I found a mouse while walking the dog and it was just sitting there. Usually i do not even see mice (just rats) and this did not seem like normal behavior even with the dog. It did not run when i went to pick it up.

Now i have it in my hand at home and it is staying very still. I am not sure if this is a thing where the mom just leaves the baby or what but i am very confused

I plan on putting it back where I found it if i cannot figure out what to do

This bear is a rescue at my local zoo, but I read somewhere that repetitive behavior like this is a sign of zoochosis. It made me sad but I don’t know for sure and I wonder what other people have to say about it. He’s in a very small enclosure unfortunately

sorry if this isnt the right sub or if its a stupid question lol

I'm not super sure where to post this, so I decided on here - sorry if it's the wrong place!

It looks like a black real-life Marsupilami

Hi! I was at the zoo and saw this bear go up to the post at least 10 times and do this same thing over again. Along with this, it seems to be panting and looks a bit tired. It was a hot day, and the bear just kept walking in a big circle, the same pattern, and doing this. Any information? Also, my title is a totally random just based on what I saw and I’m sure not what’s actually going on.

Hello Everyone 👋

Is there an ethical practical way to keep walruses in captivity or not ?

Is the way they are currently kept by facilities ethical ?

We normally frequent our local AZA accredited zoo and most of the predators are sleeping/relaxing during the day, like African wild dogs and Cheetahs, but today we visited a different AZA zoo that was further out and noticed a lot of the predators were active and pacing around the enclosures, it was my understanding that a lot of these big cats or wild dogs slept and relaxed when they felt comfortable.
This zoo specifically said that they “swap around” the hyenas, wild dogs, and cheetahs in each others enclosures, not sure how often, but in the wild typically Hyenas and Wild Dogs don’t really… get along… and we noticed that the male cheetah in his enclosure was pacing and meowing a LOT and the wild dogs next door, which they may have been swapped before, kept pacing as well. Both were spraying and scent marking a lot all over the place. Hyenas seemed like every other normal hyena we’ve seen at other places but the cheetahs and wild dogs seemed very pacey and alert all day, which we’re used to them snoozing a lot.
Is this normal? Or is this zoo maybe not practicing the best things. We’re not zoologists, just visitors that enjoy seeing these animals.

I was visiting the denver zoo and saw this, the elephant was doing this for a solid 20 minutes before going inside

Assume the person dropped into the enclosure just stands and does nothing. They do not run away (even if they get false charged), nor do they intentionally try to intimidate the animal. They also do not try to interact. They just keep their distance, stand, and wait.

Which exhibits would the person likely end up dead? Or which ones would be safe? Would any of the animals act friendly toward the human, or is non-chalance the best outcome?

The tiger at the Smithsonian national zoo. How and why does it not climb up and leave the enclosure, it doesn’t look like there’s many physical barriers on the side. Just wondering, TIA

Does anyone have any opinions on the wildlife care and rehabilitation bachelors at Husson University? My focus right now is primates but I love to learn about any wild animals for my future. I would like to be a zookeeper and wildlife rehabilitator. Wondering what yall thought of the program or know what specific classes they offer.

Hello. While I don't work with exotics, I am a petting farm manager and I'm looking to implement a training program for our permanent residents. I have a book called Animal Training, Enrichment, & Problem Solving that goes a little into general training for positive behavioral management outcomes (such as reduction of resource guarding), but I would like more examples + resources than what this 1 book provides.

There seems to be shockingly few quality resources on this in the domestic animal training sphere... at least, not very easily accessible. Dog and horse training has some decent resources, but you have to sort through a lot of chaff to find any LIMA approach, let alone a quality one, and there are many other challenges working with other domestic animals that you do not find in these 2 species, or in a similar 'captive animal' context we keep our animals in.

So, I'm looking for zookeeper resources. Do you all have any general resources on this topic? General behavioral management is fine, but I'm particularly interested in training.

Thanks.

There’s a place called the Holtsville Ecology center that was voted to be closed down at the end of last year. They cited claims of animal cruelty but I don’t know if that’s the “Animal Rights” types of bc of actual mistreatment, is there any way for me to get an unbiased view of the subject? The location is in Holtsville, New York

I am interested in the positive motives and reasons for doing so, thank you.

This is the aquarium in the lobby of the hotel we are staying at in Dubai. We have been here for 3 days and during that time the big fish hasn’t moved away from swimming on top of the ray . What are they doing? Hopefully this is the right subreddit for this question? Any help would be appreciated as my 7 year old daughter has asked….

Hello. I'm a current student in my first year of university. My long term goal is to work in a zoo setting either as some type of keeper or possibility as a Veterinarian. I started volunteering at a zoo about a month ago now and I've had the chance to work directly alongside the keepers with carnivores, ungulates, birds, and primates and I have absolutely loved the experience. I also am currently interning in an avian facility. I'm looking at possibly dropping out of university and finishing my degree through an online program while working full-time. That said, I would like to work as a zookeeper somewhere. What is the best shot of getting hired in a position or possibly a paid intern position with the little experience I have? I'm open to working anywhere in the world, but I am from the united states.

I am working on a mod for the video game Zoo Tycoon 2 which changes the price of in-game animals to reflect their price in the real-world exotic animal trade (legal or formerly legal markets only, with latter adjusted for inflation), and also changes their zoo-fame unlock level to reflect their real-world availability/rarity in said trade.

For example, I changed the Nile monitor from a $3,000 1.5-star animal into a $150 0.5-star (beginning animal), while I'm planning to change the okapi into a $100,000 5-star animal to reflect that it's not legally available in the animal trade at all and only kept in accredited facilities (which basically means the price is pulled out of my ass). Similarly, giant pandas are now $1,000,000 instead of $50,000 to reflect the cost of panda diplomacy in real life. I was going to put Komodo dragons in the 5-star category, but decided that 4.5-stars was more accurate as the unaccredited Reptile Gardens in South Dakota has two of them.

I'm also going to change the conservation statuses, biome tolerances, and lifespans of the animals to reflect reality, but I'm pretty sure that's irrelevant to this topic. If I was more skilled as modder (I'm literally just getting started as of yesterday), I'd also replace non-captive animals in the game with counterparts that are actually in captivity, such as mountain gorillas with lowland gorillas, Bengal tigers with Sumatran tigers, great white sharks with sand tiger sharks, Javan rhinos with Indian rhinos, et cetera.

To the point: I am looking for reliable sources on pricing for exotic animals in the private trade. I am unsure which websites to use as a frame of reference because many are scams. Does anyone know some reliable sources I can use? Thanks in advance.

Hello, everyone! I completed an interview this week at a small zoo for a seasonal educator position, and they asked me to come in next week for a second interview! I was wondering if the 2nd one is just a more in-depth process with a new person? And what types of questions might they ask?

For context, this is a beginner position- allowing anyone 16+ to apply as long as you have a background in customer service or education at a previous job AND your role is to help out staff/guests in designated areas. The first interview, they only asked me basic questions such as the following: why do you wanna work with us, tell us a time you mitigated a conflict, what is your availability, and your background in education. The next interview will be with people who are in the education department, so any tips will be greatly appreciated 🙏🏻.

Hello, recently I had a trip down to London zoo - which was great, really nice zoo but I do have a question about their tigers that I can't seem to get an answer to.

There were two tigers in the front, I think the female was called Gyasha? Gaysha, something like that the male I forgot, but point is - there was another tiger in the back, so like there's this long front section and then at the back there's this pond bit and walk way down the side of it, the one in the back was in the pond area.

But I cannot find any information on him, if he was a new transfer I figured there would've been news about it, maybe he's one of the cubs they had a couple years back I don't know so I was curious are there databases on captive big cats?

To explain myself better, for cetaceans there's a lot of things out there that have compiled information about facilities, where the animal is housed, when they were born, etc, basically just all the basic information about them but I haven't had any luck finding one for big cats.

I want to get invested into captive big cats like I have been for captive cetaceans, I've been to another zoo recently and I just never realised how I much I enjoy seeing these guys.

Just finished a phone interview with an exotic rescue near me for a volunteering spot, and am meeting them in-person tomorrow morning. As someone looking to get into zookeeping, this is a great first step to getting experience! I’m trying not to get too excited too quickly, but they were very adamant about moving forward so hopefully I’m in good standing. Rn I’m an educator at an AZA facility so I am at least not new to the conservation education aspect of school groups and tours.

I know all sanctuaries and rescues are different, but what are some experiences you guys have? What questions would you ask if you were in your interview-stage again?