Download Winter 2020 (01-27-2020) newsletter
This issue includes:
- AMBASSADORS IN ACTION: Close Encounters of the Wild Kind: Linneaus Two-toed Sloth
- SHOW AND TAIL: Assessing 2.1 Straw Colored Fruit Bats (Eidolon helvum) for Ambassador Work
- SHOW AND TAIL: A Touching Experience (touch tanks)
- AMBASSADORS IN ACTION: Interpretive Tools for Incorporating Empathy into Live Animal Presentations
- SHOW AND TAIL: “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”: Reptiles Participating Voluntarily in Animal Programs
- SHOW AND TAIL: Um, I’m done, thanks.”: Offering End of Session Choice
AARIC Update (this update was in the Winter 2020 newsletter)
Have you visited the new AARIC.org website?
AARIC is the Ambassador Animal Resource and Information Center, formerly known as PARIS (Program Animal Rating and Information System). Since PARIS became AARIC, we’ve been working on streamlining the resources on this website. We’ve largely been focusing efforts on overhauling the species pages to focus less on messaging and natural history facts and more on husbandry, management, and presentation information. We’ve created a new template and are working our way through the species resource pages updating them to the new format with a small, but growing, army of editors. So, you may still see pages in different formats (old vs. new) as we work through the redesign.
You’ll also see we’ve archived pages that had little to no relevant information (you’ll see the species listed on the taxa pages, but it’s no longer a click-able link). Until we can get them updated with enough info to turn them back on we don’t want anyone ending up on dead-end pages that are not all that helpful!
Navigating AARIC
The AARIC homepage is designed to filter the newest/most recently updated pages for each taxa, so you can quickly see what species have had some updating (little facelifts or complete overhauls). The homepage also has a Featured Posts section at the top, this is where species who have recently had a full edit by some species-specific champions and are 90-100% complete (we can ALWAYS add more information from other institutions), so check this section frequently!
The top bar has a menu for Species Pages. Clicking just on the name
“Species Pages” takes you to a blog-style page of all the most recently
updated pages. Hovering your mouse over the menu will reveal taxonomic pages for further navigation of that group, where you’ll find links for individual species pages. At the bottom of individual species
pages, you’ll see keywords which that post is tagged with. Clicking
these will take you to other similar species pages. You can also use the
tag cloud (on the right hand side in desktop, at the bottom in mobile) to
sort species by keywords. And don’t forget to use the search bar if you’re
looking for something in particular.
Recently updated species pages:
• Western chuckwalla
• Patagonian cavy
• Chilean rose-haired tarantula
• Poison dart frogs (green & black)
• Nutria
• Woodchuck/Groundhog
• Red-tailed hawk
AARIC is a community resource. The more input each species has from a
variety of facilities, the better that resource becomes! Each newsletter, we’ll call for edits on a few new species to focus on for that quarter. However, at any time feel free to reach out to edit or update a species you see that greatly needs it! For the next quarter, we’re seeking updates for the following species:
• Mammals: Sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps)
• Birds: Umbrella cockatoo (Cacatua alba)
• Reptiles: Rainbow boa (Epicrates cenchria)
• Amphibians: American toad (Anaxyrus americanus)
• Aquatics & Invertebrates: Chaco golden knee tarantula (Grammostola pulchripes)
The editing process is all done inGoogle drive and super easy for anyone. If you have any of these species and would like to contribute content or photos of your animals in action to their AARIC pages, please
contact me: Jacque.Williamson@delaware.gov
Ambassador Animal Resource and Information Center 