This week was the second week I was put onto the Big Cat round but there was much less blood and guts than previously. The reason for this is that there was a couple paying to tag along on a “Big Cat Keeper” experience. Which basically means that I also got to have a “Big Cat Keeper” experience! Having only done this round once, I was still learning, and probably ended up asking more questions than the couple we were with. The idea of this experience is that they can be a zookeeper for the day so got to come around with us behind the scenes, checking the enclosures, feeding the animals, even have a free lunch (am I selling it to you yet?). I took this opportunity to act like a tourist and managed to capture some pretty great photos including this excellent selfie of me and Stripe:
As the couple seemed to be pretty fond of the tigers, we thought it would be great to create some enrichment that the tigers could enjoy. This involved putting some chunks of meat into a paper sack and then filling it with straw. Many of the big cats really enjoy objects with unusual scents that they can rub over themselves and make their own. The zoo often uses herbs, spices, pepper or in this case perfume. So, we sprayed these sacks with Dior. I hope they didn’t mind too much, apparently Coco Chanel is their favourite… These sacks got thrown over the wall, and this is what happened next…
Stripe, the Siberian Tiger seemed to really enjoy this enrichment, and spent a long time licking the sack and rubbing her face in it, before eventually ripping it open and finding the tasty snacks inside.
Another form of enrichment commonly used is to put their food out in different ways. This week we put Josie’s (the African Lioness) food up a tree, which forces her to track down and climb the tree to get her food. What took us a while using a large ladder to put up, it took Josie a matter of seconds to get down…
Josie was extremely hungry (and terrifyingly angry), so watched us closely through her hatch when we were putting the food up the tree.
Sovereign (the jaguar) also had his food put out differently, in the form of a scatter feed. His food got chopped into smaller chunks and scattered around his enclosure which forces him to sniff out and track down all the separate pieces.
Other tasks for the day involved feeding otters, bears, lynx, cheetah and fox and also checking their enclosures and cleaning out poo. Oh and of course, as soon as the paying couple left, there were the chores of chopping up a horse’s leg, de-yolking day old chicks and chopping up mice into smaller pieces. You know, the usual. I’m a pro now.
Animal of the Day – The Jaguar
The Jaguar (Panthera onca) is the third largest big cat and can be found naturally in South America. It can occupy a large range of habitats including deciduous forest, rainforest, swamps, grassland and mountain scrub. They are solitary animals and tend to live and hunt alone, with the exception of the mating season. Jaguars hunt by pouncing upon their prey and using their immensely powerful jaws to puncture and crush the skull. They eat a range of animals, including the tapir who have very strong skulls, which shows the power that these animals possess. Other prey includes monkeys, crocodile, deer, sloths and fish.
Dartmoor zoo has one Jaguar called Sovereign. He is a very angry cat who does not like humans to get too close or take photos. He will often lunge at people from behind the fence and stalk you by hiding behind the vegetation. He is also infamous for escaping years ago and luckily he jumped into the tiger enclosure and could not then escape again. Don’t worry, this was years ago and now there is no chance of him escaping!
Zookeeper Tash 