Since Thursday this week, we’ve had a visitor – Steve’s friend Olly has come to stay. As always, it’s really nice to see people here and show them the zoo and the sights of Kyiv. We’ve taken a few days off work so we can get out of the zoo for a while. That said, we’ve still been to a few important zoo meetings, I’ve still been training the elephant and we had a weekend of visitor activities that I’ve had to be involved in as it was my idea.
It was World Animal Day on Sunday, so I planned a series of enrichment workshops for the visitors over the weekend. The idea being that the visitors would bring along some items from our lists, and then work with the keepers and zoologists to transform their items into activities for the animals. The event has been really successful and the zoo staff were amazing.
On Saturday we made enrichment for the coatis, skunks and tigers. The coatis and skunks had cardboard tubes and boxes filled with their favourite foods, and pinecones rolled in honey and seeds. The baby coatis loved it and the visitors were really happy. Igor, our head keeper/zoologist for small mammals has a very good rapport with the visitors and there were so many children able to have a go at making the enrichments. One child wanted to follow Igor round all day and was trying to push his wheel-barrow for him! Masha (zoologist for big cats) did the tiger enrichment. The children all got a box and put scents (perfume and spices) on the boxes so the tigers could use their sense of smell. Masha also gave the tigers a huge pumpkin which they played football with.
On Sunday we started with fruit trees for all the parrots and macaws – children hung pieces of fruit on branches which the keepers then took into the enclosures for the birds. Igor did armadillo enrichment, which was extremely popular with the visitors. I learnt that the Russian word for armadillo is the same word as for Battleship! I then did elephant enrichment which was cardboard boxes again. Each child got a cardboard box; they could write a message for the elephant on the box or draw a picture. We then put an apple or carrot into each box and the keepers took all the gift-boxes to the elephant. It was really busy as the elephant is an extremely popular animal at the zoo. I think the whole weekend went well, we gave lots of press interviews about the zoo, enrichment and world animal day. Very successful and lots of fun!
The temperatures here have suddenly dropped this week; it’s really starting to get cold - I’ve had to stop wearing shorts and put on a jumper. Everyone has said that the weather has been very good this year, and stayed hotter for longer – I think that’s why there has been such a sudden change. It’s very cold at night now but I think that the city will turn on the heating later this week. All the central heating is controlled by the city authorities here. It goes on in October and stays on until about March. In the apartment buildings if one person doesn’t pay their heating bill, the heating for the whole block is switched off until they pay. I’d guess that you really don’t want to be the person who hasn’t paid. Ours will be ok, except there’s no option to turn the temperature up or down, it will just be on the maximum setting all winter! The keepers are starting to get prepared for winter – getting all the indoor accommodation ready for the animals. A lot of our animals will stay in all winter, but this year it will be a little bit different. We have decided that on days when it isn’t a lot below freezing, or isn’t snowing, the animals will be able to have supervised outdoor access to let them get some fresh air and have their indoor areas refreshed e.g. new ropes and substrates for the primates. We’ll have to be very careful how long they go out for, but it will be good for them. The elephant keepers have told me that they want to build snow sculptures for the elephant to play with outside!
Steve and Olly have been out exploring Kyiv this week (getting lost and finding lots of different places to drink some beer!), which has been really good and given me a chance to catch up on emails etc. and just have a bit of time to myself.
It was World Animal Day on Sunday, so I planned a series of enrichment workshops for the visitors over the weekend. The idea being that the visitors would bring along some items from our lists, and then work with the keepers and zoologists to transform their items into activities for the animals. The event has been really successful and the zoo staff were amazing.
On Saturday we made enrichment for the coatis, skunks and tigers. The coatis and skunks had cardboard tubes and boxes filled with their favourite foods, and pinecones rolled in honey and seeds. The baby coatis loved it and the visitors were really happy. Igor, our head keeper/zoologist for small mammals has a very good rapport with the visitors and there were so many children able to have a go at making the enrichments. One child wanted to follow Igor round all day and was trying to push his wheel-barrow for him! Masha (zoologist for big cats) did the tiger enrichment. The children all got a box and put scents (perfume and spices) on the boxes so the tigers could use their sense of smell. Masha also gave the tigers a huge pumpkin which they played football with.
On Sunday we started with fruit trees for all the parrots and macaws – children hung pieces of fruit on branches which the keepers then took into the enclosures for the birds. Igor did armadillo enrichment, which was extremely popular with the visitors. I learnt that the Russian word for armadillo is the same word as for Battleship! I then did elephant enrichment which was cardboard boxes again. Each child got a cardboard box; they could write a message for the elephant on the box or draw a picture. We then put an apple or carrot into each box and the keepers took all the gift-boxes to the elephant. It was really busy as the elephant is an extremely popular animal at the zoo. I think the whole weekend went well, we gave lots of press interviews about the zoo, enrichment and world animal day. Very successful and lots of fun!
The temperatures here have suddenly dropped this week; it’s really starting to get cold - I’ve had to stop wearing shorts and put on a jumper. Everyone has said that the weather has been very good this year, and stayed hotter for longer – I think that’s why there has been such a sudden change. It’s very cold at night now but I think that the city will turn on the heating later this week. All the central heating is controlled by the city authorities here. It goes on in October and stays on until about March. In the apartment buildings if one person doesn’t pay their heating bill, the heating for the whole block is switched off until they pay. I’d guess that you really don’t want to be the person who hasn’t paid. Ours will be ok, except there’s no option to turn the temperature up or down, it will just be on the maximum setting all winter! The keepers are starting to get prepared for winter – getting all the indoor accommodation ready for the animals. A lot of our animals will stay in all winter, but this year it will be a little bit different. We have decided that on days when it isn’t a lot below freezing, or isn’t snowing, the animals will be able to have supervised outdoor access to let them get some fresh air and have their indoor areas refreshed e.g. new ropes and substrates for the primates. We’ll have to be very careful how long they go out for, but it will be good for them. The elephant keepers have told me that they want to build snow sculptures for the elephant to play with outside!
Steve and Olly have been out exploring Kyiv this week (getting lost and finding lots of different places to drink some beer!), which has been really good and given me a chance to catch up on emails etc. and just have a bit of time to myself.
One of our lovely baby lions in the sunshine
Olly trying on a hat in Podil market
Steve wearing Olly's new hat
World Animal Day Enrichment Schedule
Igor showing children how to make armadillo enrichment
Making elephant enrichment
Elephant looking for all his boxes
Opening boxes to get his carrots
Olly's present to the elephant
Lots of visitors watching the elephant open the presents they made
Elephant with Olly's present 
Lots of elephant presents
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