Zoo Blog

Lou Keeley, one of the Zoo’s newest animal keepers, came from the Niabi Zoo to Blank Park Zoo last December to work with the Zoo’s large mammals. He was also a seasonal keeper for the Brookfield Zoo, working mainly with giraffe and okapi.

At Blank Park Zoo, Lou works with the rhinos, eland, giraffe, watusi and lesser kudu. I wanted to ask Lou what it was like to work with the rhinos, the highly anticipated new animals to arrive for the Zoo’s new Africa exhibit, opening May 4.

New animal keeper, Lou Keeley, works with the Zoo's rhinos  
 

1.     What is your favorite part of working with the Zoo's rhinos? Do you have a memorable moment?

The part I most enjoy about working with the rhinos is their daily training sessions. Since our two rhinos actively seek out human interaction and are exceptionally treat motivated (produce such as apples, bananas, carrots and sweet potatoes), they have been very good ‘students.’  

The most memorable moment I have had with the rhinos is the first time I had seen them receive a bath. The rhinos get a weekly bath to clean their skin, which is followed by a moisturizer. During baths, the rhinos become very playful, which involves them running around their stalls and lying down to roll onto their sides. Seeing our rhinos display these behaviors for the first time was a big treat for me.  
 

Ayana weighs over 2,000 pounds!  
 

2.     How have Ayana and Kiano adapted to Blank Park Zoo? 

It is oftentimes difficult for animals to experience big changes in their lives, and moving to a completely new zoo with different people, enclosures, sights and smells can be quite stressful. Ayana, who is from Zoo Miami, and Kiano, from Great Plains Zoo, were both initially frightened, and frightened rhinos tend to behave aggressively. So for their first couple of weeks at Blank Park Zoo, they avoided being around keepers and even charged at their restraint bars. The rhino keepers did a great job acclimating the rhinos to their new surroundings by working calmly and quietly around them and slowly gaining their trust. Now both rhinos are at ease with the Zoo’s facilities and love being around people. 
 

Kiano has some catching up to do, weighing about 1,250 pounds 
 

 3.     What kind of training and enrichment do you do with the rhinos?

The rhinos receive different forms of enrichment every day, including large toys such as heavy duty weeble wobbles and balls, novel food items (cantaloupe, jelly), various scents (mint, vanilla and orange extracts), or different social interactions. The rhinos really enjoy pushing around, or sparring with the large toys, giving them a chance to test their strength (some toys weigh near 100 pounds!). Keepers will also switch the rhinos’ poop piles, and the rhinos like to defecate over the other rhino’s feces. [Yep, you read that right.] 

Through positive reinforcement, Ayana and Kiano have learned or are learning behaviors such as opening their mouths for oral inspections, targeting their nose to a target pole (tennis ball on a stick), and entering a unique restraint device built specifically for rhinos. This restraint device has special movable walls that comfortably ‘squeeze’ the rhino and makes it possible to safely and securely perform medical procedures keepers or vet staff may need to accomplish…whether it is creating safer keeper/animal interactions for evaluating health or helping the rhinos acclimate to potentially stressful situations. 
 

4.     Do Ayana and Kiano have personalities? Do they get along?

Ayana is a very confident rhino, meaning she is usually the first to investigate new situations, while Kiano can be a bit more on the cautious side. Kiano also will let keepers know when he wants treats or attention, occasionally emitting high pitched ‘whining’ sounds.  

Since wild black rhinos are mostly solitary (individuals may congregate at times around watering holes or other resources), they are mostly kept solitary in zoos, so Ayana and Kiano are not kept together. They are, however, given opportunities to meet face to face and touch through restraint bars. These interactions usually involve some nose to nose (or horn to horn) touching, but they mainly look at each other from a distance. Ayana is more interested in food than in interacting with Kiano!  
 

5.     Anything else you would like to share with Zoo visitors about the rhinos?

We are very excited for the public to finally be able to see these amazing animals in person! Hopefully these visitor-animal experiences will lead to a greater appreciation of all animals and our world’s natural resources. With only 4,800 black rhinos remaining in the wild (and less than 700 of the Eastern black rhino subspecies remaining), it is extremely important that efforts are made to ensure their survival, and one thing Zoo visitors can do to help wild rhinos is by donating to Blank Park Zoo or other conservation organizations focused on saving rhinoceros species (such as the International Rhino Foundation or the World Wildlife Fund).

The main reason all wild rhino species are in big trouble is illegal poaching, in which rhinos are killed and their horns harvested for sale in select countries. So we hope as many people as possible come out to meet Ayana and Kiano, the Zoo’s ambassadors to their wild black rhino counterparts, and see exactly why they are a species worth saving! 

In conjunction with Blank Park Zoo’s two new black rhinos and the grand opening of the new exhibit Jaama Kwa – Connection to Africa May 4, we hope you’ll join us for the third and final event in our conservation series Out of Africa: Our journey to save Rhino. Next Thursday, April 25, we invite you to join us as we honor the rhino, presented by Bill Konstant.

Bill Konstant is the Program Officer for the International Rhino Foundation and has held positions with the World Wildlife Fund, Wildlife Preservation Trust International and Conservation International, and has helped establish endangered species conservation programs at the Philadelphia Zoo and Houston Zoo.

Bill Konstant of the International Rhino Foundation

According to the International Rhino Foundation, fifty years ago, as many as 100,000 black rhinos roamed the African plains. Today only about 5,000 survive! In fact, one rhino is lost every 13.4 hours due to poaching – the rhinos’ horns are taken as part of an international black market trade.

The International Rhino Foundation (IRF) is dedicated to protecting all five of the world’s threatened rhino species – Black, White, Indian, Sumatran and Javan – from extinction. And Blank Park Zoo helps financially support their efforts.

Bill Konstant’s career in wildlife conservation began with his studies at Cornell University. His interest in primates brought him to the World Wildlife Fund in the early 1980s, and subsequently to the Wildlife Preservation Trusts and Conservation International. He has co-authored and edited a number of field guides, and has written many book chapters, scientific publications and popular articles on wildlife conservation. In 2012, he became the program officer for the International Rhino Foundation and now works to develop and fund rhino conservation projects in Africa and Asia.
 

Please join us next Thursday night, April 25 at 6 pm, to hear how Bill and his team work to protect the endangered black rhino from poaching and how you can help.

We’ll have a social with appetizers from 6 to 7 pm with the presentation beginning at 7 pm.

Purchase your tickets today – seating is limited! Tickets are $15 for members, $20 for non-members.

One of the most frequently asked membership questions we receive is about reciprocity to other zoos and aquariums.

As a member, you receive reciprocity to nearly 200 zoos and aquariums across the country. This means you get free or 50% off admission their admission prices with your Blank Park Zoo membership! Check out our full reciprocity list to find a zoo you may visit.

Popular nearby zoos include:

Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo – 50% off admission

New Omaha Zoo lion cubs

Minnesota Zoo – 50% off admission

Minnesota Zoo bear

Como Park Zoo – Free admission

Como Park Zoo emperor tamarin

Kansas City Zoo – 50% off admission

Kansas City Zoo otter

Visit our reciprocity list for a full list of free or discounted zoos and aquariums, and make sure to check out all of your member benefits and resources at www.blankparkzoo.com/membership!

 

*All photos are taken from the zoo’s Facebook pages.

Registration for Summer Safari is now open! 

Summer Safari is a week-long immersion in Zoo education. With camps for ages 3 to 7^th grade, the Zoo provides a unique learning experience for children to:

• Learn about and encounter firsthand exotic wildlife,
• Understand the science of these creatures’ habits and how the Zoo cares for them,
• Make the connection to the conservation and protection of these animals, and
• Care for the conservation of our environment. 

Exploring and meeting a Zoo aldabra tortoise up close

Taking a break from making crafts

Summer Safari camps are discounted for Zoo members. Learn more about the opportunities for your child to explore at the Zoo this summer and register today!

Camp tour of the Zoo

As a Zoo committed to conservation, Blank Park Zoo continually works to raise funds to support organizations and projects around the world dedicated to the same conservation ideals. One such organization is Health in Harmony, who has written today’s guest blog post. 

Health in Harmony supports the Alam Sehat Lestari (ASRI) program in Indonesian Borneo that combines human  and environmental health. We support the community by providing high-quality affordable health care, as well as alternative livelihood programs such as organic farm training, reforestation, and both conservation and health education in order to protect their precious treasure, Gunung Palung National Park.


ASRI Field trip to Gunlung Palung National Park

ASRI Kids is one of the education programs that targets 4th and 5th grade primary school children around Gunung Palung National Park. The goal of this project is to increase  the kids’ awareness of both environmental health and human health, and most importantly, the connection of the two. Class curriculum includes: 

• An introduction to the world map and animals found in various countries on the map,
  
  
  Learning the world map and animals in the world

• What is a tropical rain forest,
• Sustainable agriculture,
• The concept of an ecosystem,
• How to plant and care for native trees,
  
  
  Planting at school
  
  
• Existing environmental threats,
• Trash and recycling,
  
  
  Making recycled paper
  
  
• Nutrition and healthy food, and
• The importance of washing hands and dental care.

The curriculum is instructed and practiced in eight classes. In addition the students  go on a field trip to an ASRI reforestation site and a primary forest.


Field trip to the ASRI nursery

Field trip to the reforestation site

Education has a very crucial role in how a person sees the world, and early education has the capacity to greatly influence behavior over a lifetime. With the ASRI Kids project, we put hope in the hands of those who inherit the forests of Gunung Palung in an effort to help save this planet. 

We send a huge thanks to Blank Park Zoo for having supported this education project. This means a lot for a few kids in Borneo, but it can provide a  big impact for the entire world!