Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Conservators’ Center

Quick history lesson: We – that’d be the McHusband on behalf of he and I as well as Bri and Lyla and Shannon for herself and Owen – bought Groupons a while back for the Conservators’ Center in Mebane.  More recently, Shannon asked me if I’d make cupcakes for a baby shower for her coworker.  I told her I was happy to help, we just had to figure out how I was going to get three dozen cupcakes from Raleigh to Statesville.

Long story short (or maybe not at this point), we decided to meet at the Conservators’ Center this past Sunday to kill two birds (um, not literally; that would be frowned upon at a place like the Conservators’ Center): use our Groupons and exchange the treats.

The first animals we saw were Arctic Wolves.

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Next were a couple of leopards.

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The Center has a number of lions and tigers.  Our tour guide was able to prompt the lions to roar for us and it was quite an acoustical show.  Lyla was a little scared when the lions really got into it, but most of the rest of us were just in awe.

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These two tigers were pacing because the Center had parked a couple of golf carts outside their enclosure.  See, the golf carts run on batteries and they make a high-pitched noise that the tigers can hear and don’t like.

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The female wasn’t as nervous as the male so she eventually hopped in one of her pools to cool off.  Oh yeah, did I mention it was about 95 and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky?  Yeah, summer FINALLY descends upon NC and we pick that day to spend the afternoon outside.

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Next up was a Snow Tiger, who our tour guide said was probably their star guest.

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Pretty easy to figure out why.  He was big and beautiful.

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This caracal has diabetes so when he saw our tour guide, one of the keepers, he moved to this little box because that’s where he gets treats along with his insulin shot.

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We met the Center’s only primates, a couple of lemurs.

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From there, we visited the binturongs, also called bearcats, which are a species all by themselves.

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One of the binturongs has three cats living with him.  See, they were in and out of his enclosure as kittens and, well, they eventually got too big to get back out.  The keepers were a little worried about the cats since binturongs are carnivores, but this one apparently has no appetite for felines.

We were able to do a selfie – groupie? – before we left.

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I highly recommend the Conservators’ Center.  It took the McHusband and me about an hour to get there.  You have to make an appointment for a tour and the cost of admission is only $12.  You are literally within 4 feet of the animals and it. is. awesome. 

One suggestion though?  Go in the fall or spring.

{Conservators’ Center}

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