Great Pumpkin Day

Halloween, also known as the eve of All Saints’ Day, is actually tonight. True, we held our zoo Halloween last week, but several of our caretakers thought that today they would treat the animals entrusted to them with a surprise suitable for the occasion.

The surprise was stylishly carved pumpkin lanterns, which were filled with all kinds of delicacies tantalizing to the respective animal. Throughout the Zoo today, you could see these “pumpkin heads” in several places, starting from the meerkats and the South African crowned cranes, through the rhinos and the anthropoid apes, all the way to the Komodo dragon. Of course, we could continue the list for a long time.

The unusual way of offering these delicacies, as well as the play opportunities hidden in the carved “pumpkin head”, provide excellent environmental enrichment for the animals, in addition to being interesting and visually appealing to the audience.

The essence of environmental enrichment is to provide activities and occupations for the animals. In nature, there is no need to take special care of this, as the struggle for existence, for survival, is enough to occupy the animals. In zoos, however, there is no need to struggle for survival every day, as our staff fully take care of the animals’ needs, who in turn have a lot of free time. And if you don’t fill their free time with appropriate activities, then the animals start to get bored.

There are several methods, areas, and directions of environmental enrichment. This includes, for example, the arrangement of runs and enclosures, various methods of offering food and feed, and even the daily training and interaction with the animals.