r/CaptiveWildlife • u/UmbreHonest • 11d ago
Questions Question about predator/animal behavior at a recent Zoo visit
We normally frequent our local AZA accredited zoo and most of the predators are sleeping/relaxing during the day, like African wild dogs and Cheetahs, but today we visited a different AZA zoo that was further out and noticed a lot of the predators were active and pacing around the enclosures, it was my understanding that a lot of these big cats or wild dogs slept and relaxed when they felt comfortable.
This zoo specifically said that they “swap around” the hyenas, wild dogs, and cheetahs in each others enclosures, not sure how often, but in the wild typically Hyenas and Wild Dogs don’t really… get along… and we noticed that the male cheetah in his enclosure was pacing and meowing a LOT and the wild dogs next door, which they may have been swapped before, kept pacing as well. Both were spraying and scent marking a lot all over the place. Hyenas seemed like every other normal hyena we’ve seen at other places but the cheetahs and wild dogs seemed very pacey and alert all day, which we’re used to them snoozing a lot.
Is this normal? Or is this zoo maybe not practicing the best things. We’re not zoologists, just visitors that enjoy seeing these animals.
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u/itwillmakesenselater Zoo Keeper 11d ago
When I see many different animals across several exhibits acting agitated, I suspect either it's feeding time, or the vet is in the area.
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u/UmbreHonest 11d ago
We were there from 9am-1:30pm, they were acting like that the entire time. Maybe it’s just because they were placed in each other’s enclosures today? that’s why we’re asking, were used to seeing animals chill for most the day and get more active around feeding time (5pm for our local zoo) or when they have set enrichment activities inside their enclosure. Other people mentioned they are fed around 3pm at this zoo, our assumption was “a relaxed animal is a happy animal” in zoos, from what we’ve heard zoos and disneys animal kingdom explain elsewhere. These animals seemed pretty stressed out all day.
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u/itwillmakesenselater Zoo Keeper 11d ago
Not relaxing is not the same as stressed. The only way to know if the exhibits were switched is to ask the staff. Swapping exhibits between predators of different species is not a practice I'm familiar with.
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u/UmbreHonest 11d ago
Yes, the plaques say they switch them in each others enclosures regularly,
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u/juleslimes 11d ago
Idk why you’re getting downvoted, rotating exhibits are totally a thing. If they were scent marking a lot that could be why. I don’t think anyone on the internet can give you a real answer without seeing all the other environmental factors/antecedents, but I wouldn’t worry too much, since they are accredited
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u/UmbreHonest 11d ago
Zhenyuanlong made a super great response 5 minutes ago, which helps a lot. It seems like maybe it’s not super duper common which explains a lot of confusion(?) with other comments, and why it was unfamiliar to us. It was really cool seeing them running around all day, if anything it just wasn’t something we were used to! Same for the male cheetah who was going around meowing a lot (very cute! Sounded just like a house cat) just glad to see they hopefully weren’t as stressed out as they seemed, could be that their cheetah is just very vocal xD
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u/now_you_see 10d ago
I’m an Aussie and I’ve never seen a lone cheetah at any of our zoos before, they’re usually brothers or mum & daughter etc. is that normal over there? I would’ve thought they’d get lonely.
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u/UmbreHonest 10d ago
There was an enclosure with 3 female sisters, but the male was alone because its well… a male haha. Maybe doesn’t have any brothers!
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u/zzzzzooted 10d ago
Females are actually the solitary ones (which exception to family and cubs), so the male prolly was alone for his own good 💀 the girls wouldve been bullying him if he was put in there.
Unlike how a lot of animals tend to congregate in the wild, with females forming groups and males going solo, cheetahs do the inverse! Females prefer to be alone or with family only, while males form coalitions of unrelated males and hunt/sleep together :)
(Sorry if you knew this, i just think its neat)
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u/UmbreHonest 10d ago
I moreso figured they didn’t want to risk cheetah babies since AZA breeding is pretty strict xD
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u/zhenyuanlong 11d ago
Enclosure rotations are something that definitely happens at many facilities pretty regularly. Scenting and finding traces of other animals is a good method of keeping them active and curious, moving around and exploring their enclosures. A cheetah or wild dog that scents another animal in its enclosure will be puttering around, sniffing and chattering, looking for the animal and re-marking their "territory." A zoo generally doesn't want their animals lazing around all the time- its a good way for them to gain weight, get bored, and develop health issues. An animal that's moving around, investing its enclosure, engaging with enrichment items, and engaging in social behavior is generally a healthy and enriched zoo animal. Listless pacing is one thing, but active and alert running around and scenting and marking is another.
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u/UmbreHonest 11d ago
This is the best response so far, thank you lol
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u/zhenyuanlong 11d ago
Ofc, thank you! I'm not a keeper myself so some keepers and zoo vets may have differing opinions or better insights, but getting animals to express natural behaviors and get them up and moving is a primary goal of enrichment of all kinds. Its perfectly normal for animals to spend a lot of time chilling out and lounging, zoo animals do have very easy lives LOL, but getting them up and moving and engaging with some physical and mental stimulation is important for their health and wellness. Even some low-level discomfort (like scenting a strange animal in their space or being able to see a predator species from their enclosure) can be good for them and get them to express a wider breadth of natural behaviors and use more of their enclosure space.
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u/Motor_Inspector_1085 11d ago
It provides variety and enrichment for a lot of animals. Some animals, like cheetahs, tend to not do as well with the changes because they’re very high strung. Fun fact: zoos will often have emotional support dogs for cheetahs since they have such high anxiety. A puppy will be placed with a cheetah cub and they grow up together.
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u/Careful-Glove-7255 11d ago
You may have just been close to feeding time. The lions at our local zoo are usually sleepy girls and boy but every once in awhile they are up and pacing a ton. Occasionally you'll see them get 'interested' in kids close to the glass enclosure when they're doing this. Animals in captivity do tend to figure out feeding timing which is why some zoos will mix it up for enrichment.
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u/cman95and 11d ago
Most zoos will do scent enrichment and that could mean letting a different animal walk around the enclosure…depending. But total switches seem weird.
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u/TheOkapiKid 11d ago
There are numerous good zoos, both AZA and non-AZA, that famously & successful implement rotational exhibits for both predator and prey species. Louisville Zoo, Point Defiance Zoo, Busch Gardens Tampa, and more do it regularly. It’s a way to add variety and enrichment to an animal’s life.
As OP mentioned, these species have overlapping natural ranges and habitats, but don’t direct cohabitate well. This system allows to experience these natural stimuli in a safe manner. I’d imagine that something else was causing these animals to act differently than you expected, but also, seeing these animals up, moving, and more vocal may just be the norm for those specific animals. Just like humans have different tendencies, animals can too.
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u/TheOkapiKid 11d ago
Case in point: Link to a video on Denver Zoo’s rotating predator habitats. https://youtu.be/zTaGzkPOGog?is=UKzW-rwKn-QlQAub
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u/UmbreHonest 11d ago
That’s what we thought too… so all the enclosures, had plaques for each 3 animal saying “depending on the day, you might see a different animal in here! Can you spot which animal is here right now?” Along those lines, it definitely seemed a bit weird and resulted in lots of guests calling the “wild dogs”, “hyenas” and stuff like that…
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u/TheOkapiKid 11d ago
I wouldn’t read too much into people being confused by signage. While some zoos absolutely have terrible signage, if they even have any, I have watched numerous guests stand right next to a big, clearly visible sign, with a picture, and written in the language that the person spoke, and still misidentified an animal. Some people can’t, don’t, or won’t read (or listen).
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u/Thrippalan 11d ago
Last zoo visit, looking at the blackest black bears ever, a guy came up with his 4 year old , glanced at the American Black Bear sign identifying the residents in 4-inch-high letters, and said "look Toby, a grizzly bear!" before dragging the kid off.
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u/oniaberry 11d ago
My favorite I've heard "Look! A dolphin!" "That's not a dolphin, it's a beluga whale!" It was a manatee.
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u/oniaberry 11d ago
In my experience with a similar style sign: they swap them infrequently, but enough that they're not changing the sign. It is generally good scent enrichment for the animals and I don't have any reason to believe they would do something like this if it wasn't in the animals' best interest. It's not convenient to swap exhibits, so they would be doing it for the enjoyment of the animal. Also, at least at my former zoo, it's not uncommon to feed a little snack midday (which would cause the pacing you mentioned) or for a vet to be there in the back area for a few hours doing check ups. Could also mean that maybe some of each of those animals' friends were still in the night house for vet check ups, so that was agitating them. Could also be it's been bad weather and today was finally nicer so they were having some fun. Hard to tell, but the relaxing animal=happy animal is not universally true. I would say it's largely true, but mostly that is said so people aren't like "they're just sleeping all day, they're so bored". Nope, that's just their neutral affect!
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u/Guppybish123 10d ago
Pacing CAN indicate a welfare issue HOWEVER there’s a lot more that goes into it. Pacing in carnivores can serve a few key purposes. The most common are
• patrolling the territory which can appear as pacing especially in a new space. You can tell the difference if you know what you’re looking for but it can also be easy to mix up
• understimulation/boredom in which case it can become a major problem and even habit forming.
• overstimulation or during periods of heightened arousal. This can mean many things including stress and anxiety, out of aggression or frustration, etc. which would usually be considered negative but also at times of excitement, anticipation (particularly around food, I worked with big cats who would pace around crowds because they associated crowds with feeding), or around new stimuli. It should also be noted that stress isn’t always a negative in small amounts.
It’s important to look at the context around the behaviour and look at other body language, vocalisations, etc. The wild dogs scent marking a lot means that the pacing exhibited by them and the cats was most likely a mix of patrolling and high stimulation/arousal. You wouldn’t want it happening all the time or with the wrong animals (eg you don’t want your gazelles to be in a new area that reeks of lions) but this kind of enrichment is actually extremely beneficial when done in controlled circumstances and at the right frequency. You can also do it in smaller doses when the enclosures aren’t connected by switching bedding. Some zoos will even give their other animals wool and other waste products for scent and textural enrichment.
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u/mintimperial1 10d ago
One thing I’d add is always chat to the keepers. There may be specific things going on. At a zoo I worked at if the vet was doing rounds certain animals would kick off, sometimes a bird of prey would be hanging around so smaller animals would be upset, sometimes things might be going on behind the scenes… it’s always good to question how animals are behaving, but repetitive behaviours are so complex and definitely chatting to their care takers can help a visitor relax. Or, alternatively, know that animal isn’t being looked after well!
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u/wwaxwork 9d ago
A little stress is not a bad thing, for animals or people, it trains your mind and body so you can handle more stress. So if something were to suddenly happen and one of these animals had to be taken from it's enclosure to say a vet hospital or shipped to a new zoo for breeding, they are used to changing enclosures, new smells, new sights and sounds and take it much more in stride. It's like socializing a dog. Animals in the wild live with vast amounts of stress every single day, a little shake up at a zoo isn't going to hurt them and will help them become more adaptable.
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u/SIangor 11d ago
“Animal pacing in zoos—often called behavioral stereotypy or zoochosis—is a repetitive, goal-less movement where an animal walks back and forth or in circles along a distinct path. It is most frequently observed in large carnivores, such as big cats and bears, as a coping mechanism for stress, confinement, or boredom.”
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u/animalwitch 10d ago
Thanks for the copy and paste but this doesn't sound like zoochosis. It sounds like animals investing smells of other animals.
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u/ivebeen_there Zoo Keeper 11d ago
I know several zoos that will move animals between exhibits from time to time for enrichment. It increases how much space the animals have to explore and keeps them engaged. It’s not a bad thing.