Creature Teacher Brings Hands-On Animal Program to Area Library

By Adam Wadsworth, Staff Writer

Did you know the chinchilla is the second softest animal in the world? If you were at the McMillan Memorial Library in Overton on Wednesday you would've learned that and a lot more.

The library played host to a selection of exotic and domestic animals as Robyn Wheeler, The Creature Teacher, entertained a crowd of excited children and their parents wile teaching the group little-known facts about the animals they were viewing.

Wheeler began the program in 1996 with a passion for introducing children to exotic animals and growing their interest in science.

"Showing kids animals that they maybe haven't been able to see on a regular basis or maybe have never seen at all," Wheeler said of her program's goals. "I've actually done shows where kids say they've never pet, they've never touched an animal at all, ever."

She said summer is the busiest time of the year for the East Texas-based program, which performs shows at venues such as schools, libraries and birthday parties.

The Overton show was her second on Wednesday, but she said it all depends on the day. The group has 10 different shows it can perform with any number of its more than 30 unique animal species.

Wheeler brought nine of her animals with her to Overton, ranging from domestic reptiles to Peruvian animals.

Althought names such as Fred, Barney, Rita and Sierra seem normal, in this case, they were a few of the names for The Creature Teacher's pets.

Wheeler open with Betty and Barney, the purple pincher hermit crabs. The two move in and out of the number of different shells in their box which include a shell with a smiley face and a tiny Cowboys' football helmet.

The crowd favorite, which Wheeler said is consistent at almost all her shows, was Spice, the chinchilla from Chili.

Children older than 3 years old were allowed to come up and pet, what Wheeler said is, the second softest animal in the world, behind the sea otter.

Spice has a nontraditional way of bathing, she said, because if she were to get her fur wet it would lose its softness. Rather than bathing in water,  chinchillas roll around in ash or chinchilla dust, because it keep their fur dry.

Another crowd favorite was Taffy the Peruvian skinny pig. A skinny pig is a guinea pig that has no hair. Wheeler said it has an internal body temperature of over 100 degrees and felt like holding a warm potato.

The show also include Wyatt, the 4-month old prairie dog, Sierra, the Richardson ground squirrel and Lottie, the African fat-tailed gecko. More information on the program can be found at www.thecreatureteacher.org.