“If an animal dies of natural causes, we sometimes feed them out to other animals.”
and there were some pretty wild behind-the-scenes facts about zoos and aquariums.
Here are some of the most memorable.
*
*Along with some responses fromthis old Reddit thread.
“A lot of the smaller monkey species are former labanimalsthat were controls or simply behavior studies.
If a zoo is near large research universities, the chances that they are from labs is higher.”
u/landsharkbait
2.
Turns out gorillas really like Twizzlers."
u/clairissabear
3.
“If an animal dies of natural causes, we sometimes feed them out to other animals.
Had a zebra pass, and we fed out to our lions.
(At least in Europe.)”
u/Civilized_Primate
5.
“We recycle parts of our animals that die.
We preserve the bones, hides, claws, etc.
and use them as teaching aids for the education department.
u/Annepackrat
6.
“I used to work at a natural history museum next to a zoo.
Often when an animal was euthanized, it would be donated to us.
From there the animal was taken apart, and the meat and organs were separated from the skeleton.
Then a colony of dermestid beetles would remove the remaining flesh from the skeleton.
Then the bones and hide and other salvaged parts were preserved in the museum’s collection.
u/Blondebitchtits
7.
“I worked at a zoo in college.
We had a petting zoo, and the intractable/mean guinea pigs there?
u/liand22
8.
“Zoo volunteer animals escape pretty frequently, but usually, it’s no big deal.
Unless it’s poisonous, deadly, or a bull elephant.”
u/RedPandaParty
“All of the animals were in one of three categories in case of (animal) escape.
Low (birds of prey, for example): Notify staff, try and catch the animal.
Medium (monkeys, for example): Some risk to people wipe the area to catch/tranquilize animal.
High (big cats): Shoot animal to kill because the risk to people is too high.”
“A lot of the safety fences are based on guesses and have changed dramatically over the years.
When one annoyed tiger jumps across a 33-ft. moat or over a 16-ft. fence, everyone adjusts things.”
“The staff also need to keep the people from attacking the animals.
You’d be surprised how often idiots jump fences.”
[deleted]
10.
“Chimps masturbate with their feet.
Two exhibits away from the chimp house the children got to witness giant tortoises having sex.
The males are quite vocal when they get after it.
The children had many questions.”
u/NoDepartment8
11.In fact… “There is a lot of masturbation in the animal kingdom.
Also, manatees are disgusting, horny, poop-eating machines.”
u/quiteunicorn
13.
“Many ‘vegetarian’ animals are also fed a small amount of meat.
The reality is there are very few pure herbivores or carnivores in the wild.
u/DeathMonkey6969
14.
“My girlfriend used to work for the Nashville Zoo.
u/SnakesAndAshes
15.
On a particularly memorable occasion, I found the head of a large porgy just sitting on the bottom.
A diver went in and got it before guests arrived.”
u/millijuna
16.
“I’ve worked at the Dallas Zoo for years.
The different monkeys will aim and pee on you if you stay near them long enough.
Same with the rhino, but we don’t have him anymore.”
u/uncleboey17
Relatedly “Our male lion occasionally likes to piss on behind-the-scenes visitors.”
“Sometimes our animals get ‘accidental enrichment’ courtesy of idiot ducks/gophers/mice, etc.
that get into the larger animals' pens.
We had a group of otters take down a mallard that landed in their enclosure.
Also, our jaguar cubs had a grand ol' time with a gopher that burrowed into their enclosure.
The gopher didn’t have a very good time at all.”
“We feed the big cats on failed race horses.
We have to buy the horses at live horse auction.
We compete against the dog food companies in buying the horse as they are the broken horses.
They claim it’s a clean industry, but it’s not.
It was processed at a facility in Nebraska that slaughters horses for the zoo and animal testing industries.”
u/wilderlowerwolves
“I worked on a ranch that was a short drive from a big cat sanctuary.
u/RnchHndd20
19.
“There are a TON more animals behind the scenes.
There are also older animals that need quiet.”
So he lived out back, alone, because he was an asshole.”
u/masterslut
21.
“Sea turtles are lazy, mean assholes.
I worked at a marine center for a while with turtles.
You would have to skim it out of the tank and keep trying.
He was the only species of carnivorous sea turtle with a crushing jaw so his bite would HURT.”
“We did turtle rehab, and those lived in tanks out back.
This is a 150-lb.
turtle that I can’t move alone.
u/TheMapesHotel
22.
The staff to maintain the plant life is many multiples larger than the staff for animals, too.”
u/Cody6781
23.
“Not a zoo but a large public aquarium.
The animals are fed the same restaurant quality seafood you eat.
Sea otters are extremely expensive to keep for this reason.
So are sharks, dolphins, beluga whales.
And anything tropical and saltwater.”
u/Barbarella_ella
“I also worked in husbandry for a large public aquarium.
At ours the mammals got seafood to higher standards than most restaurants.
Cloudy or missing eye = nope.
The fish-keepers got it.
We all had to stand around outside the cold room and wait until the mammal keepers had their pick.
I never want to gut and de-pen a squid again.
I even have a hard time eating calamari now.”
u/ihooklow
24. u/Kryptus
25.
“Many of the animals may be on some form of birth control.
In the case of great apes, it’s probably the same one most humans take.”
26.In fact, many meds and treatments are virtually the same for humans and animals.
“Im not a zookeeper but am a medicinal chemist.
When new drugs are developed and do the thing we want it to do e.g.
block an enzyme we have to do animal trials before giving it to a human.
28.Many of the “cute” animals are not very nice and they smell.
“My Dad used to work in the carnivore section in Edinburgh Zoo.
As it turns out, red pandas are vicious.”
“Otters are mean as fuck, especially females.
They will attempt to bite you when you go into their habitat.”
u/Ispaceoutsometimes
“A fight will break out between the chimps most days.
They’re fucking vicious!”
u/raccoon_on_the_patio
“I worked at a ‘dolphinarium’ one summer, caring for the resident five bottlenose dolphins.
One of the adolescent males was a huge asshole.
u/ohyeababyboopdatnose
“Seals smellawful, and the smell is extremely pungent and settles into your clothes and your hair.
You smell like seals for days.
Every day after a shift, I felt like I had to go home and burn my clothes.
Although cute, don’t forget that these little guys are wild animals, and them fuckers canBITE.
Not a day didn’t go by that I at least narrowly avoided getting chomped on.
In all honesty, it was kind of scary.
You have to just do it.
If they bite you, it doesn’t hurtthatbad…' She was wrong, it fucking hurts.”
u/XxAWildAbraAppearsxX
“Every animal smells really funky because all they do is roll around in their shit.
I remember my first time going into a lion cage.
I had to put on hospital scrubs and a mask on.
The guy in charge told us it’s for quarantine purposes and because they stank like hell.
Right before we exited, he made us take off our masks.
In particular… “Penguins smell awful.”
u/Keraunoscopia
And… “Penguins are so goddamn stabby with their faces.”
“I was a zookeeper in college.
Zoos don’t want you to know about the horrible pest problem.
They have to poison rats all the time because people drop so much food at the zoo.
And those cute little bunnies you see in the grassy areas?
Yep, they get poisoned, too.”
Of course, it was actually a zoo guest.
“There are roaches and rats everywhere…likely from all the extra food left over each night.”
If one of the zoo animals was exposed, they’d have to know.”
u/use_more_lube
30.
“I’ve been working in zoos/aquariums for about five years.
… More animals than you realize are there because they have nowhere else to be.
Mistreated and former circus animals, illegal exotic pet confiscation, former lab control animals, nuisance wildlife animals.
Zoos that are regulated by national organizations have very strict care rules.
The only reason that they work in this field is because they really care about these animals.
Zoos are in a current movement to really rethink the mental welfare of animals.
“The aquarium I worked at disposed of dead fish by making sure they ended up in a landfill.
They didn’t sell them at market or feed them to other animals.
Most people commonly overlook what the aquarists/keepers work really hard on or take pride in.
No, I can’t retrieve that plastic water bottle you just dropped into the ocean right now.
I know it’s trash and that it could harm wildlife.
u/freechipsandguac
32.
“Zookeeping is 90% cleaning.
You will spend most of your time picking up shit or cleaning windows.
You’re just there for day-to-day maintenance.
It is very hard work, physically speaking, and pays poorly.
You’re outdoors in all seasons and weathers.
You rarely get weekends off, or even two days in a row.
No time off at Christmas or other holidays.
You really have to be committed!”
u/agent-assbutt
“The thing I think people wouldnt believe is how much manual labor we do.
The giraffes need new sand in their stalls?
Looks like four women with college degrees are gonna haul in 10 tons of sand in 50-lb.
bag increments over the course of two days.”
u/porcupineslikeme
33.And finally… “[Zookeepers] LOVE our animals.
This is because of the criticism that zoos are cruel.
“But anyways, to us keepers, those animals are our lives.
We love to pet them, hold them, cuddle them.
We talk about them like they’re our children.
u/remembering_things
Submissions have been edited for length/clarity.
