Friends of the Wildlife Discovery Center

Friends of the Wildlife Discovery Center The WDC is a fully licensed wildlife education outreach program serving the Mid South. God's creation is amazing!

The Wildlife Discovery Center was founded by Rob and Dr. Toni Carmichael in 1996. While in the Chicago area, this zoo/nature center became one of the most popular destinations in the region and certainly in the Chicago area. After a 38 year career, Rob and his wife, Dr. Toni Carmichael (who was a 8th grade public school teacher for 25 years) retired to Tennessee where they have continued the legac

y of the Wildlife Discovery Center. Our animal ambassadors include sloths, owls and many unique and fascinating reptiles! Although we no longer have a brick and mortar facility with trails for people to visit, we do many outreach programs at schools, special events, church groups, homeschool groups, TV appearances and private functions. We believe strongly in the idea that STEAM based programming helps to unlock the potential of students and we incorporate many environmental education standards into our program. It is our hope that people will be both inspired but also take action and become passionate stewards of this amazing planet called Earth. We are also excited to share that we also have a not-for-profit wing called the Friends of the Wildlife Discovery Center to allow supporters to make tax deductible donations. And with that, thank you for taking the time to join our family by liking our page and God bless, Rob and Toni Carmichael

Become a Wildlife Ambassador here: https://www.thewildlifediscoverycenter.org/support

We love our wildlife that make the Wildlife Heritage Farm home. Yesterday, we had a Bald Eagle Visit the lake and enjoy...
06/06/2026

We love our wildlife that make the Wildlife Heritage Farm home. Yesterday, we had a Bald Eagle Visit the lake and enjoy some fine dining of bass and carp. Last night while finishing barn chores we stumbled across a beautiful Kingsnake. In Memphis, we have an intergrade between the Speckled Kingsnake and the Eastern Black Kingsnake as their ranges overlap in this region of the Mississippi River. These harmless but powerful constrictors are well known to prey on copperheads and cottonmouth ensuring a healthy balance of biodiversity on our farm.

05/29/2026

One of our rescued box turtles (released in early April) spotted nearly three hundred yards from release site on our farm. She’s doing great and look at her go! Notice the tangle of poison ivy she ducks into. It’s only us humans that have issues. These are important plants for soil stability, shade and food for many species. If we can avoid picking up it’s much better for the animal.

The Friends of the WDC would like to say a heartfelt Happy Memorial Day as we honor and remember everyone who made the u...
05/24/2026

The Friends of the WDC would like to say a heartfelt Happy Memorial Day as we honor and remember everyone who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. It’s because of them we enjoy our freedoms and continue to do so. Denali our Livestock Guardian Dog (a Great Pyranees) is even in deep thought and enjoying the beauty of our farm that we’ve been blessed with.

05/23/2026

While we were doing farm chores today, Dr Carmichael spotted a 4.5’ western ratsnake, Pantherophis obsoletus, near our farm entrance. These amazing denizens of the canopy spend a lot of time climbing trees hunting birds and eating bird eggs. On the ground, they’ll go on the prowl for rodents making them a great snake to have around!

05/06/2026

Good morning from the 901! After a night of thunderous storms, the passing of the storms has brought on a wonderful calm and a surge of bird activity around the farm. We are beginning to restore the area around the front pond and converting it from an estate-style mowed lawn into a thriving grassland environment having seeded the area recently . We are starting to add rocks around the pond to provide niche habitat for hatchling turtles, tadpoles and fry (baby fish:-). Once we finish that phase we will add sedges and other aquatic plants to improve water quality and provide additional cover. This is only possible from the generosity of our supporters. Our hummingbird feeders are booming! We’ve counted 24 hummingbirds already this morning and even had an Oriole visit which is a wonderful surprise. Anyone can help wildlife in their own backyard! The Wildlife Heritage Farm is committed towards promoting co-existence with nature!

The venomous Chiapan Beaded Lizard, aka the Black Beaded Lizard, is native to Mexico and northwest Guatemala. There are...
05/02/2026

The venomous Chiapan Beaded Lizard, aka the Black Beaded Lizard, is native to Mexico and northwest Guatemala. There are very few represented in U.S. collections and we possess 5 specimens who are ambassadors. This strange but beautiful lizard lives a fossorial life which means it spends much of its time underground. A study showed that they may live 95% of their lives underground! While underground, they hunt for ground nesting birds and their eggs, rodents and even eggs from reptiles. Their venom is being researched to find new cures for human diseases and we look forward to being part of that process. This is one of our males doing a photo shoot at our farm. Photo credits to Alejandro Tuzon Alejandro Tuzon who did a great job!

The Wildlife Heritage Farm is a great example of how one can have livestock and enjoy nature at the same time. Today, w...
04/27/2026

The Wildlife Heritage Farm is a great example of how one can have livestock and enjoy nature at the same time. Today, we saw our first cottonmouth on our property which was an amazing sight. And despite getting within a couple of feet, it never once felt threatened and just continued on its day searching for frogs, fish, and rodents. This is one of three pit vipers that live in our region and are key ecosystem managers in keeping rodent populations in check. It’s just a matter of respecting, not fearing, them and enjoy them from a safe distance. Contrary to misconceptions and rural folklore, this species does NOT attack people. Here’s some pics of this beautiful viper!

We hope everyone is having a wonderful Earth Day! There’s so many easy things you can do to help wildlife and their hab...
04/22/2026

We hope everyone is having a wonderful Earth Day! There’s so many easy things you can do to help wildlife and their habitat. From reducing plastic, using less water, reusing/recycling, putting up bird feeders and water stations and much more! We have a small pond at the front of the farm that we are converting into a thriving wetland paradise for birds, reptiles, amphibians, mammals and certain fish species. This is requiring us to convert a manicured lawn around the pond to a grassland paradise. Today, we are planting native sedges along the pond’s edge while putting many wildflower and native grass seed along the edges. Several dead trees will be cut into pieces and used for turtle basking areas. It’s going to take a few seasons but we are already seeing improvement. We will be putting up blue bird boxes too! We also celebrate something that most find despicable; Poison Ivy! Our farm has a few areas where it’s pretty dense and that’s okay! The berries are nutrient dense providing food for many species of birds including Bluebirds, Woodpeckers and many others. Their roots help stabilize the soil which keeps forests healthy. And many mammals eat their leaves and shoots as they are not affected like us humans. So high five to the Poison Ivy:-)

Dr Toni Carmichael and I are so blessed to be at our farm. We’ve been sharing many of our farm animals lately but most ...
04/20/2026

Dr Toni Carmichael and I are so blessed to be at our farm. We’ve been sharing many of our farm animals lately but most of our animal ambassadors are reptiles which we adore. “Bowzer” has been with us for many years and is always the hit at our educational programs. Bowzer is a Broad Snouted Caiman which is rarely seen and he is such a great animal to work with. He loves all the sunlight that comes into his habitat plenty of water to swim in. We have a very busy spring and summer shaping up including taking on two college interns which is awesome. Stay tuned!

04/10/2026

We hope everyone is enjoying this picture perfect day in the 901! Now that our Kildeer have hatched, mom and dad are doing a great job raising them up. They spend a lot of time along the shoreline of our lake at the Wildlife Heritage Farm where they forage for food and have thick vegetation to duck into if they feel threatened. Cute lil tykes!!!

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Memphis, TN

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm
Sunday 10am - 4pm

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