Get Ready for Real Wild Animal Fun During Enrichment Day!

Saturday November 14, 2009

 

Just how long will it take an elephant to eat a watermelon?  How does an orangutan paint a picture?  Does his technique different from an elephant or a tapir? Do big cats like pinatas?  Find out the answers to these intriguing questions and a lot more during Animal Enrichment Day at the Houston Zoo Saturday, November 14, 2009 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

During Animal Enrichment Day, Zoo guests will enjoy a rare opportunity to see a wide variety of unique environmental enrichment and training activities. See how Andean bears solve a puzzle (Hint: There’s food inside). See cheetahs and Anatolian shepherd dogs run the lure course. And while you’re at the Zoo, don’t forget to check out our cool keepers during entertaining Meet the Keeper Talks and training demonstrations at exhibits across the Zoo (see schedule below). 

But the fun doesn’t end there - Animal Enrichment Day also features enrichment for Zoo guests including games for kids, environmental tips from the Zoo’s Green Practices team and our horticulture experts, and an art gallery featuring unique paintings by Houston Zoo animals.  Proceeds from art sales benefit Houston Zoo animal enrichment activities.  Visit the Houston SPCA Adoption Bus and find your new best friend, see the hard working canines from Greater Houston Search Dogs, and meet representatives from The Marine Mammal Stranding Network, Moody Gardens, and the Downtown Aquarium.  

Animals in nature have to work for a living - to find food, to make nests, and to find shelter.  Play is another natural activity.  Life for the animals at the Houston Zoo is more predictable than in the wild.  That's why our keepers use enrichment to create variety through work and play.  Keepers at the Houston Zoo create an environment for our animals that allows for physical and mental choices and challenges.

At the Houston Zoo, we choose items and activities that are safe and encourage natural behaviors.  For example, orangutans in the wild make nests each time they stop to go to sleep at night.  At the Houston Zoo, we give our orangutans cut branches of hackberry, mulberry, banana leaves, willow, hay or bamboo to make nests.  Keepers also give them "toys" such as large indestructible balls and rubber tubes, crates and colorful fabric.

Hiding food encourages natural foraging behavior.  During Enrichment Day, our maned wolves will get one of their favorite treats - cardboard boxes filled with crickets.  Spectacled and grizzly bears enjoy puzzle feeders. Keepers drill holes in PVC pipes and then fill the tubes with some of the bears favorite treats.  It takes more than a quick lick to get to the goodies inside!

 

Exercise is also a form of enrichment.  You may take your dog for a long walk or play tug of war with an old sock.  At the Houston Zoo, keepers encourage physical activity in a variety of ways.  For instance, Malayan tigers Pandu and Hana enjoy tugging on a large plastic barrel attached to a cord.  Jaguars Kan Balam and Cocoy also get barrels filled with rawhide.  They manipulate the slots in the barrel to get to the yummy treats inside.

 

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Front Plaza

10:00- Aquarium Enrichment (Yellow bellied Piranha)

10:15- Aquarium Enrichment (Pacu Enrichment)

10:30- Macaw Enrichment

10:45- White Necked Ravens Enrichment

11:00- Tropical Bird House Rainforest Enrichment

 

Natural Encounters, McGovern Mammal Marina, Red Panda

10:00- Red Panda Enrichment

10:20- Natural Encounters Inside Rainforest Enrichment

10:40- Natural Encounters Bat Enrichment

11:00- Sea Lion Show

11:15- Sea Lion Fish Pop Toss

11:30- Natural Encounters Desert Enrichment

11:45- Natural Encounters River’s Edge Enrichment

 

Birds of the World, Warthog-Giant Eland, Zebra Exhibits

10:15- Giant Eland/Warthog/Zebra Enrichment

10:30- Nyala Enrichment

10:45- Red Crowned Crane Enrichment

11:00- Cassowary Enrichment

11:15- Saddle Billed Stork Enrichment

 

Reptile Building, McNair Asian Elephant Habitat, Cheetah and Giraffe Exhibits

10:00- Elephant Baths

10:45- Cheetah/Dog Lure Course

11:00- Giraffe Enrichment

11:15- Reptile Building Enrichment Activity

11:30- Reptile Building Komodo Dragon Enrichment

11:45- Elephant Enrichment

 

McGovern Children’s Zoo

12:30- Enrichment Show at the Butterfly Pavilion

12:45- Porcupine Enrichment

1:00- Coati Enrichment

1:15- Otter Enrichment

1:30- Guinea Hog and Cow Enrichment

 

Wortham World of Primates

12:15- Tamarin Enrichment

12:30- Sifaka Enrichment

12:45- Patas Monkey Enrichment

1:00- Mandrill Enrichment

1:15- Red-Capped Mangabey Enrichment

1:30- Guenon Enrichment

1:45- Siamang Enrichment

2:00- Babirusa Enrichment

2:15- Orangutan Enrichment

 

McNair Asian Elephant Habitat, Okapi, Bongo and South America Exhibits

1:15- Maned Wolf Enrichment

1:30- Elephant Training/Painting demonstration

1:45- Okapi Enrichment

2:00- Bongo Browse

2:15- Tapir Enrichment

2:30- South American Exhibit Painting with “Pico” the Tapir

 

Carnivores

1:00-Lion Window Enrichment Talk

1:30- African Wild Dog Enrichment

1:45- Bears Puzzle Feeders and Produce

2:00- Jaguar Enrichment

2:30- Tiger Window Training Talk

3:00- Leopard Training

3:15- Small Carnivore Enrichment

 

Natural Encounters and McGovern Mammal Marina

1:30- NE Piranha Enrichment

1:50- NE Stingray Enrichment

2:15- NE Meerkat Enrichment

2:30- Sea Lion Show

 

Duck Lake Area

1:00- Giant Eland Training

1:15- Duck Lake Pelican Enrichment

1:30- Flamingo Enrichment

1:45- Pesquet’s Parrot Enrichment