Something I hear quiet often when I'm
going about my day is the notion that animals look sad or depressed
in captivity. I read an interesting article about it recently and I
thought I would share my thoughts.
As a keeper, I have the privilege of
feeding my animals every day and seeing their reaction when I drive
up. They aren't happy to see me, they're happy to see food. When
keepers are around, animals behave very differently than when we're
not. While walking around a zoo you might notice a lot of animals
laying down, sleeping, or looking “bored.” This behavior is in
fact normal. Most animals, especially cats, sleep several hours a
day. In the wild, they try to save energy for hunting and those
instincts are still in them even when they're in captivity. This
misconception that animals run around doing fun and exciting things
all the time is fueled by documentaries about wildlife. I love
documentaries, they're great educational resources, but they do tend
to show lions hunting or fighting constantly by string together lots
of footage that they're gathered other several days or months into an
hour of action packed cat behavior. They rarely make a documentary
about an 8 hour cat nap.
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| Brutus is resting after running around like a goof ball. It's hard being such a handsome wolf. |
People have a tendency to
anthropomorphizing as well. We see our own emotions in the eyes of
animals. To us, cages symbolize being trapped and suppressed where as
animals don't view them the same way. Animals only know the life they
live. They don't long for the open field their ancestors enjoyed
because they have no concept of previous existence or “what could
have been.” That being said, it's important as a keeper to make
sure the lives your animals are living are the best ones possible.
Animals in captivity need lots of enrichment and stimulation and if
you don't give it to them they can develop stereotypical behaviors.
Stereotypical behaviors are behaviors that are repetitive, such as
pacing. These behaviors need to be addressed and changed.
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| Feeling sad Hani? Nah, her face always looks like that. |
As a guest at a zoo, the best thing
you can do if you're concerned about an animal is ask a keeper. We
know our animals very well because we spend so much time with them.
My female lions pace the fence after the cat show because they were
waiting to be fed inside. I have lots of guests ask me about it and I
tell them why the behavior is happening. If the girls paced at other
times of the day I would be concerned, but this type of pacing is
acceptable. I also know, when I arrive in the morning, how my animals
are doing. Their excitement for food is a great way to determine if
they're feeling tired or disconnected on any particular day. I take
care of a very old jaguar and I know instantly if he's feeling his
age that day. On those days I would expect him to stay inside and sleep most
of the day and while that's not what guests want to see, it's what he
wants to do and I'm not going bother him just so you can take a
picture.
Remember to always look at animals
objectively. Ask a keeper about behaviors you don't understand or
might be misinterpreting. If you see any negative behaviors let us
know so we can work together to make the lives of animals in
captivity better!
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