If you ever find yourself in Denmark I highly recommend vising Odense zoo. Their zoo is amazing! There are so many unique enclosure designs. The animals have lots of space and they've used crates, burlap bags and other objects for make their enclosures both look cool for the public and dynamic for the animals that live in them.

Wake up because I adore you!

 Their animals seem to be well taken care of. They tiger they have may be very old - or at least he or she was acting old when I was there. I didn't get a chance to ask the keepers about its age, but he or she was so cute!

Their giraffes have lots of space and a great yard to stroll around in.

They also have their share of funny signs. Seriously, don't stick you fingers in there.

Chomp chomp goes your fingers.

Their educational talks were great. The keeper did the seal presentation in Danish and English, with opportunities to ask the keeper questions afterward. I was super impressed with the entire zoo. My only compliant is that I didn't get to see the red panda. Those bugger are always so elusive!

Dinner time!

When you're walking around the zoo you may hear an array of sounds. It's hard to know what they all mean but today I'll share with you what I've learned while working with animals.

When tigers are in heat they make a calling noise that sounds like a deep groan. A lot of people ask me if tigers roar and the answer is no. Tigers chuff - sounds sort of like an puffy exhale. Sometimes tigers will chuff back if you chuff at them. Lions also making a calling noise that sounds slightly similar to a tiger's call, but a lion's call isn't meant to call for mates. It's for communication in general. Male and female lions call to one another. It sounds very cool to hear a pride all talking to one another. We have three lions and the sound of all of them calling to one another is amazing. It gets you right in the chest. Lions also roar. Their roar is very loud, it can be heard up to 8 km away and is used to warn any outsiders against attempting to enter or take over the pride and round up any lost family members.

A lot of people are surprised to hear our cheetah purr. Cougars purr as well. They are the largest cat that can purr. They also growl and chirp. When I come to feed my cougars in the morning they run along the fence, chirping away. It sounds kind of like a “meow” which is very weird coming from such a big cat.

Another common sound around zoo is alarm calls. You'll hear these mostly from primates or prey animals. I often hear the lemur alarm calling it there's a heron or mink in the area. My baboons alarm call when they they sense a disturbance as well, it's especially common when the vet is driving by.

Interpreting sounds is very important. I've been told that a costumer once informed her daughter that our tiger's mating call was actually the sounds of her crying because she was so sad to be in captivity. This is incorrect, the tiger is calling because she is looking for a mate. If you're unsure what a sounds means and you're worried about the animal, then ask a keeper. We'd be more than happy to explain any strange noises you might hear!

I think the sounds you'll hear most often at zoos is the sound of keepers talking to our animals. Zoo Story explains it best. There are keepers that are “bunny huggers” and those that are not. Bunny huggers name their animals and talk to them constantly. You'll likely hear keepers chatting away as if they're talking to a friend. Animals respond to our voices and I think talking to your animals helps you establish a good working relationship with them. Once our guests learn the names of our animals, they'll often try calling them over. You'll probably notice that calling an animal by name doesn't guarantee a response, since the animals don't associate you voice with food – like they do with their keepers - but it never hurts to try and say hi!

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.

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.

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!

Today is Internation Tiger day. Check out this website to read more about the issues tigers face and what you can do to help them!

Hani, Hana and even Sweetie will be happy you did!

My arctic wolf Cleo would be like Catherine Zeta-Jones if she were a person. Just like with the Sweetie-Megan Fox comparison, I don't actually know if Catherine Zeta-Jones is a mean person but I think her striking face has the ability to send people running for their lives if she made the proper “bitch” face. Cleo is the same way. She is beautiful and her eyes are piercing. And even though she's usually kind and keeps to herself, I worry about her ability turn on me.

My arctic wolf Brutus is like Shia LaBeouf because he's good looking but a bit clumsy and gives off a nerdy vibe. And like Shia, Brutus often ends up with girls much hotter than he would normal be able to get based on his looks alone. I'm not sure if Brutus would be with a wolf like Cleo if they weren't living in a zoo. Zoos don't have the space to try and pair animals based off of some hotness rating their species may or may not have, so if you're an arctic wolf female and we find you an arctic wolf male, then together you shall go. You're a lucky boy Brutus.

You can't just hop on ebay to find a rhino urine catcher, but there's nothing that a yogurt container and duct tape can't solve. Charlie is our super old White Rhinoceros. We monitor his health carefully and when our vet needs a urine sample, well, you can only hope you stay out of the splash zone.

It was interesting visiting another zoo after I had been working as a zoo keeper for a while. I saw zoos with totally different eyes. Captivity has become something totally different to me, but that aside there are other details that I noticed. A lot of people ask me the “whys” of our zoo design. Some of them even say “well at such and such a zoo it was like this,” and they wonder why we don't do the same thing. Here's some big differences I've noticed between my zoo and the zoo's I've visited.

1. Enclosure sizes versus display tactics. One thing that I noticed while visiting Seattle zoo was that their enclosures were rather small compared to mine. My animals had a lot more space than theirs. However, they had very cool ways to view their animals. A lot of their enclosures had both glass installments that allowed you, for example, to see into their bear's den. They also had decks over the enclosures so that you could look down to view the animals. This combination made it so you could almost guarantee that you would see an animal in each enclosure. It was definitely interesting to see how Seattle zoo used “smoke and mirrors” to cover for their lack of space. A complaint I often hear at my zoo that visitors can't see our animals because the enclosures are too big. I consider this a fair trade off and since my main concern is animal health and welfare, I like it this way.
   
   

   

   At least the Eurasian Boar in the South American Section like the mud.

   
   
   
   
2. Cement versus natural ground. Our zoo has cement floors in our barns but the outdoor parts of the enclosures are natural. When I visited Calgary Zoo I was surprised at how much cement their was. There were hardly any trees as you walked through the zoo and all of their enclosures were either cement or hard ground. As a keeper I can see positives and negatives to both methods. Our zoo looks more natural; provides our animals with a more organic setting; and allows the grass eaters to feast on some fresh grass, but it also means the ground is soft and that makes it hard to maintain animal feet. The wolves don't wear down their claws as much and any hoofed animal will need regular trims. The other down side is that in the winter, it's very muddy. At Calgary zoo, I can see that they are better able to clean every inch of their enclosures because they can hose them thoroughly and the hard surfaces will be better for animal feet. The down side is that it's unnatural and the hard surface may be detrimental to the animals' joints.

   

   Kaos straddling the divide between nature and cement.

   
   
3. Different stories and personalities. I love getting a chance to speak with keepers about their animals at other zoos. I've said before that many of the guests I talk to have a hard time believing that animals have different personalities, but I know they do so I like to ask the keepers about their little buddies. I met a gibbon at the Calgary zoo who looked so sad. He was adorable but very pouty. I later learned that he had lost his mate recently and the zoo tried to give him another female companion to spend time with, but he doesn't like her, so he sits there and pouts. I also learned that one of Calgary zoo's tigers enjoys spraying costumers just as much as my lion and jaguar do. The main thing that comes with different personalities is a different visitor experience. We don't have the same outreach animals as other zoo because, for example, our Maribo stork doesn't like people as much as San Deago zoo`s so we can`t use him to interact with the public because it would stress him out too much. It also the main reason that my tigers either more or less playful than other zoo`s tigers and so on. It really just depends on the collection of animals at each location.

Next time you visit a zoo, try to think about why zoos look so different from one another. No system is perfect, but we try our very best to give visitors a good experience while also ensuring the animals are happy. Make sure you ask a keeper about their animals, trust me we love to talk about them. I grantee you'll learn something new.