Komodo Dragon: Hunger for the Hot Seat

When you think of winter animals, Komodo dragons may not be the first to come to mind. Native to tropical Indonesian islands, this species has specific temperature requirements.

Drogo, the GSC’s Komodo dragon, has both an indoor and outdoor exhibit space. During the cold months, you’ll find Drogo inside our museum’s Prehistoric Passages exhibit. There, his habitat is kept quite humid with temperatures between the mid-80s to 90 degrees and humidity around 60%. 

When it comes to it’s cool factor, the Komodo dragon’s lethal bite is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s keen sense of smell, large serrated teeth, and sheer size make this reptile a powerful predator indeed! 

During your visit, you’ll get to compare Drogo with ancient dinosaurs to gain an understanding of what adaptations reptiles of the past needed to survive.

Plan a visit to see Drogo for yourself! This month only (February 2021), children receive half price admission on regularly priced weekday general admission tickets. Get your discount now.

Preparing for Winter: Reptiles & Amphibians

The Greensboro Science Center is home to a number of reptiles and amphibians, including four awesome Aldabra tortoises! Although they live at the GSC all year long, during your winter visit, you won’t see these guys out and about in our zoo.

As cold-blooded animals, Aldabra tortoises need warm weather to stay healthy. When temperatures dip below about 60 degrees, they remain inside their blockhouses where the temperature is maintained at a toasty 80 degrees and where they have access to heat lamps and UV lamps.

You probably notice in your very own backyard that you don’t see turtles, snakes, frogs, and the like during winter. Many of these animals hibernate during the colder months. If you see one around as the temperatures begin to cool, the best thing to do is to leave it alone. If the animal is in an unsafe location, you can move it to a brushy area where it can burrow and hide. To help local reptiles and amphibians, you can create brush piles in your yard where they can stay warm and safe through winter!

Volunteer Spotlight: Daylyn L.

At the Greensboro Science Center, we are honored to welcome approximately 750 volunteers each year, giving a cumulative 36,000+ hours of their time. With a friendly greeting and a warm smile, our volunteers help us carry out our mission each day, educating our visitors about our animals and exhibits and inspiring them to learn more.

This week, we’d like to introduce you to Daylyn L. Daylyn has been volunteering at the Greensboro Science Center since 2013. She says:

As a child, I visited the Greensboro Science Center all the time. Now, even though school keeps me busy, I like to volunteer at the GSC on the weekends, at least 2 or 3 times a month. I was drawn to volunteering at the Greensboro Science Center because I have a passion for all animals. I love educating people about the different kinds of animals that live at the GSC. Since volunteering there, I found a new passion for herpetology, the study of reptiles and amphibians.

One of my best memories of being a volunteer was the day I got to shadow the Herp staff. I was allowed to assist with the husbandry and feeding of the snakes, lizards, salamanders, frogs and turtles. I even got to pet one of the Rhinoceros Iguanas, Rocky! I enjoyed shadowing the Herp staff because I want to be a herpetologist. I learned a lot that day and the staff made me feel welcomed.

Volunteering at the Greensboro Science Center means a lot to me. While working with the animals is a lot of fun, I have had a lot of really cool experiences interacting with visitors. A lot of the same people come to the Center every time I volunteer, so they always speak to me when they see me. I love seeing kids come to the Center and show their parents around. The best part of all, however, is knowing that what I do to teach the people might change the world as we know it. That is the most rewarding thing with volunteering at the Greensboro Science Center.