Home Improvements
Barn Spacious night houses provide proper heating and cooling, depending on the temperature.
7 acres Keepers use the habitat space to promote social bonds and exercise for animal wellness.
Mud wallow Elephants use mud as sunscreen to protect their skin.
Water Running water and pools allow elephants to cool off and regulate their body temperature.
© 2017 Sophie Daws Source: Sue Tygielski Graphic: Courtesy of Reid Park Zoo Photographs by Nick SMALLWOOD and John DE DIOS
Reid Park Zoo helps ensure animal well-being year-round by re-creating natural habitats. For the small herd of elephants that inhabit Expedition Tanzania, “home” means a stream, pools, mud wallows and savanna grasses like those in their native Africa. Because Tucson’s winter nights can be colder than those in Africa, the elephants can retreat to a heated barn and settle down on a cozy bed of sand. On sweltering summer days the mud wallows and pools provide cool havens.
Building a modern zoo By Elizabeth Kinney
P
unga, an adolescent male elephant at Reid Park Zoo, rushes to the back of his habitat to look for branches and hay hidden in holes in the outer wall. To keep Punga and the zoo’s four other elephants mentally and physically stimulated, zookeepers hide their favorite treats throughout their habitat. In another part of the 7-acre habitat, elephant calf Nandi pulls a branch off a pile of fresh-cut brush as her mother, Semba, hovers close by, chewing a larger limb. The sprawling habitat was designed to give these herd
animals room to exercise, explore and socialize. In the wild, elephants travel miles each day. The elephant habitat, called Expedition Tanzania, opened in 2012. “A lot of what makes that exhibit work is the staff and their dedication every day to making it enriching for the animals, dropping food at various times of the day to keep the animals active and moving,” said Jason Jacobs, the zoo’s director. Exhibit designers also look at the animals’ activity cycle. “If the animals are active at nighttime, we’re designing exhibits where they can have access to those areas at night,” Jacobs said.
Photograph by Spencer STREIPS The meerkat habitat features tunnels, artificial termite mounds, sand and vegetation reminiscent of southern Africa’s Kalahari Desert, which is the homeland of these small, sociable carnivores.
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