Posts Tagged ‘enrichment’

Apr
10

Amazing Animal Artists!

Posted by in Public Programs

As you may know, the Education department took over the logistics of tours last year.  This means that we do the behind-the-scenes arrangements for behind-the-scenes tours!  (I blogged about it, so you can read more if you missed it or forgot.) 

One of our raccoons paints with a brush, while the other likes to use her hands.

Part of taking over tours means that we now also coordinate animal art purchases made by the public.  What?  You didn’t know that you could purchase animal art?  Well, you can!

You may have heard about how our orangutans are artists who help raise money for wild orangutans through Pongos helping Pongos.  You might have seen one of our incredible painting goats on the blog or on YouTube.  It’s even possible that you have heard of our artistic elephants and their painting adventures.  Believe it or not, these are just a few of the animals at the Houston Zoo who paint on a regular basis!

We have several painting primates; our Saki monkey and siamangs enjoy their chance at the canvas as much as our orangutans do.  The Children’s Zoo animals really get into the act, with painting goats, raccoons, and parrots!  We even have carnivores who are artists!!  Our jaguars, lions, and maned wolves paint with their paws instead of brushes.  And of course, two of our elephants make stunning artwork of their own. 

Painting is a form of enrichment for our animals.  It gives them something different to do, something new to smell, and different textures to feel.  For some of our animals, painting is part of their training program; for others, it’s provided as an option during their day.  All of our animals are given the choice if they want to participate.  If they’re not in the mood, the painting has to wait.  On at least one occasion, this has made for an even more interesting painting!

Want to know more about how you can own a piece of animal art?   Visit www.houstonzoo.org/animalart.  You can get in on the fun as well, choosing up to two colors of paint for your work of art!

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Feb
03

MD Anderson Kids Provide Hearts O’ Fun!

Posted by in Events,Fun on grounds

At the end of January of this year we had several children from MD Anderson Cancer Center visit the Houston Zoo. They brought along family members and some of their care staff to provide enrichment for our white rhinos and chimpanzees.

What is enrichment again? Oh yeah, it’s that fun stuff you give to your animals…

Well, yes. On a more technical note it is anything that keepers provide to their animals to promote natural behaviors they would exhibit in the wild. This not only keeps them physically active, but mentally and emotionally stimulated as well.

The kids from MD Anderson were gracious enough to make HUGE hearts for our rhinos and chimps that the keepers happily stuffed with goodies. For our chimpanzees the hearts were stuffed with fruit and the rhinos had alfalfa in theirs.

At the chimp exhibit the kids watched on as their nicely decorated hearts were thrown over the edge for the chimps to explore. At first our troop of chimps were confused…they didn’t know what this foreign object was and they were unsure as to who would dive in first. Not too long after the chimps had discovered there were tasty treats inside the hearts were ripped open! Willie, our youngest chimp, proceeded to tear the enrichment into pieces even after all of the fruit had been removed.

As for our rhinos, the heart was stuck in their pile of alfalfa, and then they were let out into their yard. They weren’t extremely interested at first but Annie, one of our female rhinos, discovered the heart was stuffed with alfalfa! She proceeded to get her horn stuck inside the heart as she looked for food (I think that may be a sign of shear delight). Not to worry, she quickly got her horn removed and proceeded to chow down on her newly discovered meal.

Our rhinos exploring the heart!

After all was said and done, not only were our animals happy, but the kids enjoyed themselves as well. It’s not every day that children get to make enrichment for a wild animal and observe them exploring it. It’s even more important to have these opportunities for kids who spend a lot of their day inside hospital walls!

Outside of this enrichment opportunity, the Education Department also devotes one week in the fall called “Zoo Week” to the kids at MD Anderson. Staff will go over every day throughout the week to share information about our animals, show biofacts to the kids and create art projects with them.

This partnership is a fulfilling one to say the least, and we hope to maintain it for years to come.

One of our rhinos getting its horn stuck inside the enrichment!

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Sep
29

Animal Enrichment: Our Lions Get Bones!

Posted by in Events,Fun on grounds

On Saturday, October 2, from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM the  Houston Zoo is putting on our annual Enrichment Day.  Kids and adults alike can learn while having fun – and being entertained.  Animal enrichment is something we do each day to stimulate each animal and bring out behaviors they’d natually use in the wild.  Here’s a great example:

Our Lion pride at the Houston Zoo receives bones once a week. The bones are part of the zoo’s practice of daily animal enrichment, and keep the lions teeth and gums healthy.

In this video Carnivore Keeper Kevin Hodge is tossing bones to our 3 female African lions and Jonathan, our male. In order to avoid monotony we deliver the bones in a different way each week.

The bones are enriching by themselves, but changing the delivery method is a type of enrichment as well. Some keepers like to toss the bones across the moat, as seen in this video. Some keepers like to hide the bones on exhibit, and some like to pile the bones up in a large pile to simulate an actual group feeding.

By tossing bones, we can stimulate natural behaviors like hunting, stalking, chasing, carrying, chewing, hording, burying, etc. If our animals exhibit those behaviors, then our enrichment is deemed a success.

If you would like to see more enrichment activities like this one, there will be many such demonstrations all over the zoo involving animals from every department! Please visit our web page for the schedule. 

Plus there will be games and crafts all day, and information booths around the Reflection Pool from related organizations from Houston.  So come on out this Saturday, October 2, to see the lions, learn to grab fish with a bill like a bird would and make enrichment items for your pets at home!

Written by Angie Pyle, Senior Carnivore Keeper and Trainer and Rochelle Joseph

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Jun
08

Hello, Handsome!

Posted by in Animal Fun Facts,Featured,Fun on grounds

Hansel and Lemurbot

Hansel and Lemurbot

Hansel, our resident fossa (pronounced foo-sa), has to be one of the neatest animals you’ll encounter at the zoo.  He is quite beautiful and has some amazing adaptations, which is why I refer to him as Handsome. 

As a fossa, his habitat in the wild would be the island of Madagascar.  (You may also recall the dreaded fossa from the movie of the same name.)  Fossa tend to live in dry forests on the island, and they are the largest mammalian (animal with fur) carnivore to inhabit Madagascar. 

What do they eat, you ask?  Researchers estimate that up to 50% of their diet consists of lemurs.  Lemurs!! And in order to catch those lemurs, the fossa have to be extremely skilled at climing, jumping, running, and catching their prey.  Their sharp claws allow them to grasp onto tree branches and hang upside down, or walk down a tree trunk head first.  They also have sharp teeth that are perfect for tearing and cutting meat.     

At the zoo, we give our animals enrichment to keep them mentally and physically stimulated.  Sometimes it’s a real treat and we create a lifelike animal for them to tear apart.  Awhile back Hansel was presented with an oversized lemur dubbed Lemurbot by staff.  Check out the picture of Hansel with his larger-than-life lemur decorated with meat chunks. 

For more information on lemurs, take a look at the Duke University Lemur Center, or to get interesting fossa facts, visit the San Diego Zoo’s Animal Bytes.

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May
22

MD Anderson Kids

Posted by in Public Programs

Each year the Houston Zoo works together with MD Anderson Children’s Art Project and MDACC (MD Anderson Cancer Center) to have patients from their Children’s Hospital create enrichment for our animals. 
Over a series of days, staff members from our education department travel to MDACC to teach the kids about some of the animals that we have at the zoo and what our keepers/trainers do to enrich the lives of our animals.
This year the MDACC kids built three paper mache animals; a red panda, giraffe, and zebra.  They also had the opportunity to paint like an animal.  What does that mean?  They couldn’t use their hands! We had some that held a paint brush in their mouth, another tried to paint using his feet, and we had a brave soul who dunked their nose into the paint and used their nose as the paint brush.
The zoo week culminated with the kids taking a field trip to the zoo yesterday.  Three of the kids were able to come out along with their parents and two of their teachers.  They were given a guided tour through the zoo, had a behind-the-scenes tour of elephants, and watched their paper mache animals get destroyed by our fossa and male clouded leopard.
While it is difficult to see all of your hard work getting smashed, the kids did get joy out of seeing the animals having so much fun.

Hank, the fossa inspecting paper mache zebra

Hansel, the fossa inspecting paper mache zebra

Rama, the clouded leopard searching for his treat within the paper mache red panda

Rama, the clouded leopard searching for his treat within the paper mache red panda

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