree bark. The porcupine has few predators, though fishers actually seek them out. Average porcupine lifespan is 17 years.

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