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Ask a zookeeper (2 Viewers)

valence said:
rabidfireweasel said:
I would like to hear an "Oh My God, that did not just happen moment " story in each of the following three areas:

1) An animal displaying intelligence that shocked you

2) An animal displaying physical ability/agility that shocked you

3) An animal displaying empathy that shocked you

thanks, and again, just a great thread.
Click to expand...
1.) I'll go with Malayan Tapirs for this one. I've only been working with these guys for the last two years since I've been at WPZ, but they have become one of my absolute favorites. Hoofstock in general are not considered to be extremely intelligent, but tapirs, or at least our tapirs seem to have some problem solving ability. Last fall when the leaves had pretty much all fallen off the trees, I witnessed it first hand. Mama tapir (Kelang) was stretching up to reach a branch that still had quite a few fresh leaves left, but the branch was just out of reach of her amazing mini-trunk like proboscis. She called a few times to baby tapir (Rindang) and Rindang (who was really a juvenile but we still call her baby) came over to investigate the situation. Keland sat down on her hind legs kind of like a dog sits. Rindang proceeded to prop her 700lb body up on Kelangs back and got just enough extra height to bring down the branch for them both to share. I couldn't believe it, but team tapir displayed a level of intelligence that I and their other keepers had not thought possible.2. One of scariest ones happened just last year when we got in our new male silverback gorilla Leonel. It was my first day working gorillas in quite some time and it was the first time meeting Leo. He has had a history of abuse with men so he wasn't so happy to meet me. As soon as I entered his area he charged the mesh separating me and him and hit it so hard that it left a 400 lb gorilla sized dent in some heavy gauge mesh. The female keepers promptly shifted him out of the area and facilities was called to immediately install a much much stronger barrier between him and the keeper staff.

3. I'll go with gorillas again on this one. Often times, a first time mother will reject their infants. In these cases the baby gorilla is often hand raised until it can take care of itself. We always try to find a surrogate mother for them. Usually an older female that has had experience raising babies. It always amazes me the level of compassion often shown to the baby who is not their own. That happened with our oldest gorilla Nina and one of our nine year olds named Akenji. Akenji's mother rejected her for whatever reason, but Nina stepped in and raised her and today they have one of the strongest bonds of any two of our gorillas.
Click to expand...
Simply incredible!This is the best thread I've read in ages.

 
valence said:
rabidfireweasel said:
I would like to hear an "Oh My God, that did not just happen moment " story in each of the following three areas:

1) An animal displaying intelligence that shocked you

2) An animal displaying physical ability/agility that shocked you

3) An animal displaying empathy that shocked you

thanks, and again, just a great thread.
Click to expand...
1.) I'll go with Malayan Tapirs for this one. I've only been working with these guys for the last two years since I've been at WPZ, but they have become one of my absolute favorites. Hoofstock in general are not considered to be extremely intelligent, but tapirs, or at least our tapirs seem to have some problem solving ability. Last fall when the leaves had pretty much all fallen off the trees, I witnessed it first hand. Mama tapir (Kelang) was stretching up to reach a branch that still had quite a few fresh leaves left, but the branch was just out of reach of her amazing mini-trunk like proboscis. She called a few times to baby tapir (Rindang) and Rindang (who was really a juvenile but we still call her baby) came over to investigate the situation. Keland sat down on her hind legs kind of like a dog sits. Rindang proceeded to prop her 700lb body up on Kelangs back and got just enough extra height to bring down the branch for them both to share. I couldn't believe it, but team tapir displayed a level of intelligence that I and their other keepers had not thought possible.2. One of scariest ones happened just last year when we got in our new male silverback gorilla Leonel. It was my first day working gorillas in quite some time and it was the first time meeting Leo. He has had a history of abuse with men so he wasn't so happy to meet me. As soon as I entered his area he charged the mesh separating me and him and hit it so hard that it left a 400 lb gorilla sized dent in some heavy gauge mesh. The female keepers promptly shifted him out of the area and facilities was called to immediately install a much much stronger barrier between him and the keeper staff.

3. I'll go with gorillas again on this one. Often times, a first time mother will reject their infants. In these cases the baby gorilla is often hand raised until it can take care of itself. We always try to find a surrogate mother for them. Usually an older female that has had experience raising babies. It always amazes me the level of compassion often shown to the baby who is not their own. That happened with our oldest gorilla Nina and one of our nine year olds named Akenji. Akenji's mother rejected her for whatever reason, but Nina stepped in and raised her and today they have one of the strongest bonds of any two of our gorillas.
Click to expand...
Are you sure you don't like the tapirs because they have the longest penis of the animal kingdom?
 
Harry Manback said:
valence said:
back to work. I'll try to answer some more tonight.Serious question though: do you think people would be interested reading a book full of real zookeeper stories?
Click to expand...
Absolutely.A behind the scenes insight into the lives of animals people pay money to simply catch a glimpse at...definitely.
Click to expand...
Totally agree. Growing up in NY my family was/still are members of the Bronx Zoo. We have gone many times, especially for members after-hours activities and I always found it fascinating. I would definitely be interested in reading a good book about it.
 
1) You've mentioned a couple of different times that you were scared. Any others?

2) Any close calls with zoo patrons getting hurt by the animals? Most likely due to their own stupidity.

3) I've heard Elephants are really smart and have a pretty good sense of humor - ever work with any funny animals?

 
valence said:
back to work. I'll try to answer some more tonight.Serious question though: do you think people would be interested reading a book full of real zookeeper stories?
Click to expand...
Absolutely, yes... I'm really enjoying reading your answers. :moneybag:I'd bet that similar books already exist, but your stories and observations are interesting and well written so I'd also bet there's room for a good zookeeper's perspective book.If you decide to write the book, just PM Otis to get this thread deleted to protect your stories before publication.
 
You answered several of my earlier questions but ...

1. Have you ever named any of the animals born at the zoo.

2. In general, who gets the honor of naming them?

3. If you could build your own display that had more than one type of animal in it, what animals would you choose?

4. Do you have any pets? Working with animals all day, you might want to have a break at home.

 
If you had the chance to visit any ten zoos in the world, which would they be, in order -- and why?

Also, GREAT thread! Thanks!

 
What is the dumbest question you have ever been asked by a visitor?

What is the dumbest declaratory statement you have heard a visitor make about an animal or an exhibit. Almost every time I take my daughter I'll hear someone holding forth in front of an exhibit, and being completely wrong. Usually they are doing so right in front of an informational sign on the species or the exhibit that contradicts everything they are saying.

Do you have any unusually old specimens?

 
Given your experience, do you think that keeping animals in captivity is cruel? If not for some species, then for others?

 
"Serious question though: do you think people would be interested reading a book full of real zookeeper stories? "

:lmao: & :thumbup: again

 
Frostillicus said:
1) You've mentioned a couple of different times that you were scared. Any others?

2) Any close calls with zoo patrons getting hurt by the animals? Most likely due to their own stupidity.

3) I've heard Elephants are really smart and have a pretty good sense of humor - ever work with any funny animals?
Click to expand...
:thumbup:
 
Great thread. Do you ever got frustrated watching movies and Hollywood's unrealistic portrayal of animal abilities? For instance, in Madagascar, the animals talking.

 
How do you feel about pests in and around the the home such as mice, racoons, and fisher cats?

Also, what do you think about herd populations and people? I live in an area that can support 3-5 dear per square mile, yet due to hunting regulations we have 15-20 deer per sqaure mile and serious problem with ticks and Lyme disease.

 
biggyd said:
How do you feel about pests in and around the the home such as mice, racoons, and fisher cats?Also, what do you think about herd populations and people? I live in an area that can support 3-5 dear per square mile, yet due to hunting regulations we have 15-20 deer per sqaure mile and serious problem with ticks and Lyme disease.
Click to expand...
New Englander?
 
I had an indoor cat in newton, ma, moved out to the suburbs and decided to let the cat outdoors. Big mistake. The fisher cat won the battle.

The fisher cat sounds like a baby/young child crying, it is an awful sound at night.

 
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Pound for pound, which animal is the toughest/fiercest? For example if a raccoon was the size of a bear, could the raccoon win in a fight? (Lets assume all the animals would be hungry/in the mood to fight). My personal pick would be a wolverine or polar bear.

ETA: Take venomous animals out of the equation...i'm looking more along the lines of who'd win in a scrap...

If a gorilla starts attacking a zookeeper, what is the standard protocol for the other keepers as well as the guy being attacked?

 
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SouthJersey said:
Pound for pound, which animal is the toughest/fiercest? For example if a raccoon was the size of a bear, could the raccoon win in a fight? (Lets assume all the animals would be hungry/in the mood to fight. My personal pick would be a wolverine or polar bear.If a gorilla starts attacking a zookeeper, what is the standard protocol for the other keepers as well as the guy being attacked?
Click to expand...
pound for pound, I’d go with a scorpion.
 
What animal eats the most per its body weight?

What animal requires the most personal attention and social interaction?

What's the single most important thing a zoo visitor should do (or not do) to enhance their visit?

Great thread!

 
SouthJersey said:
Pound for pound, which animal is the toughest/fiercest? For example if a raccoon was the size of a bear, could the raccoon win in a fight? (Lets assume all the animals would be hungry/in the mood to fight. My personal pick would be a wolverine or polar bear.If a gorilla starts attacking a zookeeper, what is the standard protocol for the other keepers as well as the guy being attacked?
Click to expand...
I'm going to go ahead and guess standard protocol dictates that betting on the outcome is discouraged.
 
HERBERT THE HIPPO said:
valence said:
george said:
If you could open your own zoo, what 3 animals would you start with? Why?

If you had to live with a zoo animal at the zoo for a year which one would you choose? What about in you own home?

Have you ever got to name any animals? Which ones and how did you pick?

Throw some zookeeper lingo at us. What are some cool terms used at zoos that mean something else outside a zoo?
Click to expand...
1.) This is assuming unlimited funds and availability of said animals, but if I was building a new zoo from the ground up and had to start with only three animals I would go with giant pandas, gorillas, and giraffes.Giant pandas bring in a lot of visitors and visitors = money that can be used to build state of the art facilities and expand the zoo. Gorillas are an animal that visitors can spend a lot of time watching without getting bored. Giraffes because having an animal that the public can feed and interact with is key to getting return visits from the public. I could go with something like a petting zoo here too, but giraffes are more exciting to the public even though they are really just 18' tall cows.

2. Do I have to live in the same space with it? if so I'm going with something like a lemur or even a domestic like a horse or cow. If I had to bring one home I'd pick something small like a snake or other reptile

3. BAR = Bright, Alert, Responsive. It's used a lot in our daily keeper reports. S.P.I.D.E.R is an acronym for writing animal training programs. ZIMS is a new worldwide zoo animal information database that is going online later this year. does that suffice?
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No hippo? Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.......I would start a zoo with:

1. Hippo

2. White Tiger

3. Giraffe

How do you like my choices?
Click to expand...
I like the hippo and the giraffe, but I hate white tiger. I think they are too gimmicky and too 80s glam. Plus pandas serve the same purpose - attracting visitors and are way more popular.
 
ACE said:
Best. Thread. Ever.

I have always been curious: a lot of people (usually those who are unfaithful in their own relationships) that monogamy is unnatural. I know that there are a number of cases of animals mating for life with one partner though. Are there any noteworthy examples of monogamy amongst zoo animals that you've either witnessed firsthand or heard anecdotal evidence of?

Thanks for doing this.
Click to expand...
There honestly are not a whole lot of examples of it in nature. In zoos, most animals don't have a choice as there is usually only 1 other option. The most notable one would be penguins. If you are interested check out The Myth of Monogamy. very interesting read that presents both sides of the argument from a scientific approach.
 
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grapeape said:
Serious question, did you ever play the arcade game "Zoo Keeper" in the 80s? It was one of my favorites. :thumbup:
Click to expand...
yes that was a great game. I hated that monkey with a passion. I am also super awesome at zoo tycoon.
 
Cliff Clavin said:
Last time I was at the zoo, a tiger squirted at me. Is this normal or was the tiger that impressed by my beauty?
Click to expand...
marking his territory, which basically means you are his to piss and #### on.
 
gianmarco said:
valence said:
rabidfireweasel said:
I would like to hear an "Oh My God, that did not just happen moment " story in each of the following three areas:

1) An animal displaying intelligence that shocked you

2) An animal displaying physical ability/agility that shocked you

3) An animal displaying empathy that shocked you

thanks, and again, just a great thread.
Click to expand...
1.) I'll go with Malayan Tapirs for this one. I've only been working with these guys for the last two years since I've been at WPZ, but they have become one of my absolute favorites. Hoofstock in general are not considered to be extremely intelligent, but tapirs, or at least our tapirs seem to have some problem solving ability. Last fall when the leaves had pretty much all fallen off the trees, I witnessed it first hand. Mama tapir (Kelang) was stretching up to reach a branch that still had quite a few fresh leaves left, but the branch was just out of reach of her amazing mini-trunk like proboscis. She called a few times to baby tapir (Rindang) and Rindang (who was really a juvenile but we still call her baby) came over to investigate the situation. Keland sat down on her hind legs kind of like a dog sits. Rindang proceeded to prop her 700lb body up on Kelangs back and got just enough extra height to bring down the branch for them both to share. I couldn't believe it, but team tapir displayed a level of intelligence that I and their other keepers had not thought possible.2. One of scariest ones happened just last year when we got in our new male silverback gorilla Leonel. It was my first day working gorillas in quite some time and it was the first time meeting Leo. He has had a history of abuse with men so he wasn't so happy to meet me. As soon as I entered his area he charged the mesh separating me and him and hit it so hard that it left a 400 lb gorilla sized dent in some heavy gauge mesh. The female keepers promptly shifted him out of the area and facilities was called to immediately install a much much stronger barrier between him and the keeper staff.

3. I'll go with gorillas again on this one. Often times, a first time mother will reject their infants. In these cases the baby gorilla is often hand raised until it can take care of itself. We always try to find a surrogate mother for them. Usually an older female that has had experience raising babies. It always amazes me the level of compassion often shown to the baby who is not their own. That happened with our oldest gorilla Nina and one of our nine year olds named Akenji. Akenji's mother rejected her for whatever reason, but Nina stepped in and raised her and today they have one of the strongest bonds of any two of our gorillas.
Click to expand...
Are you sure you don't like the tapirs because they have the longest penis of the animal kingdom?
Click to expand...
They are pretty impressive. Plus they are barbed and honestly, who wouldn't want a barbed penis?
 
Frostillicus said:
1) You've mentioned a couple of different times that you were scared. Any others?2) Any close calls with zoo patrons getting hurt by the animals? Most likely due to their own stupidity.3) I've heard Elephants are really smart and have a pretty good sense of humor - ever work with any funny animals?
Click to expand...
1. Several other times as a rookie I had close calls with times where I wasn't sure if I locked an enclosure or something. Luckily I wasn't working with dangerous animals then. Everyone goes through a period of that though. I'm glad I went through it early on and have been diligent enough to never do it since.2. I've never personally witnessed a guest in a dangerous animal enclosure but I have seen things like parents sitting their toddlers on railings overlooking Tiger moats and bear grottos. I also know the keeper of the tiger that mauled the two kids at the SF zoo. It's amazing sometimes to see how little the general public actually knows about wildlife.3. I only worked elephants one day as a part of a cross training situation so I don't have any real experience with elephants. The animals do funny things all the time though. Gorilla babies are notorious for being a pest. They will dump hay all over an adult sitting on the ground below them, swing into the adults and smack them in the face, throw pieces of food at them. When you go see the gorillas give yourseldf an extra 15 minutes to just and watch them. You'll see a lot interesting things.
 
george said:
You answered several of my earlier questions but ...

1. Have you ever named any of the animals born at the zoo.

2. In general, who gets the honor of naming them?

3. If you could build your own display that had more than one type of animal in it, what animals would you choose?

4. Do you have any pets? Working with animals all day, you might want to have a break at home.
Click to expand...
1. never anything major. we named rats and mice and things like that but usually things that were short lived.2. Most of the time these days animals will get named something in the language of the area that they are from. Sometimes for high profile animals zoos will let the public vote on the name from a selection already chosen. We did this recently with our snow leopard cubs born last year.

3. I really dig multi-species exhibits. I'd do something like a really nice nocturnal house with prehensile tailed porcupine, tamandua, galagos, and three-toed sloth.

4. I have a 5 year old Australian cattle dog \ border collie mix and the gf has 2 cats, which I wish we could get rid of so that we could get another dog. No matter how bad my day is my dog is always happy to see me and cheer me up.

 
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Ditkaless Wonders said:
What is the dumbest question you have ever been asked by a visitor?What is the dumbest declaratory statement you have heard a visitor make about an animal or an exhibit. Almost every time I take my daughter I'll hear someone holding forth in front of an exhibit, and being completely wrong. Usually they are doing so right in front of an informational sign on the species or the exhibit that contradicts everything they are saying.Do you have any unusually old specimens?
Click to expand...
starting to get some repeat questions now. after this post if I don't respond it's probably because I already answered it.1. "Are those giraffe\zebra\gazelle eggs?" - visitor pointing at next of fake ostrich eggs.2. Once at Disney I heard a guy ask "ARE THESE LIONS?" super loud while standing in front of a Tiger exhibit. With a tiger visible. COME ON!3. Well specimens usually refer to dead things, so yes we have a ton of old biofacts like skulls and hides and such. As far as living animals we have two 46 year old gorillas and a 43 year old hippo. those are pretty old animals. older than me anyway.
 
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gianmarco said:
What's your most disgusting moment as a zookeeper?
Click to expand...
Getting peed on by a Squirrel monkey was pretty gross. Gorilla diarrhea isn't much fun to clean either when it's all over the floor, walls, and ceiling.
 
biggyd said:
I had an indoor cat in newton, ma, moved out to the suburbs and decided to let the cat outdoors. Big mistake. The fisher cat won the battle.The fisher cat sounds like a baby/young child crying, it is an awful sound at night.
Click to expand...
Oof. Fisher cats are bad news.
 
biggyd said:
Has your zoo, or any other zoo thought about selling the naming rights to an animal?
Click to expand...
I'm sure it's been done. If you've never seen Fierce Creatures, check it out. It's a movie about zoo commercialization. Very entertaining.
 
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