Paws and Claws Animal Encounters

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Paws and Claws Animal Encounters Enriching animal encounters at the Gateway to Hocking Hills since 2015. Encounters on our farm have begun! Check out https://www.pandcencounters.com to book.
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Proud to offer swimming with otters, painting with otters, fox, sloth, and capybara encounters, as well as full tours at one of the most unique farms around.

10/16/2026

Raccoons are remarkably intelligent, frequently matching the cognitive scores of small primates. In laboratory testing, scientists discovered that raccoons can successfully pick open complex mechanical locks featuring switches, levers, and hooks. More impressively, they can recall the exact solution to a puzzle for up to three years without any intervening practice.

Whiskers first, pumpkin second! Those impressive white whiskers help binturongs feel their surroundings in the dark—a us...
10/15/2026

Whiskers first, pumpkin second!

Those impressive white whiskers help binturongs feel their surroundings in the dark—a useful adaptation for exploring the forest canopy, and investigating something new.

Pumpkin season, fox style! 🎃 Our red foxes, Copper, Everest, and Wilder are giving this pumpkin a thorough sniff—and a f...
10/14/2026

Pumpkin season, fox style! 🎃 Our red foxes, Copper, Everest, and Wilder are giving this pumpkin a thorough sniff—and a few nibbles. Seasonal enrichment offers new smells, textures, and opportunities to explore, encouraging natural behaviors like investigating and foraging.

10/14/2026

I will forever stop what I’m doing and give love to these incredible creatures 🩷

The pumpkin inspection crew has arrived! Raccoons have highly sensitive front paws and use touch to explore objects and ...
10/13/2026

The pumpkin inspection crew has arrived!
Raccoons have highly sensitive front paws and use touch to explore objects and investigate food. A pumpkin gives those busy paws plenty of new textures and shapes to examine—right down to the stem!

10/13/2026

That nose sure is extra boopable. Prehensile-tailed porcupines are definitely known for their big nose, but as big as it is, scientists haven’t quite figured out why exactly why it is the large size that it is. Here is what we do know:

They have an excellent sense of smell. Their eyesight is relatively poor, and smell works alongside hearing and touch as an important way of investigating their surroundings.

Smell helps with nighttime food searching. They’re nocturnal herbivores that eat leaves, shoots, flowers, and bark. Using scent to investigate potential foods is extremely important.

Their whiskers provide a separate sense of touch. Whiskers around the muzzle help them feel their surroundings in darkness.

10/12/2026

Fern had to make sure her rock stayed close.

Although Asian Small Clawed Otters don't have pockets for rocks, like sea otters, rocks still play several roles in their lives. They "juggle" pebbles. They rapidly move stones between their paws, sometimes rolling them against their bodies as a form of object play.The reason is still a mystery.

A study found more juggling when otters were hungry, but frequent jugglers weren't better at solving food puzzles. So the idea that it's practice for handling food remains unproven.

Rocks hide their next meal. Sensitive pads on their paws help them feel beneath stones for prey, even in murky water.

Rocks can be grooming surfaces. Rubbing against rocks and logs helps otters maintain their coats. Those wiggles and rolls can serve a useful purpose!

Mongoose Monday should totally be a thing. Did you know kusimanse mongooses are rainforest animals? Native to West Afric...
10/12/2026

Mongoose Monday should totally be a thing.
Did you know kusimanse mongooses are rainforest animals? Native to West Africa, they search for food among leaf litter, fallen logs, and dense vegetation.
While there are several rainforest mongooses, what makes kusimanses interesting is their combination of rainforest habitat and highly social group living, compared with familiar mongooses such as meerkats and dwarf mongooses that typically inhabit more open environments.

10/09/2026

Good morning from Xander and Xena, the tamanduas (aka lesser anteaters).

Tamanduas communicate through scent, sounds, and body posture. Their sounds include hisses, snorts, and sniffs. One of the reasons they may have limited vocalizations is that they don't live in large groups in the wild. Males are often found solitary or with one female. They don't have the need to chatter and communicate all the time like some other very social species, such as Asian Small Clawed Otters.

Rocky the red fox 🦊❤️🖤🧡Red foxes don’t have to be red! Their coats can also be silver, black, or a mixture of dark and r...
10/08/2026

Rocky the red fox 🦊❤️🖤🧡

Red foxes don’t have to be red! Their coats can also be silver, black, or a mixture of dark and reddish fur. These are color variations of the same species, and that also applies to the wild foxes. We see many more color variations bred in captivity which originated from fur farms. While it’s not entirely impossible to see more color variations in the wild, you will typically only see the standout colors (such as platinum, marble, burgundy, pearl, lilac/blue, etc)in pet foxes or captive born foxes.

How can you tell they are a red fox then? All red foxes have a white tipped tail!

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Bremen, OH

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7402434740

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