Night quarters

elefante

elefante

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
i couldn't think of a good title, but how do zoos get animals into their night quarters? How does a zoo get something like a rhino, hippo, or elephant to enter its off exhibit area? Or something like a lion? How would a large safari park get a herd of zebras or wildebeest in for the night? Are they motivated just by food?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.
 
Food, usually. Or a treat. Although many animals feel more comfortable in their night quarters than being on exhibit, so sometimes there is no motivation needed.

And it's not a dumb question if you've never worked in a zoo.

:p

Hix
 
elefante said:
i couldn't think of a good title, but how do zoos get animals into their night quarters? How does a zoo get something like a rhino, hippo, or elephant to enter its off exhibit area? Or something like a lion? How would a large safari park get a herd of zebras or wildebeest in for the night? Are they motivated just by food?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.
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Don't worry, you're not alone! I too have wondered that same question before.
 
Food is a great motivator for animals :P

Sometimes the Pavlonian response works, often animals will sometimes associate sounds with food and it'll get em in, Columbus for example uses cheap instruments to get certain hoofstock species inside into their quarters
 
Food, or if they know that when they go inside there will be other forms of positive reinforcement and training and special attention from the keepers, which many / most animals look forward to. Sometimes it can take a long time and the keepers have to keep urging the animals to come in for a while. Other times, the animals will want to stay inside all day and not want to go on exhibit in the first place.
 
ZooElephantsMan said:
Food, or if they know that when they go inside there will be other forms of positive reinforcement and training and special attention from the keepers, which many / most animals look forward to. Sometimes it can take a long time and the keepers have to keep urging the animals to come in for a while. Other times, the animals will want to stay inside all day and not want to go on exhibit in the first place.
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How do you urge something like an elephant, rhino, hippo, or Cape buffalo inside?
 
I think the key word is 'training'. Most animals learn a routine provided that there is an appropriate reward, which is of course usually food. The phrase 'night quarters' can be a little misleading. There is often no need to shut animals into separate quarters at night, provided that the climate is suitable and they can choose to go into a sheltered area if the weather changes: however large or dangerous species always need to be shifted into a separate area while their main enclosure is being cleaned and serviced.
 
The flip side of this is: if you are visiting a zoo at the end of the day, look to the shift door in the exhibit. More likely than not the animals will be milling about near the door waiting to come in.
 
gentle lemur said:
There is often no need to shut animals into separate quarters at night, provided that the climate is suitable and they can choose to go into a sheltered area if the weather changes: however large or dangerous species always need to be shifted into a separate area while their main enclosure is being cleaned and serviced.
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Although some zoos will bring animals in for the night in order to reduce stress on the exhibit. Having grazing animals of hoofstock out in an enclosure 24 hours a day will usually result in a barren enclosure with more compacted soil.
 
elefante said:
How do you urge something like an elephant, rhino, hippo, or Cape buffalo inside?
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While the animals are indeed trained to come in they do not always do so when invited. Keepers will wait and hope the animals come in. In some cases they will go out to the fenceline and urge the animals in. In some instances it can take a very long time, as @ZooElephantsMan said
 
Food is a major factor I use, but all of the animals i work with get super excited when you get in the building or to the door. Fossa and ocelots, being more shy holy inside as soon as I open the door. Ungulates are usually called in, and a gorilla troop usually line up at the door that leads inside. Most animals just live their privacy at the end of the day! ;)
 
Positive reinforcement. The animals are smart enough to realize that they get the best reinforcers (treats, pm diet, etc.) inside so they are usually really good at coming in once they can. For some animals, it's harder to get them to shift outside. Either way, us keepers have to make sure wherever we want the animal to go is worth their while. Can't force them to do anything they don't want.
 
Just to point that most mammals, including ungulates and carnivores are either active day-round or nocturnal. Zoos closing them in 'night quarters' shut them in small and barren boxes for 14-18 hours out of 24. There are already positive examples of zoos allowing animals access to all their space day and night, especially elephants. I hope the practice of regularly closing animals in for night will be phased out. It is pointlessly lifted from management of domestic animals. Animals should be closed only for short periods during cleaning their exhibits or in rare extreme weather conditions.
 
Jurek7 said:
Just to point that most mammals, including ungulates and carnivores are either active day-round or nocturnal. Zoos closing them in 'night quarters' shut them in small and barren boxes for 14-18 hours out of 24. There are already positive examples of zoos allowing animals access to all their space day and night, especially elephants. I hope the practice of regularly closing animals in for night will be phased out. It is pointlessly lifted from management of domestic animals. Animals should be closed only for short periods during cleaning their exhibits or in rare extreme weather conditions.
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The only reasons we close animals in for the night are for security reasons or for predation reasons. Anytime it is deemed safe to do so, animals are given access to both indoor and outdoor enclosures during night hours. At least for our domestics, they are always put indoors at night because of predation concerns.
 
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