Herpetologist meets Salamander and Snake
RTPI’s resident herpetologist befriends Millie the Massasauga Rattlesnake and Sam the Eastern Hellbender. Stop in to meet these crafty critters during our ‘Hellbender House Party’ fundraising event on Saturday! Details can be found here: http://rtpi.org/hellbender-house-party-1118/
Read MoreRTPI Fundraising Raffle
We’re getting excited as our ‘Hellbender House Party’ fundraising event draws near! We have lots of mini raffle items that will be up for grabs, including the RTPI swag pictured here! đ Stop in anytime this week to purchase tickets for your chance to win some of these great items! Winners will be drawn at 1pm on Saturday. Details about the event can be found here: http://rtpi.org/hellbender-house-party-1118/
Read MoreSwedish Salamanders?
Ecklofâs Bakery and Deli is one of the last strictly âby scratchâ bakeries in Western New York. While the bakery is now in the hands of a third generation of Ecklofs, many of the âOld Worldâ recipes passed down by the founding grandfather when he came to the U.S. from Sweden in 1920 are still being used today! Ecklofâs will be creating salamander-shaped cookies for our Hellbender House Party on Saturday, November 18th. These special cookies will be sold for $2 each the day of the event, and all proceeds will benefit RTPIâs resident hellbenders....
Read MoreNew Arrivals
On this Wild America Wednesday, we want to take a moment to announce RTPI’s new arrivals! Please join us as we welcome Oneka and Tweeg,  two seven year old hellbenders that will be moving from the Buffalo Zoo to our facility in Jamestown tomorrow! Originally a part of the NYS hellbender headstart program, these salamanders were kept to be used for educational purposes. Oneka and Tweeg will serve as ambassadors for their species, helping us to raise awareness of their conservation status, the need to learn more about them, and what can be done to help the wild American population! Our...
Read MoreAutumn Field Surveys
While the field season never completely ends, projects shift and our attention will soon be focused on other seasonally appropriate surveys during the upcoming cooler months. As the temperatures continue to drop as well as the leaves, our stream work surveying for the elusive Eastern Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) is winding down. This week we got out to take more samples and carry out more rock lift surveys. So far we have found that the stream we have been working in has a good number of Mudpuppies (Necturus maculosus) and has a lot of interesting macroinvertebrates, all of...
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