GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — We’ve seen animals from zoos around the globe doing cute, fun things, so we decided to take a peek in our own zoos in Minnesota to see how things have changed.
"It's been very interesting,” says Terah Grace with the Minnesota Zoo.
What do you do when there's no one at the zoo? With no public to interact, zookeepers at the Minnesota Zoo, and Como zoo, are busy keeping all the animals engaged.
“We're doing our best to provide them with more interaction. We have done some great enrichments for them so different things for the animals to mentally and physically stimulate them,” says Allison Jungheim at Como Zoo.
You'd think the creatures would be thrilled to get a little downtime, and that's actually true for the giraffes. They'd be happy if we didn't come back at all, but it turns out, some of these critters crave the spotlight.
“So, you think about the orangutans that are always up in front of the glass, they definitely miss the public,” says Allison.
“The penguins for sure are pretty entertaining. “They immediately follow me. They immediately spot me from far away,” says Terah.
Same with the coyotes. Terah got video of them playing a game of chase with her along the glass in their enclosure. Other animals get to go on walks. Tortoises, porcupines and beavers visiting parts of the zoo they've never seen. Side note—you’ve got to check out the video of Marty the lynx giving some serious attention to Canon the Beaver who is strolling past his exhibit
"The walks are a big part of the extra enrichment we're giving them,” says Terah.
Apparently even the snakes get to go out and explore. And though we can't be there, you can still see a lot of this fun cool stuff. Both zoos are doing their best to post pictures and videos of the animals online.
It's where you can see things like zookeepers reading to baby animals! Which let's face it, on a cute scale of one to ten, is arguably a 26. Someday we'll get to see Mumford the Lion in person, but until then, our zoos have one message for you.
“Zoos will continue to run like we do, we just miss our public, and will have to do it in virtual way right now,” says Allison.
“We miss them, and the animals definitely miss them, and we can't wait to see them back,” says Terah.