It’s been a very quiet week. Not because there hasn’t been much to do (I have been working very hard) but because Steve and our translator have been away at the EAZA conference, I’ve had no one to talk to. I’ve been trying my primitive Russian skills, but it’s difficult.
I have no photos this week as Steve has the camera with him in Copenhagen and strict instructions to take lots of photos of their elephants. Copenhagen Zoo has a new elephant house and enclosure designed by Norman Foster. Apparently it’s very functional for the elephants and keepers as they were all consulted in depth during the design process and it is also eco-friendly. Designing zoo enclosures and houses is an extremely difficult task. Zoo architects were once described as the most dangerous animal in the zoo (I can’t remember who said this, but it’s true!). On far too many occasions enclosures have been designed with only the architect’s scant knowledge of animal behaviour and capabilities, and no understanding of the needs of the keepers. Making an architectural statement is not necessary in zoos, the animals showing natural behaviour and the conservation interpretation should be what our visitors remember. I don’t mean to underestimate the value of aesthetics, but form should not detract from the animal and functionality of the habitat.
Our elephant at Kyiv has been responding well to his training and this week I made a slight alteration and now train twice a day with him, but for shorter sessions. He still seems happy to see me and works very hard. He has, however, managed to take two training sticks from me this week. The first one he used to scratch his belly with and then crunched up and ate very quickly. When he took the second stick, I quickly grabbed a new one and asked him to move to elsewhere in the training area, he dropped the stick and carried on working with me. I was really pleased with him, as I think it shows just how much he wants to be doing the training. He can leave any time he wants (or eat the sticks) it’s entirely his decision.
This week, I’ve been involved in the planning of some educational events in the zoo, they wanted to do something different, and so I am designing a day of enrichment workshops so our visitors can make gifts for the animals which the keepers will deliver. It will be for World Animal Day. We’ll be giving presents to the elephant, gorilla, chimpanzees, coatis and a few others.
The evenings are getting dark earlier now and it’s beginning to feel like the start of autumn, it’s still hot, but there’s a slight chill in the air and its smelling like autumn. The thunderstorms seem to have started up again; we had a real cracker of one on Thursday night for almost two hours – so loud that the cat hid under the bed!
The cat (apart from being scared of the storm) hasn’t been well this week, which meant a series of trips to the vet for injections, so obviously I am not the cat’s favourite person at the moment, not that she has much choice as Steve is away. The cat now is (as of yesterday) very popular with the vets as she bought them a bottle of cognac to apologise for biting one of them during the week!
I have no photos this week as Steve has the camera with him in Copenhagen and strict instructions to take lots of photos of their elephants. Copenhagen Zoo has a new elephant house and enclosure designed by Norman Foster. Apparently it’s very functional for the elephants and keepers as they were all consulted in depth during the design process and it is also eco-friendly. Designing zoo enclosures and houses is an extremely difficult task. Zoo architects were once described as the most dangerous animal in the zoo (I can’t remember who said this, but it’s true!). On far too many occasions enclosures have been designed with only the architect’s scant knowledge of animal behaviour and capabilities, and no understanding of the needs of the keepers. Making an architectural statement is not necessary in zoos, the animals showing natural behaviour and the conservation interpretation should be what our visitors remember. I don’t mean to underestimate the value of aesthetics, but form should not detract from the animal and functionality of the habitat.
Our elephant at Kyiv has been responding well to his training and this week I made a slight alteration and now train twice a day with him, but for shorter sessions. He still seems happy to see me and works very hard. He has, however, managed to take two training sticks from me this week. The first one he used to scratch his belly with and then crunched up and ate very quickly. When he took the second stick, I quickly grabbed a new one and asked him to move to elsewhere in the training area, he dropped the stick and carried on working with me. I was really pleased with him, as I think it shows just how much he wants to be doing the training. He can leave any time he wants (or eat the sticks) it’s entirely his decision.
This week, I’ve been involved in the planning of some educational events in the zoo, they wanted to do something different, and so I am designing a day of enrichment workshops so our visitors can make gifts for the animals which the keepers will deliver. It will be for World Animal Day. We’ll be giving presents to the elephant, gorilla, chimpanzees, coatis and a few others.
The evenings are getting dark earlier now and it’s beginning to feel like the start of autumn, it’s still hot, but there’s a slight chill in the air and its smelling like autumn. The thunderstorms seem to have started up again; we had a real cracker of one on Thursday night for almost two hours – so loud that the cat hid under the bed!
The cat (apart from being scared of the storm) hasn’t been well this week, which meant a series of trips to the vet for injections, so obviously I am not the cat’s favourite person at the moment, not that she has much choice as Steve is away. The cat now is (as of yesterday) very popular with the vets as she bought them a bottle of cognac to apologise for biting one of them during the week!
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