LisaAnnOKane
Tampa, FL
Female, 32
During my zookeeping and environmental education career, I have interacted and worked with a variety of animals, including brown bears, wolverines, red foxes, moose, camels, mountain goats, dolphins, sea lions, raccoons, porcupines, snakes, raptors and ravens. I am also a young adult author, and my debut novel ESSENCE was released in June 2014 by Strange Chemistry Books. Ask me anything!
Hahaha, I have actually never heard of a zoo doing this! (Although, who knows? Could be true!) Generally speaking, mating isn't a behavior we really need to push, because animals are already hard-wired for it. We just need to provide and maintain a low-stress environment for them, and nature generally takes care of the rest. We also need to be aware of each animal's reproductive needs. For instance, many females only go into heat once a year, so we introduce males for just a very short time. If we miss our window, we have to wait an entire year to try again. Many birds will not lay eggs unless they are provided with appropriate nesting materials. And some animals are quite reclusive during breeding, so we sometimes have to close certain exhibits so the presence of viewers doesn't stress these animals out. (Insert off-color joke here. ;)) Science also makes it possible for us to now use artificial insemination for some animals that are more difficult to breed. Consider a female beluga whale living in an enclosure with only her offspring. Twenty years ago, she either wouldn't have been able to breed, or a mate would have been flown in from another facility. The trip would have been stressful and expensive, and there are no guarantees breeding would have even been successful. Nowadays, samples can be collected from the male and shipped straight to the female. A safer and more reliable method for sure!
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Hi Hammertime, and thanks for the question. I've been giving this one a lot of thought, and my personal opinion is that large saltwater creatures (whales, sharks, whale sharks, etc.) are definitely the hardest to maintain in human care. Saltwater environments are incredibly hard to replicate, so the saltwater must be tested nearly constantly to ensure the right pH levels and such. Additionally, large animals need even larger enclosures--plus lots of enrichment and diversity--so their care becomes costly very quickly. That being said, I still think my answer to your question is no. I believe these animals are still worth the trouble. If they can be housed safely and comfortably, I think their presence is jaw-dropping enough to inspire visitors to care about the ocean in ways others animals probably can't. Think about the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. They periodically house Great Whites before releasing them back into the wild, and visitors come from all across the country to see these sharks up close. Once visitors have been given the opportunity to get to know these animals, their respect and empathy toward them grows exponentially. And like that great quote from B. Dioum says, “In the end, we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.”
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Great question, Luke! Cats are often much more difficult to train than dogs, and the reason makes perfect sense from an evolutionary perspective. Cats have evolved to be mostly solitary hunters, so they are much more self-sufficient and independent than pack animals like dogs and wolves. Dogs are already hard-wired to respond to social cues from their pack mates, so this behavior is easily redirected into training sessions. (And nowadays, we just happen to be their pack mates!)
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This is an easy one. Depth! While I enjoy variation and getting to know lots of animals, I could be completely content working with just one animal every single day. There are ALWAYS things to do: cleaning, feeding, husbandry, training sessions, enrichment... The less animals you have, the more time you have for those fun things like making amazing enrichment and just spending quality time with them. Obviously, this prospect isn't financially realistic for most zoos and aquariums, so management does its best to strike up a healthy balance between depth and breadth. And we must do the best we can with the animals and time we are given!
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Hi Bunny! Unfortunately, the answer is most often no. There is always a chance--because the will to live is a powerful one--but survival is difficult enough for an animal that was born and raised in the wild. Consider a civilized human--even a really fit marathon-type of human--and imagine what would happen if you dropped him in the middle of a rainforest. His strength and will and determination would be there, but he would struggle with basic things like knowing what is safe to eat and how to find water and shelter. Now consider a lion that has been hand-raised in a zoo. Not only does he lack basic hunting skills, but he also isn't used to predators or the incredibly complicated way other lions maintain their social order. Most dangerously for him, he also believes humans are his friends. (He even believes that's where his food comes from!) So, there's always a chance. But more often than not, the ending to the story is a sad one.
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Only once. And ironically, it was with a camel. (I have chuckled over this countless times, because camels don't carry the street cred bears and big cats do. If you tell someone you almost got killed by a lion, you become a superstar. If you tell someone you almost got killed by a camel, they just shake their heads and laugh at you.) That being said, this situation definitely wasn't a laughing matter at the time. This particular camel Knobby was about 1,400 pounds and more than six and a half feet tall, and he had the temperament, strength and temper of a MASSIVE unbroken stallion. I had been working with him for a few months, and we had made amazing progress together. I still knew he was dangerous, but I guess I started to be lulled by our familiarity. I began to think he viewed me as his "buddy," and I stopped paying as close attention to our safety protocols. I was working the late shift at the time. One evening, I was running really behind schedule, and I didn't make it to his enclosure until the zoo was closed and almost all the other keepers had left for the day. Even though I knew it was best practice to make sure other keepers were around in case I needed help, I decided to enter his enclosure and do some solo cleaning anyway. There was a faulty latch on one of the gates, and the fence sometimes got stuck closed. I should have left it completely open, but I didn't. Instead, I walked right in and closed the gate behind me. I started raking, but it became clear very quickly that Knobby was in a rare mood. Instead of avoiding me like he usually did, he began chasing me around the enclosure. I used my rake to try to block him, but he began huffing and kicking and trying to bite and push me. I tried to make a run for that faulty gate, but of course, it was stuck. I didn't have enough time to fiddle with it, so I ended up hiding behind a swing gate with my back pressed against the barn wall. Knobby stamped and pressed against the other side of the gate for several minutes, and it literally occurred to me that he may crush me between the gate and the wall. Thankfully, he got distracted by something after ten minutes or so, and I was able to make a run for it. When I finally escaped, I immediately collapsed to the ground outside his enclosure and burst into tears. It's difficult to describe the emotions I felt at that moment. Relief, for sure, but I also felt betrayed--like Knobby should have known better. He was supposed to LIKE me; how could he consider hurting me? This is when I realized I had begun treating Knobby like a pet. This is the most critical mistake you can ever make as a zookeeper, because this is when the majority of accidents happen. Once I came to terms with this realization, I picked myself up, dusted myself off, and started my evening training session with him (outside the bars). We went on to have many years of wonderful interactions, and I eventually taught him to sit on command, roll on his side, present his feet for inspection, wear a halter and let me to sit on his back. But one thing I NEVER did again was take his size and strength for granted. He became my very favorite animal at the zoo, but I never entered his enclosure again without fully formulating an escape plan first.
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Hi Zazreal! The great things about zoos and aquariums is that they often work together to ensure their animals receive the very best nutrition possible. In addition to consulting on-site veterinarians, they work together to find out which foods are working best at other facilities. Native food is brought in whenever possible. When it is unavailable--like in the case of polar bears, who primarily eat seals--its nutritional makeup is replicated through supplements and science. Zookeepers also work with the preferences of their individual animals, and they do their best to provide "favorites" whenever possible.
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