Animal News:
In Rainforest Falls --
* There was a sign about a new Sun Bittern a few weeks ago. When I looked on ISIS, it said the zoo had one male, one female. However, I haven't seen either in the past couple of weeks.
* I believe the zoo has a acquired a new Brown Capuchin. I haven't seen the normal trio in months and I assumed they were shipped to another zoo. When I first saw the new monkey, it looked like it was trying to get used to its new surroundings.
* I saw a Grey Necked Wood Rail a couple of months ago hiding in a bush, but I haven't seen it since.
* Their Scarlet Macaw has been replaced by a Green Winged Macaw. The last time I saw her, she was creeping up closer to me and even said, "Peekaboo!"
Births --
* The baby gorilla is doing well. They assume it's a female, but they are still unsure as they haven't handled the baby yet. The mother, Sidney, has just started to let her baby down on the ground.
* The giraffe has yet to deliver her baby and they expected the birth at the beginning of October. The female polar bear is also assumed to be expecting, but she has yet to show signs of denning.
I went to the zoo's Enrichment Day this weekend, which was sort of a lackluster event. At least compared to pictures I've seen of other zoos' enrichment days. It started off with the sea lions and otters. I admit at this point there was no one at the zoo so the keepers asked if I had any questions and when I said no, they went in to set up for the otters and told me to enjoy. Both the sea lions and otters got a water jug filled with fish. The jug had its main opening and them some additional holes for the animals to try to figure out how to move it to get the fish out. Both of the animals had a ball, though the sea lions devoured theirs in a matter of minutes. A visitor commented on the otters, "They're not really smart animals. I mean they get fed like this every day and it's taking them this long to figure it out!" Perhaps they didn't get the memo it was enrichment day -- a) they aren't fed like this every day b) it's supposed to be a challenge for them so they can use their minds.
The reindeer enrichment was probably my favorite one of the day. I often feel the reindeer are overlooked as they are tucked away in a corner of the zoo with an unappealing looking exhibit. But the first snowfall happened the day before and with Christmas around the corner, the reindeer can become a favorite for the season. Anyway, their keepers set up a reindeer for the real ones to observed. I was intrigued by this idea as I've seen at other zoos if an animal enrichment item is made, it's usually made to look like its prey. But the keepers wanted to see what the male would do with it, thinking he may spur it to protect his female clan. But the opposite happened which was an amusing event. The male, Borealis, came up and sniffed it. He walked around it, nuzzled it, and then he eventually mounted it which knocked the creature over. One of the zookeepers was delighted as the reindeer have always seemed to mate during the night so she never saw this behavior before. At this point Borealis did some scooping and realized there was food inside. Aurora came to investigate later when Borealis wasn't looking. The keepers provided a talk about reindeer, the ones at the zoo, and even had antlers on hand for people to touch. They really showed they invested in this event.
The enrichment at Heritage Farms was another quiet event. Candy Ann, got her boomer ball, which she moves with her nose and food pellets come out for her to eat. One of her keepers mentioned she will blow air from her nose to move her shavings out of the way while eating. The Berkshire pigs got two pumpkins to gorge on. Ruby, the devon milking cow did some behaviors (targeting and spinning) and got some treats. A friend of mine who works in this section of the zoo did some training with the southdown sheep. He's train one of the males to jump over hurtles, spin, and kiss him on the cheek. He brought out the female, who hasn't grasped the concept of jumping over hurtles. So instead she will craw under them. So I got to help hold one end of the stick to make sure it stayed in place when she went under it.
I was quite disappointed with the tiger and lion enrichment. The tigers got a couple paper mache bones and a ball filled with treats. The lions, however, got nothing. None of the keepers stayed out to talk to visitors. I'm not sure if it was because the felines were already in their exhibit and they couldn't set up with them in it. But they threw the items in the tiger exhibit from the roof, so I wasn't sure why they couldn't do that for the lions. In the past they have made creatures like zebras and giraffes so it was disappointing to see the lack of creativity.
The gorillas got peanut jars with celery and carrot sticks in them. Most of the gorillas figures out how to screw the cap off, but one of them just made a hole in her jar to get the peanut butter out. They also got some boxes with some food stuck in it for them to eat. At one point I saw that Sidney, the mother gorilla, set her baby down, which found a small piece of cardboard for her to eat off of.
The Ecostation animals just got pumpkins or cardboard boxes filled with hay and other goodies hidden in it. Again, the keepers would observe their animals, but made no effort to talk to the public.
The Snow Leopards may have made the most out of their enrichment. Even before the event, they found a pine cone and they had a ball batting it back and forth and trying to steal it from one another. The cubs are getting so big and the cold weather seems to make them more active. They got paper mache birds tied on strings with meat inside them. The mother and one of the cubs got the hang out getting the birds down, but the other cub seemed a little defeated. He sort of waited for one of the others to leave their bird so he could have a chance to rip it apart.
I missed the bears and Rainforest enrichment sessions, which I think were probably more interesting and creative. I'm glad the zoo did this for their animals, but I wish they were more creative in their creations. I have enjoyed that in the past month they have given the animals left over pumpkins for them to play with or eat.
