Long Island animal trainer “Nature Nick” Jacinto visited Newtown’s C.H. Booth Library Friday, July 18, showing kids a number of exotic animals.

“I’m here to show neat animals,” said Nature Nick as he presented the first animal to his audience, an African hedgehog named “Sprinkles.”

“The spikey pricks on its back are made of protein, keratin to be exact,” he said.

Each time Nature Nick brought out a new animal he not only talked about where it was from, but provided facts and educational information on how each animal would survive if in the wild.

“This African fennec fox named Tinker Bell is the smallest species of fox in the world,” he said. “But these foxes have big ears which help it hear and find food.”

Some of the other animals Nature Nick showed his audience were a coatimundi named Pinocchio, a legless lizard, a 3-year-old American Alligator, a Barbary falcon, Hokey-Pokey the porcupine, a common squirrel monkey named Tarzan, a 7-month-old red kangaroo, and Cheesecake, the albino Burmese python, whom a couple of volunteers from the audience helped hold. 

“Many of my animals have been seen on TV,” he said. “In fact, some of you may have seen Tinker Bell [the African fennec fox] on The Today Show.”

Nature Nick also told his audience that he is the author of a book called Nature Nick’s Animal Adventures, which includes pictures and stories about the exotic animals he works with.

For additional information visit his website, animaladventuresparties.com.