Posts Tagged ‘Enrichment’

Aug
10

Houston Zoo and Amazon.com

Posted by in Enrichment,Events

Do you love to shop?!  The Houston Zoo animals now have a wishlist on Amazon.com!  We all enjoy buying that perfect gift for someone special…..and who’s more special than the animals at the zoo!  I know you’ve often wondered, if I were buying a gift for Jonathan the lion what on earth would he want?  And where would I go to buy it?  What about a baby gift for Aurora the orangutan?  Well today’s your lucky day and you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your air conditioned home, yes shopping in the summer without breaking a sweat!!

All of the animals now have brought their needs and wants to you through Amazon.com, just a click away.  Here’s an example of some of the items you can purchase and enrich the lives of your favorite animal.

The Carnivores are asking for boomer balls, catnip and many other items, you know how cats love to wind themselves up on catnip, then start chasing everything in sight!   Like this Jolly Ball available at Amazon.com, peppermint scented!

Horseman's Pride Jolly Ball

The Primates are asking for a Look Lous feeding mirror….hmmmm is that so Rudy orangutan can make sure there are no crumbs on his face when he finishes his favorite breakfast??  Just a click away!

Looky Lou Feeder 14" X 10" Acrylic w/ 3/4" holes (.125 wall) Mirror on one side: 4 in.

Find your favorite animals and see what they’re wishing for at Amazon.com. Then just sit back, shop, click and send your animal of choice a wonderful gift to enrich their life!  They really do appreciate it and so does the Houston Zoo!

Enrichment Day at the Houston Zoo is Saturday, September 24th.  This is a great opportunity to come and join in the fun.  Come out and see all of the animals enjoying special enrichment, hear keeper chats and loads of  fun games for kids of all ages!  Enrichment Day celebrates the meaning and joy of enriching our animals and visitors!

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Apr
28

Avian Enrichment: Golden Conures Take a Bath

Posted by in Birds,Enrichment

Everyday Enrichment: Making Life More Interesting for our Avian Residents – Part VII

Zookeepers are often faced with a great variety of questions, and not all of them have simple answers. For example, one common question a guest might ask is, “When is the best time to come see the animals?” This is a particularly hard question to answer since we have such a wide variety of animals (one of the largest avian collections in the country), and all of these animals have different preferences. I typically encourage guests to try to come at a time they wouldn’t necessarily think of as ideal. This means the animals will be reacting differently and give the guests an entirely different range of natural behaviors to observe.

These are our Golden Conures (Aratinga guarouba) enjoying simulated rainfall. Some birds enjoy bathing in their water bowls and some will even bathe with sand or dust; however, many parrots enjoy a thorough rain shower. Bathing is an important behavior for birds as it helps the animals maintain the quality of their feathers. However, sometimes it is also just good fun.

In addition to these benefits, simulated rain showers are also one of the best means of cooling off animal exhibits in the excruciating heat of the Houston summer. All of our outdoor flight cages are equipped with sprinkler systems that can be used to mist our exhibits during the heat of the day, and the evaporative cooling that results from this can lower the temperature in the exhibits by over ten degrees!

A few examples of birds that typically react well to the sprinklers include parrots, toucans, hornbills and cranes. However, many pheasants and curassows (birds that typically dust bathe) will quickly move to get out of the water. The notion of the Houston Zoo being “a new zoo everyday” is even more apparent when you consider the difference of animals reacting to their surroundings on a daily basis.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Apr
21

Avian Enrichment: Red-Crowned Cranes Dance

Posted by in Birds,Enrichment,Everyday Enrichment

Everyday Enrichment: Making Life More Interesting for our Avian Residents – Part VI 

On a daily basis, our keepers strive to provide the wide variety of scenarios that a natural environment would provide our animals. We can provide a variety of options for our animals to work to obtain their food, provide different options for housing or even just give them new stimuli to investigate and explore. However, sometimes the best attempts of an animal keeper are still no match for the variety provided by the natural world.

These are our Red-Crowned Cranes (Grus japonensis) taking the time to “dance.” These elaborate courtship displays are crucial to the development of pair bonding; these behaviors are so ingrained into the development of the birds that chicks will often begin dancing while they are still in the nest. There are few behaviors in the zoo that are as awe-inspiring as the displays of these birds, which can last for extended periods of time. Naturally, many guests are not satisfied with merely seeing video footage of this behavior and ask keepers when would be the best time to see this beautiful spectacle in person. The short answer is this: these birds like it cold. 

These birds would naturally occur in a range that includes countries such as Russia, China and Japan. These birds are used to fairly cold temperature, and here at the zoo a day that starts off particularly cold is a pretty good indication that our Red-Crowned Cranes will be dancing. Birds are wondrous masters of recognizing the natural cues of the world to understand when is the ideal time to attempt to raise offspring; if Red-Crowned Cranes begin their pair-bonding rituals at the end of winter, they will be able to raise their chicks with the abundance of food that is associated with spring. Not only are birds able to take temperature clues, but rainfall and periods of daylight are also used to gauge the time of year. 

Obviously, it is far simpler to take advantage of these natural occurring instances than to attempt to replicate them through artificial means. The overall goal of enrichment is to encourage responses that would also be seen in the wild due to natural stimuli: sometimes it is best to just let the natural stimuli do the work of providing variety for our animals. It is for this reason that we encourage guests to take advantage of a wide variety of opportunities throughout the year to visit our extensive animal collection.

Like this blog? Check out Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV and Part V!

Tags: , , , , ,
Mar
17

Avian Enrichment: Grey-winged Trumpeters Get a Browse Pile

Posted by in Birds,Enrichment,Everyday Enrichment

Everyday Enrichment: Making Life More Interesting for our Avian Residents – Part V
 
 
 

 

There are a wide variety of tools in the arsenal of a Bird Keeper at the Houston Zoo to be utilized in the enrichment of our animals. In the last post, we saw just how enamored an animal can be with the presentation of fresh browse; the ultimate goal of enrichment is to provide the animal the opportunity to exhibit natural behaviors that would otherwise be seen in the wild. In spite of the fact that not all of our animals are folivorous, browse can still be used to better the lives of our animals.

Here are our Grey-winged Trumpeters (Psophia crepitans) getting a browse pile; this is a pile of bamboo with treats such as peanuts and crickets. These birds belong to the order Gruiformes, a group of omnivorous avian species characterized by long legs and a superficial resemblance to one another. As you can see in the video, the presence of a browse pile elicits a great number of reactions. This is a type of enrichment we are able to utilize with many of our avian species, provided it is modified to fit the animal. For example: providing parrots a browse pile with crickets would not provide much intrigue, just as giving the ibis a pile with fruit would not be remotely suited for those animals. Luckily, many birds display some degree of omnivorous nature and we can give our animals a wide variety of treats hidden in the browse pile. Not only does this give the animal the opportunity to get unique food items, but it also allows the animal to have to search for food: this is critical for the mental well-being of many intelligent avian species.

Ever wonder what food items we utilize on a regular basis? Well, the short-list includes: Apple, Orange, Banana, Grapes, Figs, Raisins, Cheese, Avocado, Watermelon, Cantaloupe, Pears, Papaya, Blueberries, Mixed Vegetables, Corn, Sunflower Seeds, Almonds, Peanuts, Hazelnuts, Brazil Nuts, Walnuts, Crickets, Mealworms, Waxworms, Kale, Endive, Romaine Lettuce, Redleaf Lettuce and Greenleaf lettuce. This is not a comprehensive list and we have even offered our animals odd treats such as Vietnamese Walking Sticks and Dragon fruit - essentially, there are few options that keepers will not explore in providing a varied life for our animals.

Do you like our series on enrichment for our birds? Feel free to check out Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV!

Tags: , , , , ,
Feb
24

Avian Enrichment: Great Blue Turaco Gets Bamboo

Posted by in Birds,Enrichment,Everyday Enrichment

Everyday Enrichment: Making Life More Interesting for our Avian Residents – Part IV

As a child, I absolutely hated spinach. I was not a particularly finicky eater, but spinach was the one food substance that would not be accepted under any terms. In my opinion it was slimy, smelly and altogether quite inedible. As I have grown older, I’ve found that there are a variety of ways in which spinach can be a perfectly acceptable component of my diet. Raw spinach in salads is neither slimy nor smelly; spinach baked on a pizza with chicken and red onion is barely even noticeable. The fact of the matter is that there are a wide variety of ways to provide food substances that otherwise might have been deemed unacceptable.

This is a Great Blue Turaco (Corythaeola cristata) enjoying a bit of bamboo browse. Here at the Houston Zoo, we regularly provide our animals with a variety of safe plant material to eat, use as nesting material or otherwise simply destroy. Examples of plants we use in our browse program include hibiscus, bamboo, pyracantha, banana, ginger, mulberry, hackberry and willow. Browse not only provides added supplementation to the nutrition of our animals, it also gives the birds something to do; if a bird wants to eat the new growth found on the branches, it must actually search for the new growth and figure out how to get it.

Our birds react quite favorably to this form of enrichment; it also demonstrates yet another way our keepers must continually think about the presentation of the diet to ensure it is appealing to our animals. For example, the Great Blue Turaco seen in this video enjoys Romaine Lettuce as an occasional treat. Leaves that are broken up are eaten with relish, and there is nothing more exciting than watching this bird thoroughly enjoy half a head of lettuce that is secured to an enclosure wall. However, individual leaves that are placed in the animals bowl will be picked up and thrown on the floor. Turacos are not able to hold and tear food items like other birds can because of their diet; in nature, fruits and leaves are found attached to a tree which means these birds can just bite off pieces of acceptable food material until they are food.

All these examples just demonstrate the wide variety of ways keepers must constantly assess and evaluate the dietary needs of our animals. The dietary care of our animals must provide for nutritional balance as well as mental stimulation – food would not show up in the same place daily in the wild, and our animals demonstrate a great increase in natural behavior from having to work just a little harder to get their food.

To this day, I refuse to believe that spinach that comes from a can has even the slightest properties of food. However, many of our birds at the Houston Zoo will let you know that simply changing up the presentation of a diet (turning over a new leaf, as it were) can provide our animals with a diet that is nutritionally fortified and fun!

You can visit this fabulous bird in our Birds of the World habitat. Hope to see you soon!

Tags: , , , , , ,
Feb
17

Avian Enrichment: Flamingo Flock Gets Krill

Posted by in Birds,Enrichment,Everyday Enrichment

Everyday Enrichment: Making Life More Interesting For Our Avian Residents – Part III

Anyone who has been lucky enough to visit the Houston Zoo recently has most likely gotten a glimpse of enrichment and has an idea of how it is used to better the lives of the macro-mammals at the zoo. However, problems arise with the fact that some of our animals really have no interest in interacting with their human caretakers. When that occurs (as is typical with many bird species), keepers must think of new and innovative means to keep our animals mentally fit.

These are our Chilean Flamingos (Phoenicopterus chilensis) enjoying a snack of krill. This is actually a special treat for our flamingos since they do not get the krill (small shrimp) on a regular basis; instead, our birds are fed a nutritionally-complete pelleted diet that is designed to provide the proper balance of vitamins and nutrients to provide them with everything they need. Also, our birds get different pelleted diets at different times of the year to provide for the variation in metabolic needs that is associated with the breeding season. However, krill are certainly one of the favorite food items and there is no reason why a favored food item can’t be offered in moderation. Here at the Houston Zoo, we readily use the favored food items of our animals to enrich them, train them and encourage them to take active part in their own husbandry.

This instance was actually the first time that the newest editions to our flamingo flock had ever gotten krill; as you can see, they are a bit intimidated by it at first. Flamingos are a prey species, which means that their instincts tell them that anything new should be treated with caution as it could be a potential predator. However, our 6-month old flamingo chicks (noted by the grey/black plumage) eventually pluck up the courage and take to eating the krill with gusto.

Take note of the distinctive stained-glass artwork and the artificial concrete trees visible in the video – the flamingo yard is one of the oldest exhibits in the zoo and these objects are wonderful examples of the obvious appreciation for aesthetics the Houston Zoo has had with regard to animal exhibits. Of course, when guests come to the zoo they can typically look past these unique items of zoo history and simply stare mesmerized at the beauty of our Chilean Flamingo flock. Of course, we also have scheduled flamingo feedings several times a week and also encourage guests to consider “adopting” a flamingo to help provide for the care of these amazing animals. For our guests who can’t seem to get enough of our feathered friends, the Houston Zoo offers “Flocking,” a fun and interesting way to help support avian conservation!

Tags: , , , , ,
Feb
03

Avian Enrichment: Nesting Long-toed Lapwing Gets Territorial

Posted by in Birds,Enrichment,Everyday Enrichment

Everyday Enrichment: Making Life More Interesting for our Avian Residents – Part II
While we saw in a previous blog post that enrichment can be well-thought and planned, it’s also entirely possible that everyday activities can initiate some natural responses.
This is our female Long-Toed Lapwing (Vanellus crassirostris), and believe it or not she currently has a nest of eggs. Most people think that a nesting bird will sit on the eggs very quietly, but as you can see this is not the case. Birds employ a wide array of behaviors to protect their precious eggs, this just happens to be one of the more interesting methods seen in the avian world.
You may notice that the bird is holding her wings out at odd angles and making a great deal of noise. This behavior is designed to attract the attention of a potential predator, trying to get the would-be egg-eater to go after the “injured” bird instead. These birds will put on this display to garner the attention of a predator (or even a keeper needing to clean the exhibit); they will lure the predator away from the nest and then simply fly away.

 

Tags: , , , ,
Jan
27

Avian Enrichment: Foraging Fun with an Eclectus Parrot

Posted by in Birds,Enrichment,Everyday Enrichment

Everyday Enrichment: Making Life More Interesting for our Avian Residents – Part I

Many Houston Zoo visitors often ask us what we do to ensure the health and mental well-being of our birds. Our keepers work daily to prepare varied and nutritionally-fortified diets, clean and maintain a variety of enclosures and take steps to ensure the best possible health of our animals. However, this doesn’t address every aspect of caring for our animals: this is where enrichment comes into play.

Enrichment may sound fancy or difficult, but in essence it simply entails giving our animals the opportunity to exhibit natural behaviors and reactions that they would demonstrate in the wild. Here at the Houston Zoo, our keepers work to provide a wide array of enrichment opportunities to keep our animals mentally stimulated (and we try our best to make sure our guests will be able to see these interactions as well).

Here we have an Eclectus Parrot (Eclectus roratus) working to get some mixed nuts and seed that have been placed in a tall can. Parrots in particular are known for spending large parts of their day in the wild seeking out new food sources, so giving a parrot something like this enforces a notion of working to get their food. This bird clearly employs a wide variety of problem-solving skills before she eventually wins the prize of a few peanuts and sunflower seeds.

Ever wonder what you can do to help enrich the animals at the Houston Zoo? There are many items that are highly desirable in our pursuit of providing an ever-changing life of variety for our animals, which you can view here. Of course, you can also feel free to come to the zoo to observe the variety of natural behaviors encouraged through these simple interactions. Many guests can spend hours enraptured by the most basic of natural behaviors, including simple foraging for food!

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Nov
05

Mmmm, Termites Taste Like…Mustard?

Posted by in African Forest,Chimpanzees

You may have heard that last week we had a very special guest at the zoo to dedicate our new chimpanzee exhibit. One of Dr. Jane Goodall’s early discoveries at Gombe was the ability of the chimps to use tools. This was shocking and revolutionary at the time, famously prompting anthropologist Dr. Louis Leakey to say, “Now we must redefine ‘tool,’ redefine ‘man’ or accept chimpanzees as humans.”

Using this information about wild chimpanzees, many zoos have created ways for zoo chimps to display behavior. Our new chimp exhibit here at the zoo has an artificial termite mound where our chimps can use bamboo sticks to fish treats out of PVC tubs inside. Instead of termites, we used some favorite treats such as ketchup, yogurt, cereal, and yes, mustard. We tried this out for the first time last week for Dr. Goodall’s visit, and I think it was a hit.

Want to be the first to see the Houston Zoo chimpanzees fish for “termites”? Members only previews start December 2! Check out the African Forest page for details.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Oct
01

African Wild Dog Enrichment

Posted by in Animal Info,Carnivores,Enrichment,Featured,Mammals

One fine sunny morning at the zoo, our African wild dog pack received an enormous treat – a 40 lb goat carcass. Staff were invited to stop by and have a look, as this was the first time they’d been given a goat, and I caught it on film so you can see exactly what happened:

The goat was tied high up using a rope that keepers could lower if needed. The dogs squealed with excitement as soon as they were let out into the yard, circling the goat carcass and jumping to bite its ankles. They had to work as a team to bring it down piece by piece, ripping and tearing at the meat. There was plenty of verbal squabbles over the spoils even though there was more than enough meat for the three dogs to share. After the alpha dog’s tummy was full to bursting, he went to roll in the grass while the other two got their fill.

And no, the goat wasn’t one of the little cuties you might pet in the Children’s Zoo. All the meat fed to the African Wild Dogs is human-food-grade and provided by our fantastic Commissary who serves up all the animal diets at the Zoo.

Tags: , , , , ,

« Newer Posts — Older Posts »