The Nature of Halloween
This article by Dr. Scott Shalaway originally appeared in the Post-Journal on October 29th,2016. I thought it was a perfect piece to share given we are hosting a program on snakes, spiders and bats this week! Learn more about “Snakes, Spiders and Bats! Oh, My!” this Friday, October 26th. THE NATURE OF HALLOWEEN Halloween, as I recall, was a day for friends to scare each other with nature’s creepy crawlies – spiders, snakes and bats. And often those fears lasted a lifetime. We all know people who recoil at the sight of these critters. Spiders are probably the most notorious of the...
Read MoreRTPI will host Lawn of the Dead! Landscape Design Workshop October 26th
(RTPI) invites you to Lawn of the Dead! on Friday, October 26th, from 10:00am – 2:00pm. It has been said that if you compared the average American lawn to a desert, the desert would win easily with much greater life and species diversity. Keeping up a lawn is both a chore for you and harmful to all flora and fauna in the area. This special landscape design workshop will help you learn how to make your yard a haven for native and migrating wildlife. You will discover how your landscape choices as a homeowner can improve the health of our communities and provide essential pollinator...
Read MoreRTPI to host: Snakes, Spiders, and Bats! Oh, My!
The Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History invites you to join us for “Snakes, Spiders, and Bats! Oh, my!” on Friday, October 26th from 5:30-8:00 pm. The Buffalo Zoo’s education department will be on site from 5:30-6:30pm with their “Zoo Mobile” to introduce guests to an array snakes, bats and spiders, and from 6:30 to 8:00 three knowledgeable and passionate local biologists (Twan Leenders, Becky Nystrom, and Jonathan Townsend) will explore the causes and consequences of the common misconceptions surrounding these creatures that so many consider creepy. This seasonally appropriate...
Read MoreRTPI to Host Bird-Skinning Demonstration/Workshop 10/20/18
The bird specimens so artfully depicted in Alberto Rey’s ‘The Extinct Bird Project’ exhibition, now on view at RTPI, are stunning studies of lifeless creatures that will never again be seen in the wild. Some of the birds represented in Rey’s paintings have been dead for over a century, but their preserved bodies are still available for researchers – and artists – to study in the country’s natural history museums, including the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History (RTPI). These so-called ‘study skins’ are not taxidermy mounts, prepared with their aesthetic value in mind, but...
Read MoreRTPI’s Twan Leenders Invited to Speak at Costa Rica’s International Herpetological Symposium IV
Costa Rica is home to 5% of the planet’s biodiversity. Though small in geographic area, the country has one of the highest densities of reptiles and amphibians species in the world with more than 440 species. From September 6 – 9, 2018, the Selva Verde Lodge and Private Reserve in the lowland tropical rainforests of Sarapiquí, Costa Rica hosted the fourth International Herpetological Symposium. This event featured presentations and lectures on the conservation, taxonomy, ecology, and biology of reptiles and amphibians. Symposium attendees participated in conferences and field...
Read MoreRTPI’s Conservation Technician Attends Silviculture Workshop
Last week RTPI’s Elyse Henshaw had the opportunity to attend a training session offered by the U.S. Forest Service and Penn State Extension to learn about the ecology and silviculture of the Allegheny Hardwood forests. Within the discipline of forestry, silviculture is a standard management practice in which foresters and other natural resource managers control the establishment, growth, health and composition of a forest in order to meet a variety needs for wildlife, recreation, water quality and timber in a sustainable manner. Silviculture is used throughout New York and Pennsylvania to...
Read More
