I work at a zoo and I’ll tell you what happens inside

Have you ever wondered where the police will send a rescued crocodile that tourists were photographed with on a beach, or what will be the fate of a calf whose mother was killed by poachers? These animals are no longer able to survive on their own in the wild, and a zoo or environmental reserve is the appropriate place to care for them. In recent decades, many things have changed in them: now they are centers where people create natural spaces and protected biosystems, treating sick and affected animals, thus increasing the population of rare or endangered species.

I am the author of incredible.club and in my free time I work as a volunteer in several zoos around the world. After learning how everything is organized and talking to the staff, I want to share with you some facts and stories about why we should reconsider our attitude towards these types of places.

A good zoo is a place where each animal has a large space to lead an active life, as well as secluded corners for solitude, individual care, medical attention, special food, entertainment and the opportunity to communicate with other species. There is minimal contact with animals, which receive maximum attention.

Nature reserves do not guarantee a good life for animals. There are no veterinarians, the fauna does not feed during periods of “hunger”, there is no protection against fires and floods and the offspring that have lost their parents or the injured specimens are condemned to death. Furthermore, there may be hunters.

The task of zoos today is to save, preserve and increase the number of animals of rare and endangered species., in addition to educating people to live in harmony with nature. Environmental reserves where animals are protected throughout their lives are often financed by zoos themselves or are part of them, participating together with them in rehabilitation and reproduction programs. They are not animal collections, circuses or zoos created exclusively for the public’s amusement and profit, where nobody cares about the health and comfort of the animals.

Each inhabitant of a zoo receives attention from a special person: a keeper or keeper. He feeds and takes care of the animal. For this “zoo keeper”, his ward is a close friend with whom he establishes a special relationship. Where’s the secret? There is no physical punishment at all, just love, patience and respect, so that later, little by little, the animal will accept it, despite the differences between them. If necessary, the handler can establish physical contact, such as petting the animal. But standard practice is not to interfere. Animals must not be tamed.

Sometimes zoos literally have to “wrestle with instincts”. For example, a female Tasmanian devil gives birth to 20-30 puppies. Under natural conditions, only four will survive, because this is how many teats the mother has, which means this is the number of young she can feed. At the zoo, the rest of these little ones will be in charge of the keeper, some can even be sent to live in a natural environment. This approach helps to recover the population of rare and endangered species.

Both in nature and in the zoo an animal may not manifest its maternal instinct🇧🇷 For example, a female orangutan can give birth four times, but only on the fifth will she show interest in her baby, feed and raise it, while on the sixth she will show indifference again. In the wild, her offspring would simply die, but in zoos they will be the keeper’s responsibility. By the way, these animals will be able to live with their mother and even establish a friendship relationship.

When choosing a partner, mammals and birds also evaluate appearance, the method of seduction and, above all, harmony in communication. If their personalities “don’t fit together”, the breeding instinct is unlikely to manifest itself.

Many remain faithful to their partner for the rest of their lives because they place a high value on “teamwork” as it gives both partners survival advantages. At the zoo, couples are also formed. This happens and the other way around, when each animal needs to create its own refuge because it doesn’t fit or an insurmountable conflict arises between them.

When they lose their partner, animals also feel anguish and pain and they manifest them in their own way: they refuse to eat, they howl, they change their behavior. Only time can help them and, sometimes, the relationship with the keeper or with another inhabitant of the zoo.

Everyone has their own routine: some sleep during the day, others every 2-3 hours. But if you want to see almost all the animals, go in the morning, from 8 am to noon, when 90% of the zoo’s inhabitants are active and there are almost no visitors. When in a zoo, do not make noise or knock on the glass or the outdoor cages, or give food, as this can be harmful to the animals. Zoos prepare food for their inhabitants on their own🇧🇷 They have a kitchen, sometimes even a farm, as well as cooks who, together with veterinarians, work out a diet. But visitors continue to feed the animals because they “ask for it”. Some animals manipulate people for their own joy, while others, like horses, just don’t feel satisfied and eat until they end up feeling sick.

Visitors happen to throw bananas at the monkeys, although most primates don’t feel good about this type of food. Even bananas are not recommended as a treat, so these fruits are replaced by others in zoos. For example, marmosets eat freshly ground meat with pleasure; lemurs, leeks; and gorillas love fresh herbs.

All predators have their “fast day”🇧🇷 In nature, they move around a lot and often go hungry, but in zoos and environmental reserves they do not suffer from food shortages, which can trigger serious health problems. So, once a week they eat only low-calorie fruits and vegetables, while employees constantly come up with new entertainment for them. For example, they release live carp into a bear pool in order to teach the predators to swim and hunt underwater, as their peers do in the wild.

Swans and ducks die if they are fed bread or cakes🇧🇷 They will eat everything with appetite, but you go home without seeing how the next day one of these birds will die. And if this happens in the eyes of visitors, they will believe that the fault is because the birds “are malnourished or have been tortured by zoo staff”. If you think that the animal seems to be abandoned, it could be the phase in which it sheds its skin. Before hibernation, raccoons gain a lot of weight. But camels or wolves, during molting, look very thin and in poor condition, while a tiger’s fur turns into real dreadlocks. Veterinarians monitor all these processes very carefully: if the animal “can’t cope” on its own, it ends up being shorn. But this is an extreme measure, since such a procedure requires anesthesia and generates severe stress in the animal.

The spider is not dead, it has simply shed its skin.

It sometimes happens that the non-photogenic appearance of an animal is a symptom of old age. After all, humans cannot appear 80 years old as if they had recently celebrated their majority. In good zoos, animals have a longer life expectancy than in natural conditions., as they are guaranteed year-round access to a balanced diet and constant attention. There is always the possibility of curing an animal before its illness becomes chronic or begins to pose a serious danger. In nature, even something as minor as gum inflammation can cost a young individual their life.

In order for the animals to be happy, physically developed and intelligent, special training has been developed for them. While most schools for humans still use the system of points and even punishments, in zoos learning becomes entertainment for its inhabitants. For example, treats for raccoons are buried and hidden in tree holes. In the feline enclosures, trees are planted for these predators to sharpen their claws and chew leaves. For monkeys, crows, wolves and bears, puzzles are built with something tasty inside. Bush dogs are encouraged to learn to swim by extra treats left in the water. Playing at will and without submission, any living being quickly learns something new and, accordingly, develops. In some cases, training consists of full classes with the caregiver, such as games and swimming with sea lions, which allows you to better inspect their teeth and fins.

Many animals learn new things through observation. For example, pandas and monkeys are shown videos of their mates mating. There are specialists who carry out educational workshops in addition to video. For example, they hang an apple as a treat on a thread so that the bear gets up on its hind legs and picks it up. This strengthens his hip muscles and prepares his body for serious physical exertion in order to get on with breeding. In nature, the lack of examples of behavior can lead the animal not to reproduce.

People like to imagine that other beings live in a similar way. But in nature, each species has different behavior patterns. For example, the male elephant is always alone, while the female lives with her children, and if she has a small male elephant, then at the age of 8-9 she invites him to leave his family to lead an independent life. Pandas, on the other hand, live alone and only once a year, for a few months, are they willing to tolerate each other in a common territory, as long as there is mutual sympathy, because the reproduction instinct alone is not enough. Even the gorilla’s way of life is not so similar to that of the human being. A common family of these primates consists of a male and a group of females with young. Males love to “dance”, showing their strength, beating their chests and screaming, but to the end they avoid conflict, even if the fate of the entire “harem” is at stake. And when they attack, they limit themselves to one bite. Fights in a group almost always arise only between females who have not shared something.