Promoting Animal Well-Being Through Habitat Design

By RoxAnna Breitigan, Director of Animal Care

The animal care team is continually evaluating the well-being of the animals in pursuit of the highest quality of care we can provide, which includes the habitats in which they live. Sometimes this involves small changes like replacing the substrate and adding new furniture, which for animals are logs, boulders, and vegetation. Sometimes this means a complete overhaul of an area, and occasionally it’s a completely new vision, like Rhino Savanna. We also challenge ourselves to create homes for species that can live together wherever we can, allowing us to show how we are all connected and tell the story of ecosystems or snippets of life in certain deserts of the world.

Rhino Savanna was years of planning, which finally came to fruition in this multi-species, cutting-edge, four-acre habitat. Typically, in zoos, the critically endangered black rhino live by themselves as they are a mostly solitary species. However, after extensive research, The Living Desert determined that if we designed this habitat with many options for the animals, other species could live harmoniously with the black rhino. Today, 10 species share this spectacular space including springbok, pelicans, waterbuck, and more.

Rhino Savanna also gave us the opportunity to build new warthog and porcupine homes. This new barn is outfitted with radiant heaters, fans, misters, and two underground dens with built-in camera systems so the animal care team can keep a watchful eye over them. We also built a specialized area where guests can observe positive reinforcement training done between the warthogs and the animal care team. The porcupines received some extra-large hollow logs to lounge around in and have settled into their new home nicely.

Warthog

As one of the first habitats at the Zoo, the Oasis Aviary was showing its age. The animal care team carefully relocated the Aviary’s residents to other habitats throughout the Zoo and began to reimagine the future of this space. Through a generous gift from Patricia and Raymond Paige, we were able to build a completely new mesh aviary that would allow us to give homes to multiple species. The gregarious new prairie dogs can be seen munching on native grasses, the elusive burrowing owls are often standing in the shade of their burrows, and the barn owl hides amongst the branches in the higher trees, all living along with the roadrunners, vultures, and raven that are often active around the habitat. As the bubbling of the stream is heard in the background Wild Prairies is still considered an oasis on Zoo grounds.

Wild Prairies Habitat

African Grasslands has historically been home to several species who coexist well. This year, addra gazelle and yellow-billed storks were added to live with the slenderhorn gazelle, cinereous vultures, and sulcata tortoise. This is another example of the animal care team evaluating our spaces and finding ways to create dynamic habitats for the animals and our guests. These habitats give the animals a multitude of options of who to interact with, how they control the space, and allows them to have a variety of choices that they can make for themselves.

We take the responsibility of these animals’ lives in our care to heart and work every day to be better for them. We are grateful for all the support we receive from the other teams in the Zoo, the generous donors, the inspired guests and each other every day so we can continue to work in this incredible field of animal care and make a positive difference for the deserts of the world.

Addra Gazelle