It was an exciting day at the Phoenix Zoo as Hadiah, our new female Sumatran tiger, was debuted to the media.  Hadiah is a 2-year-old tiger from Seattle and she enjoys playing in her pond or with Jai’s (our male Sumatran tiger) favorite toy, the beer keg.

She is smaller and calmer than Jai and her markings are very different.

Although she is still getting used to her new home and new sounds, Hadiah was out front all morning for the media.  Guests can see Hadiah this weekend at the tiger exhibit along the Africa trail.

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Nabongo and Bakari left for California today to join their bachelor herd at the San Diego Zoo. The two male Grevy’s zebras were born at the Phoenix Zoo last June and the public helped pick their names. Because the boys are reaching maturity, it is best to keep them separated from females.

Nabongo and Barkari are half brothers that share the same father, Punda. Punda had never successfully bred before coming to the Phoenix Zoo. Zebras are always bred based on recommendations from the Species Survival Plan. …continue reading The Bachelor(s) from the Phoenix Zoo

What does it take to ship out an animal? A lot of work! I recently helped ship out a male waterbuck, Bartleby, to the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro. The zoo decided this because our very old female had passed away and we didn’t want Bart to be by himself. The zoo had acquired Gerenuk and to make sure they had space we felt it was best to find Bart another home instead of trying to bring in more waterbuck. …continue reading Keeper Paige McNickle talks about shipping a male waterbuck to North Carolina:

Keeper Bryan MacAulay talks about the rhino hornbills he takes care of at the Phoenix Zoo!

Where to begin? This year has held many challenges, but by far the most exciting was the introduction and subsequent breeding of our rhinoceros hornbills.

For the past few years, we’ve had tremendous success with our pair of adult rhino hornbills. They have raised two healthy chicks (1 male, 1 female) that have since moved on to other institutions. What makes this pair special is that they were/are the only pair of captive born and raised rhino hornbills that have successfully laid, hatched and  raised chicks that we know of.

After the success of the second chick, it was determined that there was another male in the country that would be a better genetic match for our female.  We were reluctant to split up a compatible pair, but agreed to send our male to the El Paso zoo and receive theirs in return.  We knew it would be a setback to our breeding efforts but were pleasantly surprised when the new male proved to be an excellent parent at the tender age of 7 years!  While this male is an excellent parent, we did experience issues with his first breeding season.  The female sealed herself in the nest rather late in the year.  We aren’t entirely clear as to why, but she left the nest about one month before she should have.  When we checked the nest we found the chick to be healthy but still naked (cavity nesting birds feathers develop later than ground nesting birds).  Our concerns were allayed somewhat by the parents continuing to feed the chick as usual.  However, with the chick being too young to be in the nest alone, we found that excess diet items were accumulating in the nest and attracting ants.  Normally, the adult female would be there to keep the nest clean.  The ants presented a serious problem to the safety of the chick so we had to clean the nest ourselves and be very diligent about controlling the ant population around the nest.

When it was finally time for the chick to come out of the nest, we found that she was having a difficult time breaking through the “mud” (mixture of dried food and fecal matter used to seal the nest entrance). We assisted the chick by chiseling out a few chunks of the “mud”, this proved to be the help she needed. After a bit of a struggle to get out of the nest, she finally emerged!  Sadly, when she was coming out, the chick managed to injure the ends of both wings, which has restricted her ability to fly. The vet staff has been doing by-weekly check ups and her injuries are healing nicely. She has also been taking a few tentative flights around her exhibit and growing stronger everyday.

Here at the Phoenix Zoo we strive to provide the best lives possible for our elephants. We believe in providing a relaxed environment where the elephants can spend most of their day just being elephants. Our elephants are not pressured to perform, we only ask them necessary husbandry behaviors such as presenting their feet for daily checks and presenting their ears for blood draws. We aim to give our elephants as many opportunities to exhibit natural behaviors as possible. One main way we do this is by offering all their hay in hanging hay nets to simulate browsing. These hay nets also increase the amount of time it takes the elephants to consume their daily ration of hay. We also either hide their treats or present them in puzzle feeders to help increase their foraging time. Elephants in the wild will forage for 18-20 hours a day so increasing foraging time in captivity is very important. Not only does increasing their foraging time keep our elephants busy for more of the day but it also helps to drastically decrease the stereotypical behaviors often observed in captive elephants.Click here for more info on our elephants.

Ever wanted to know what it’s like to live a day in the life of an elephant keeper at the Phoenix Zoo? Well now you can! Just write a comment and a real life elephant keeper from the Zoo will answer any questions you may have! Happy blogging!