Sorry it’s been a while.

I would like to begin this post by apologising for the length of time since my last post. Unfortunately life sometimes gets in the way of volunteering fun. I won’t bore you with the details of working full time. It’s nowhere near as fun as being pecked by a Rhea (Zazu you cheeky devil).

Turns out a lot happens in three months at a zoo. Since my last day there, there has been quite a turnover in animals! Alongside many other changes, a male Lion has been welcomed to the family, after the passing away of Taz the Tiger (the terrifying aunt to the two giant housecats). The long term aim is to introduce him to Josie the female. They are currently in enclosures next to each other, so they can see each other. Apparently Josie is petrified of him at the moment, which is surprising as he seems so calm and lovely, whereas she is a angry madam.

My first day back consisted of a lot of physical work! If you need to lose a few pounds after Christmas (no comments please), I would recommend zookeeping for a great full body workout! I am quite stiff today after a day of cleaning different houses, removing dirty bedding from the gazelle (wet straw is really quite heavy), scrubbing an otter pond (it’s never looked so clean) and chopping up Christmas trees! Many people have donated their old trees to the zoo to use for animal enrichment. So yesterday we chopped the branches of one side of a few, to use as a nice screen in the aviaries. It looked lovely.

Unfortunately I don’t think I have any “what did Tash do this time” stories for this post! Short of being pecked by Zazu. Didn’t hurt, but it did surprise me. I also had to pretend that picking up crickets didn’t freak me out, whilst I collected 45 for the Meerkats. I chickened out of using my hands and opted for tweezers. Then there’s the classic meat delivery “I hate it but I can’t look away” moment. A normal meat delivery would consist of some boxes of steaks and mince meat. Not at a zoo. The meat delivery is a room of whole animals. Hung up. I’ll stop there in case you decided to read this whilst you ate dinner. I’m sure your imagination can fill in the rest.

So actually, having said there weren’t any entertaining stories, I have just come up with three. Zoos are non-stop entertainment.

Animal of the week – the Rhea (Rhea Americana or Rhea Pennata)

This is Zazu, the little devil that pecked me. Actually it’s not, but I’m trusting that none of you can identify these particular Rhea and will just believe what I tell you.

 

Rhea are large, flightless birds. Similar to ostrich but smaller and much less threatening (unless it’s called Zazu). They are from South America, and even within this continent are limited to a few countries of: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. With the exception of the small colony in Germany that has developed after a few escaped from a farm! They are grassland animals and live in flocks of between 20 and 25 birds. They are usually herbivorous, eating leafy plants, but will also occasionally eat fruits, insects and even small rodents and reptiles!

Rhea of polygamous and a male might try and mate with up to 12 females. He will try and impress the ladies with a loud booming call, the sort of noise you would not expect to come from a bird. He will then make a funny run, using his wings alternating with his legs (it’s hilarious to see). If he is successful, the female will lay up to 60 eggs. The male will incubate these, and will sacrifice some outside the nest to act as a decoy for predators. When incubating, the male will charge at any threat to the eggs, and may also use a subordinate male to incubate the eggs instead. Once the eggs have hatched, it takes 6 months for a Rhea to become fully grown, but they will not mate until they are 2 years old.

The Big Cat Keeper Experience

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!