Become a Wilderness Explorer at the Animal Kingdom

If “Up” is one of your favorite Disney/Pixar movies, then Disney World’s Animal Kingdom has a great new surprise coming for you this spring.  Soon guests to the Animal Kingdom can become Wilderness Explorers, just like Russell from “Up.” Wilderness Explorers was the Boy Scout-style troop to which Russell belonged in the film.  An early version of this new experience was tested at the Animal Kingdom way back in the fall of 2011, and now it’s finally going to be making its debut this spring.  Wilderness Explorers isn’t a proper game like Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom; it’s closer to … Continue reading

Baby Animals at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

We interrupt your regularly scheduled details of the Animal Kingdom to bring a special post about the park: a highlight of all of the baby animals born there in the recent months. I could talk about the special tours and shopping found there (and I will eventually), but a choice between that and adorable baby animals? Please, I’m going with the cute. The most recent addition to the Animal Kingdom came in June, in the form of a baby okapi. Okapis look like they’re some kind of deer, or strange deer-like horses that are related to zebras, because they have … Continue reading

What to Do If You Find an Injured Wild Animal

When I was about 10 years old, my best friend and I loved to roam the woods around her house. One day we found an abandoned nest of baby flying squirrels. My friend loved animals and nature even more than I did, so she immediately brought the animals back to her house. She kept these squirrels for about a month, feeding them out of an eyedropper. She lost one or two of the babies, but most of them grew larger and healthy. Then one day the mother of one of our mutual friends called a local wild animal rescue concerning … Continue reading

Wild Africa Trek

Everyone around here knows how much I love the idea of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The concept of a zoo in an amusement park would be neat enough, but the Animal Kingdom is in some ways closer to a safari experience than that of a zoo. My excitement about the Animal Kingdom leads me to share new information any time there’s news about the park. I’ve managed to restrain myself from posting in paroxysms of glee whenever a baby animal is born there, but I think that the creation of a new attraction at the Animal Kingdom warrants attention. The official … Continue reading

What Do You Do When Your Child is Obsessed With Animals?

My preschool daughter is obsessed with dogs. Fortunately, she hasn’t taken to eating off the floor on all fours, but I know the thought has crossed her mind. My daughter has big plans to own a real dog one day, but for now she has to settle for being the “mother” of 34 stuffed ones. Yes, 34. No, I’m not proud of that number. And, no, I am not her enabler. That’s my mom’s role. Despite the obnoxious amount of furry four legged friends that take up residence in our home, I’d gladly take them and all of their shagginess … Continue reading

My Favorite Pet Blogs from the Past Year

Below is a list of my favorite articles I wrote during the past year, often with an explanation of what made them memorable. Five Non-Cash Ways to Help Animals/Shelters this Holiday Season: This was my first article to have a comment left on it. Is It Ever Okay to Kick a Dog?: This was my first article to ever get stars. The BMK Fund: This practice is very near and dear to my heart and it was neat to have a platform such as blogging for Families.com to share it on. How to Put Your Shopping Dollars to Work Helping … Continue reading

The Pets Blog Week in Review for Oct 8-14

Today marks the middle of the month. Say what? Didn’t it just start? Where the heck is the time going? I have no idea, but if you’ve been as busy as I have and didn’t have time to stay on top of the Pets Blog this week, no worries. Here’s the Week in Review that summarizes what Aimee and I wrote about on: Monday, October 8 In honor of Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, I gave six reasons why you’ll never regret adopting a dog. Aimee’s been doing a great job with a series of blogs on tropical fish, in … Continue reading

National Wildlife Day: Animals on My Mind

National Wildlife Day, which is today, is a day to celebrate wildlife. Which gives me the perfect excuse for writing about some animals I’ve had on my mind recently. Ones Close to Home At the beginning of the summer I went to Art Pancake’s Tusculum Feed Center. No, it’s not a pancake house. It sells animal and pet food of all kinds, and also rents out various equipment as well as fills propane tanks. That’s why I went. Our tank was empty but we were fixing to grill soon. As I waited in line, the people in front of me … Continue reading

Most Popular Pet Names of 2012

One thing we see a lot of this time of year is lists of baby names: the top baby names for the year, and names that are projected to be popular in the coming year.  What we don’t expect to see are studies of a different sort of name: dog names.  But that’s just what MSN did, compiling a list of the top puppy names for 2012. A familiar name tops the list: Bella.  It’s been a popular female dog name since 2006, thanks to the “Twilight” craze.  I can attest to that; Chihiro was originally named Bella when we … Continue reading

Special Shopping and Tours at the Animal Kingdom

Well, we’ve finally come to it. Today is the last in my series looking at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. As special events and other highlights happen at the park I’ll cover them, but today I’m finished my peek at what you can find on a normal basis at the Animal Kingdom. We’ll conclude with shopping and special tours. There’s not a lot of unique shopping at the Animal Kingdom. Most of the stores are of the typical shirts-and-stuffed-animals variety. However, there is the Mombasa Marketplace, in the Africa section of the Animal Kingdom, near the Tusker House. It’s divided into two … Continue reading