By Wolf Ridge Naturalist
We have a few new animal friends here at Wolf Ridge, let’s learn a little bit about them!
Our first new resident is a Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus) named Betelgeuse, who is very social and outgoing. His hibernation was disrupted and didn’t have much fur on his back when found. So he was brought to a wildlife rehabilitator who helped him grow his hair back. He was deemed unfit to be brought back to the wild so now he is here with us! Big Brown Bats are Minnesota’s largest cave-dwelling bat with a wingspan of up to 12 inches. They also love to eat insects! In the wild, that may include mosquitos or moths but here at Wolf Ridge, we feed our bats mealworms. We’re happy to have Beetlejuice here with us and so is our other bat, Rigel!
Our other new friend is an amphibian! Our new Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) is energetic and loves to burrow into the soil. He was most recently a part of another family as a pet and was surrendered to a wildlife rehabilitator because he could not live in the wild on his own. In the wild, a Tiger Salamander will burrow underground during the day and at night will go out to find food. Tiger Salamanders are fairly common so keep your eyes open! If you ever pick one up make sure to keep your hands moist and covered in dirt so you can protect the sensitive skin of the salamander from your skin and whatever may be on it!
