Jenna Spillo
Last Friday I had the opportunity to meet a bunch of cool and interesting animals that live at the Nature Center here on campus. Jim Eyring, the man in charge of the event and official animal-keeper of Pace University, showed us owls, falcons, and snakes. He even told us some stories about his childhood, talked about the history of the Nature Center, and shared some insight on finding your passion in life.
Meet Eleanor! She is a barn owl with a lot of personality. Not only is she able to turn her head a full 270 degrees but she also has extremely strong talons that she uses to rip up her prey. During our meeting on Friday, she used her talons to scratch at her cage door whenever she was not getting enough attention. To make matters worse, Jim forgot to bring her food so whenever she performed tricks she would peck at him in disapproval. One particularly adorable side note: when Eleanor was a baby she apparently thought Jim was her mother. Now that she is more mature, she thinks Jim is her mate. Why the switch? According to Jim, this is because in the wild only a mate would share food with her.
Then we met Elvis! He is a gyrfalcon (largest of the falcon species) trained by Jim himself. I would describe Elvis as the star athlete of the event. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to show off his talents on Friday because we were inside. But I’ve had the opportunity to see Jim fly Elvis outside before and he is incredibly fast, swift, and smart. He does not mess around when it comes to diving in the air for food.
Finally, we met Harley the boa constrictor. Compared to Eleanor and Elvis, she was very gentle and quiet. In fact, she was so well behaved that Jim let everyone in the room pet her and some brave souls even held her. While Harley wrapped herself around Jim’s arm, Jim took the opportunity to talk about the misjudgment of snakes in society. He said they are generally calm creatures that are similar to bees, they will only hurt you if you hurt them first. Jim also debunked the misconception that snakes are slimy. He did this by rubbing Harley in his hair and showing us that it was still dry. Yes, he rubbed a snake in his hair. That day I learned that snakes are smooth and that Jim is a little crazy.
Overall, our meeting with the animals was really fun, educational, and even inspiring. Jim finished off the event by encouraging us to find our passion and a job that we love to do. If we can do that then we’ll never have to work a day in our life.