Snow Day

Today we decided to take some extra ice we had and give our fox, Sitka an Arctic experience. We dumped an entire bag of ice into his enclosure and he started to investigate right away.

At first he just stepped on it and then ran off. Next, he decided to dig through it and finally he attempted to eat it. He was having a great time playing around in the ice and we had a fun time watching.

Though ice/snow should be nothing new to him, this fox has enjoyed the San Diego weather and isn’t quite used to it. He seemed to enjoy the ice a lot and it is a great behavioral enrichment experience for him.

Check out these cute videos of Sitka!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToAx-wkJdEM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVTVWkDuo3g

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Testing New BE

Today we decided to try out new behavioral enrichment on some of the animals. Our first subjects were the Fennec Foxes; Frankie and Flick. 

Some interesting facts about Fennec Foxes is that they are from Africa, found in the northern Sahara Desert, and they are smal,l nocturnal omnivores. They are usually recognized for their large ears which help them hear insects, as well as dissipate heat. Fennec Foxes have thick fur on the bottom of their feet that help them walk on the hot sand and a sandy colored coat that helps reflect the sun during the day while keeping them warm at night. One of their favorite foods are Scorpions, which they have no problem catching, but they also eat fruit, birds, rodents and other vegetation.  

So, to encourage these little guys, we put together some wiffle balls with worms and newspaper in hopes that they will investigate the new items in their enclosure.

This is what they did…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8pE4ZJglww

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljPBiiDtE-M

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Acacia, bat-eared fox

Acacia, our Bat-Eared Fox, is investigating her behavioral enrichment box. It has lots of yummy treats in there. In the wild in Africa their diet consists mainly of insects. Their large ears help them hear insects crawling around. Bat-Eared Foxes have a lot of small teeth for their size because of their insectivorous diet. They also eat a little fruit and veggies, so here we feed them a variety of foods.

Acacia is shedding right now, so she looks kinda fluffy. A lot of our animals are shedding cuz it’s summer!

~Casai

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Owl Monkeys

The volunteers made some behavioral enrichment boxes for the animals at Zoofari today. The Owl monkeys, Lou and Olivia, were very interested in their box. Olivia is trying to open it with her little hands. It’s amazing how similarly to humans they function. They have very different personalities. Olivia is very sweet, and loves to be near people. Lou is hyper and protective of her and his “blankies”. He doesn’t like it when you try to take out a soiled blanket, and will try to grab it from you, and sometimes even carries it back into his house its so cute.   He likes to jump onto the staff’s shoulder or lap when they feeding him his favorite snack, and sometimes he will just jump up on a whim and hang out, even with no food. Owl monkeys are adorable, just watch Olivia as she tries to open the tube in the video.

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Hanging Around

Everyday at the facility we try and challenge our animals with some behavioral enrichment. Behavioral enrichment encourages an animals strengths and instincts that they would normally use in the wild.

For today we decided to encourage two of our birds to find food. In the wild birds often hang on  branches to eat fruit off of trees. So, we mimicked this concept by hanging corn on the cob from their enclosures. See for yourself how they did…

A.J our Amazon Parrot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6_yyeRHCz8

Buster our African Grey Parrot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyAErzmZ3gY

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