From the “It must be true . . . I read it in the tabloids” section of the July 3 – 10, 2009 issue of The Week.

Two baby flamingos at . . . London Zoo have developed a phobia of the color pink. The month-old chicks, named Little and Large, both have the pale gray plumage flamingos are born with. In an attempt to feed them, zookeepers used a pink sock-puppet of an adult flamingo, but it only terrified the chicks. Their resulting phobia of anything pink has worrying implications for their future mental health. “We’ll just have to hope they get used to the color,” said keeper Alison Brown.

The chimp who plans for the future

Human beings can imagine and plan for future events– a capability that scientists have long believed makes us unique among living creatures. But an angry chimpanzee in a Swedish zoo has shown that his species is capable of meticulous preparations for the future: He stockpiles rocks, shapes them into aerodynamic discs, and then waits hours for zoo visitors to come into range so he can pelt them. Every morning before visitors start to trickle in, [the chimp, named] Santino roams his outdoor enclosure, searching for small stones. He’s learned to make his own stones, too, by knocking pieces off the concrete walls. At times, Santino shapes his weapons into discs, so they sail through the air more accurately. The chimp stacks the stones in small piles, so that when he becomes irritated by visitors invading his territory, he has an ammunition store on hand and can begin hurling his missiles. No one has been hurt.

I have a few thoughts on the story.

Photo credit: Richard. Photo license: CC.

[It was a bad week for] a Chinese college student [who] climbed into a zoo pen so he could hug a panda bear. “Yangyang was so cute and I just wanted to cuddle him,” said the student from his hospital bed. “I didn’t expect he would attack. I don’t remember how many bites I got.”

Phtoto credit: click here.

Only one day after a litter of three white tiger cubs was born at the zoo in Caney, Kan., their mother stopped caring for them. The tiny cubs wandered around helplessly. But zoo owner Tom Harvey had an inspiration: He brought in a Golden Retriever to act as their surrogate mother. The idea worked; the dog, named Isabella, is licking, cleaning, and even nursing the cubs as if they were her own. Harvey said the adoptive mother had just recently weaned her own puppies. “The timing couldn’t have been any better,” he said.

It’s definitely a feel-good story. However, I am slightly troubled by the phrase zoo owner. I hope that the Caney zoo is a fully accredited institution, rather than a private for-profit roadside attraction.

Either way, my hat goes off to Isabella.

Help from a bloodsucker

Many zoo animals do not like needles and panic when veterinarians try to take their blood. So zoo officials in Europe are letting a bloodsucking bug get the samples they need. Europe is now experiencing an epidemic of bluetongue, and farmers and zookeepers are rushing to vaccinate their animals. But vaccinations aren’t always effective, so vets have to get regular samples of the animals’ blood to check for antibodies. Many animals respond so badly to the threat of a needle stick that they must be sedated before a doctor enters their pen, but sedation can be dangerous. Instead zookepers are introducing the Mexican kissing bug into the cages of the needle-phobic. The bug is known for sucking blood from around the mouth of its sleeping victim (hence the name “kissing” bug). After it sucks a few milliliters of an animal’s blood, vets capture the bug. Zoo vet Tim Bouts tells New Scientist that the technique works well, as long as the bugs are careful. “Once a hippo stepped on a full bug so we had to start over.”

A couple of aspects of the article stood out to me. First, I find it interesting that hoofstock diseases tend to have such crude names (such as bluetongue, foot-and-mouth disease, and mad cow disease).

The technique is very innovative. Disease-free parasites may be a very good way to collect blood samples from a number of species in the future. However, the samples may not be fit for all types of blood testing. For instance, one could not use theses samples to test blood sugar levels or blood oxygenation levels. As well, if my memory serves me correctly kissing bugs are vectors for a syndrome called Chagas disease. I will assume that the kissing bugs used in the project are free of the syndrome.

Finally, I take issue with one point made in the article. The article states that many animals are afraid of needles. In my experience, that is not true. Most animals aren’t scared of needles at all. However, they often are abjectly terrified of the hairless, two-legged apex predators that enter the cages holding the needles. Needles don’t frighten most zoo animals. People do.

America’s obesity epidemic is spreading to the nation’s zoos. Veterinary nutritionists report that gorillas, lions, and other zoo dwellers have been packing on the pounds, prompting many zoos to bring in diet and fitness experts to help them create a healthier lifestyle for their captives.

Wild animals are almost never overweight. They spend most of their waking hours searching for food, and that consumes energy. As well, food in the wild is scarce. These factors combine to make obesity almost unknown in the wild.

However, captive animals become unwilling metaphorical couch potatoes. They get much less exercise, and their food is provided regularly.

I have worked with and visited many zoos, and I know that they are doing their best with limited space, money, and resources. Zoos are vital for helping humans connect with and respect animals, and for maintaining genetic diversity in species whose habitats are threatened or gone. It is not possible for a zoo to provide a tiger with the space that the big cat truly needs. The tiger exhibit would take up many square miles, and no visitors would ever see the tiger in such a large habitat.

So, what can the zoos do? They are attempting to reduce the calories that are offered, and to increase the exercise that each inhabitant gets. As well, they are modifying their training protocols. From the article:

Zoo trainers who have traditionally used treats such as molasses and granola bars to coax or reward animals are starting to rely instead on low-calorie offerings such as sugar-free Jell-O and alfalfa biscuits.