Animals sometimes get the best of their Academy keepers

When you visit the Academy, it’s easy to think everything is very buttoned up and orderly when you stare at the different animals in their enclosures. But a recent Wall Street Journal article revealed some of the challenging episodes that a building full of wild specimens can present to those who run the joint.

Last summer, thousands of leafcutter ants inside the Rainforest exhibit figured out how to bore passages inside a feeding tree near their nest, which allowed them to flee their enclosure. A new artificial tree had to be installed and once it’s thoroughly vetted as escape-proof, the ants will be returned to their habitat.

“The ants decided they would like to expand their territory—and proved that they were smarter than the humans who designed their display,” says Stephanie Stone, an academy spokeswoman.

In another part of the building, an apprently shy, 12-inch monitor lizard burrowed into an opening in the artificial rock of his enclosure. Biologists had to employ a tiny remote camera to locate the lizard. Later they installed new rockwork with no openings.

The aquarium curator, Bart Shepherd, says they have been trying unsuccessfully for two months to remove a zebra moray eel so a veterinarian can inspect a growth on its head. So far it continues to elude capture by wedging itself in the rocks of the 300 gallon tank where it lives.

Shepherd told the WSJ, “We want to have all these animals under control because this is a controlled environment. But when you reproduce the natural environment, then they have an advantage.”

Even before the Academy’s makeover and re-opening, the staff met challenges trying to “tame” their wild inhabitants. About 10 years ago, crabs kept mysteriously disappearing from a tank. The bandit was a giant octupus two tanks over, who was using his giant tentacle to sneak out at night and catch crabs.

For more on the ants and other Academy animal hijinks, get the full story at wsj.com.

Sarah B.