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Rocky Mountain
Exhibit
Hiding around the corner as visitors walk
through this exhibit is the Mountain Goat resting high above the Rocky
Mountains. Both male and female have the white hair and black horns. Shortly
after birth, the small kid is able to follow after its mother along the
rugged terrain. Other animals on display include the Mountain Lion and the
Stone Sheep. Visitors will be able to view the "Grand Slam" of rams, as well
as the Alaska Brown Bear ready to feed upon the salmon.
Also found in this exhibit is the Stone Sheep,
which can be found in the highest parts of the mountains. They jump
and climb ealiy when they plunge at great speed down steep slopes hundreds
of feet high.
The sheep, goat, and rams shown in this exhibit
live in the highest slopes of the mountains of the United States, Canada,
and Northern Mexico. They feed on grasses, sedge, lichen, leaves, and
tender shoots of trees, and many travel considerable distances to search out
salt licks. The mountain lion is by nature a solitary animal and
usually inhabits a defined territory. Mountain lions are found from
Southwest Canada southward to South America, with few in our area of Texas.
They mainly feed on deer, hares, rodents, and on occasion, domestic cattle.
The Rocky Mountain exhibit features a realistic
mountain ridge constructed from paper mache. A stream of water in blue
acrylic trails between a mountain crevice. While other exhibits are
equally ground and sky, this exhibit features mostly mountainside.
Paper mache boulders were created by Ann Leach and young volunteers.
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A Stone Sheep |
