February Ice Storm

This winter brought a big challenge to our staff! In early February, Kentucky weathered a dangerous two-day ice storm. Thick layers of ice covered every surface, causing power outages and treacherous roadways. The Ark Encounter and Creation Museum closed to prevent people from driving in hazardous conditions. However, our 200 animals still needed care, so zookeepers Amanda, Brittany, Danielle, Emily, and Pollyanna volunteered to sleep over at the zoos for two days. They brought air mattresses to camp in the offices and cooked food on portable grills. Warm-weather animals were locked inside, while cold-tolerant animals were given extra bedding in their heated barns. With the slick surfaces, we were especially concerned for our camels and equines, so our zoo staff made continuous rounds to ensure our animals stayed comfortable, clean, and fed throughout the two-day storm. Our zoo staff truly goes above and beyond to be good stewards of creation, as God commands in Genesis 1:28b: “… and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

New Animals

The Ararat Ridge Zoo also announced four new animals this month! They will be featured in our daily animal programs. Jael is our new Asian forest scorpion, one of the largest scorpions in the world! Like all scorpions, she glows under ultraviolet (UV) light! Despite her size, her venom is not deadly to people, and she doesn’t mind her keepers holding her.

We also added three beautiful new snakes. Cyrus is a carpet python, an Australian species named for its gorgeous patterning that resembles oriental carpets. Cyrus is very curious and active. He loves to periscope, or “stand up,” on his keepers’ shoulders! Seraph is a western hognose snake, a North American species known for their dramatic “playing dead” displays. When threatened, hognose snakes will flip upside down, writhe around, dangle their tongues, release an odor, and even burst blood vessels in their mouths to trick predators into thinking they’re dead. Seraph is very friendly, so she is comfortable being around people. Joseph is a rainbow boa, a South American species named after rainbows because the extra ridges on their scales make them shimmer rainbow colors in the sunlight. Joseph is named after Joseph’s coat of many colors given to him by his father Israel since he was his favored son (Genesis 37:3). Joseph is a mix between the Colombian and Brazilian species, so he is not as vibrant as our female Brazilian rainbow boa, Keshet (named for the Hebrew word for “rainbow”). Since Joseph is a male, he is much smaller than her. However, he is still very sweet and outgoing and will be used with Keshet to teach guests about God’s covenant with Noah after the global Flood.

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.” 9:12-15