Brought to life in 1979, Jim Gary’s Twentieth Century Dinosaurs exhibition of large, colorful sculptures of dinosaurs, made from discarded automobile parts, began an amazing journey around the world. The exhibit traveled nationally and internationally to museums and universities; was used as sets for films, plays, and operas; was presented as exhibits for national auto shows and racing events; and was presented as landscape displays in the most elegant of botanical gardens, such as Longwood Gardens on the Pierre S. du Pont estate.

In 1993, the exhibition made its southeastern U.S. debut at the Tallahassee Museum and then continued on a world-wide tour. In 2006, internationally noted artist Jim Gary, died at the early age of 66. Later, the James T. Gary Foundation was established, and efforts were pursued to preserve his memory, art, and his Twentieth Century Dinosaurs exhibition. In 2011, the Foundation and Tallahassee Museum joined to make the Museum the home of Jim Gary’s Twentieth Century Dinosaurs and showcase the largest restored collection of his dinosaur sculptures.

Today, 21 exhibit pieces are featured at the Museum with some spanning as much as 43 feet in length and weighing up to 4,000 pounds. In Jim Gary’s Twentieth Century Dinosaurs, junkyard castaways get a second chance to function–transformed into graceful renditions of prehistoric creatures. They teach us lessons in art, science, technology and environmental education. Six years after the collection found its home, The Museum still works closely with the Foundation to ensure the exhibit loan is preserving the memory of the late Jim Gary.

Last fall, Arlene Berg, the director of the James T. Gary Foundation reached out to Russell Daws, the Museum’s President and CEO about the possibility of creating a new scholarship opportunity for a deserving art student. Mr. Daws immediately thought of Florida State’s Master Craftsman Studio — a mixed media studio creating custom artwork to serve the needs of commercial, residential, healthcare, and hospitality clients as well as Florida State University.

Daws connected the Foundation with the FSU Master Craftsman Studio almost immediately, and a short time later a full scholarship was successfully established. The opportunity was available to any Florida student of the College of Fine Art currently enrolled in their junior or senior year.

Sophia Baldwin became the first FSU student to be awarded the James T. Gary scholarship and will have the opportunity to work with the Master Crafters on their current installations this fall. Sophia first came to the Master Craftsman Studio last fall looking for some assistance with a sculpture project. Her project was awarded Best in Show at the recent exhibit, “Synthesis” at the Working Method Contemporary Gallery at FSU.

As a thank you gift to the Foundation, Sophia designed and created a beautiful fused glass sculpture, a reference to Gary’s infamous “pink dinosaur” sculpture.  The Tallahassee Museum is honored to have been a part of this partnership between the James T. Gary Foundation and the FSU Master Craftsman Studio. Congratulations Sophia!

A litter of critically endangered red wolves was born at the Tallahassee Museum on Friday, April 21 – one female and three male pups. This is the first litter born at the Museum since 2005, and is only the fourth time a red wolf has given birth here in 28 years.

The four newborn puppies are now 13 days-old, and are being closely monitored by animal care staff and veterinarians.

“The pups appear to be thriving, and their mother is doing a great job taking care of them” said Mike Jones, Animal Curator.

This is the mother’s second litter – her first litter was born at the Riding Reflection Arboretum and Nature Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The mother was brought to the Tallahassee Museum in January, per the direction of the Red Wolf Species Survival Plan (SSP) – a collaborative breeding and management program developed by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) to maintain a genetically viable population in captivity.

Red wolves were once a top predator in the southeastern United States, but there are now less than 50 remaining in the wild according to the SSP. In 1988, the Tallahassee Museum became the sixth institution in the United States to join the Red Wolf SSP, and the Museum’s red wolves have been important contributors to the SSP research and recovery project that seeks to bring the native species back from the brink of extinction.

“We felt the Red Wolf SSP was a good program for the Museum, since the species was native to our region and we wanted to play a role in saving it,” said Jones.

Each year, eligible animals in the Red Wolf SSP are evaluated for health and genetics to formulate the breeding recommendations for the coming year.

“The SSP began with the last 14 red wolves known to exist, so maintaining genetic diversity is paramount to success,” said Jones.

The two pairs of adult wolves at the Museum are among the 200 red wolves maintained at several dozen facilities across the United States under the Red Wolf SSP. The Museum’s animal staff had witnessed one of the wolf pairs mating several times earlier this spring, and was hopeful the two wolves would successfully breed.

“In early April, our team saw signs that puppies were probably on the way,” said Jones.

Two video cameras mounted in the den and habitat enabled the staff to monitor the wolves day and night, so when the birthing began at 4:00 am, staff became aware of the activity and were able to observe the process without disturbing the mother.

The new family remains in the Museum’s Red Wolf exhibit, but it may be a while before visitors can actually view the pups since they won’t begin to spend time outside the den until age four to six weeks. The pups will stay with the mother and father in the exhibit through the summer and fall.

As a participant in the Red Wolf SSP, the Tallahassee Museum also works with partners to provide biological materials to help in reproductive and health research of the wolf population. The Museum’s animal care team recently worked with Will Waddell, Red Wolf SSP Coordinator and Dr. Ashley Franklin, a postdoctoral research fellow from Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, Wash., to collect semen samples for research on the wolves’ sperm quality.

Museum veterinarian Dr. David Hale administered the anesthesia and assisted with the procedure. The samples were evaluated to determine the wolves’ viability, then frozen and added to the genome resource bank for red wolves, with the possibility for future use in artificial insemination.

The Museum’s red wolves have also been involved in testing for stress hormones and other bio-markers through fecal assays.  Museum staff has prepared fecal samples from our wolves and sent them to the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute laboratory for analysis. Researchers look for genetic variants believed to be linked to stress hormones that may contribute to health issues. These variants have been identified in several family lines of red wolves.

This research will help identify and reduce stressful conditions in the wolves’ environment and address problems ranging from digestive disease to reproductive and behavioral problems.

For more information about the Tallahassee Museum Red Wolf pups, please call 850-575-8684 ext. 140. For more information on the Red Wolf Recovery Program, visit: http://www.fws.gov/redwolf/ 

The Museum’s Animal Department staff is charged daily with the responsibilities of meeting the nutritional, behavioral, and medical needs of 51 species and 140 individual animals, as well as their safety and security.  Assisting our staff is a knowledgeable and dedicated corps of veterinarians who regularly donate their expertise and time to the Museum and our living collection.

Occasionally, during our staff and vet’s routine caregiving, they run into unique medical challenges that require creative and cutting edge solutions. We thought you would find the two following examples of interest.

Several years ago, the Museum’s male Florida Panther was exhibiting pain from pre-existing arthritis in his right elbow and a stick fracture that occurred when he was one-year-old.  Seeking to provide relief to our cat, one of our vets, Dr. Norm Griggs a performed a revolutionary stem cell transplant on him in September of 2011.  This was the first stem cell transplant on a big cat in the United States!

Two ounces of fat was extracted from his belly and sent to a company in California and approximately 33 million stem cells were isolated and saved.  Around 8 million of these stem cells were then carefully injected by Griggs into our cat’s injured elbow joint with the goal was to re-grow cartilage in his elbow. Almost immediately improvements were seen and the cat was able to re-grow cartilage in his elbow and has been running and playing full speed for years.

However, more recently, our animal department staff has been occasionally noticing a small amount of shaking in the panther’s right leg. Although this has not slowed him down a bit, we are consulting with Dr. Griggs.

In the meantime, we have started using another promising new medical technology –laser therapy.  Another one of our local veterinarians,  Dr. Jennell Appel, who has been providing support and care for another cat at the Museum connected the Museum’s animal team with Respond Systems Inc., which is a company that produces state of the art therapy equipment for animals.

Respond Systems Inc. generously donated a three -month trial of their therapy laser system, which safely stimulates cells and energizes natural cellular processes. The Museum has been using the laser on the panther’s elbow weekly to decrease inflammation, pain and increase circulation to the area.  As a result, we have seen the valuable benefits of this laser on our panther as well as our other animals and realized it could be a valuable tool in providing quality care to our living collection.  However, the cost was a major concern and the Museum’s annual operating budget could not afford the expense.

Fortunately, the presence of generous donors allows the Museum to accomplish things that our annual operating budget often cannot.  Because we are a non-profit, Respond Systems Inc. donated a portion of the cost of their therapy laser system to us!  The balance of the system’s purchase cost was generously provided by long-time Museum friends and donors to the Museum… The Cat Life Foundation, Billy and Dianna Norwood, and Carol Allen.

We are so very thankful to the Cat Life Foundation for their continued support of our feline friends, to Respond Systems Inc., Billy and Dianna Norwood, and Carol Allen for their donations, and to all of the veterinarians who have been taking such excellent care of our animals over the years!

For more information on how laser therapy works, check out:

http://respondsystems.com/laser/laser-how-it-works/