Joey Shower
Celebrate the Arrival of the Two Joeys!
Lehigh Valley Zoo, in conjunction with Lehigh Valley Health Network (the Official Motherhood Partner of the LVZoo), is hopping for joy over the announcement of two kangaroo joeys!
First time mom, Cara, and second time mom, Sadie, have recently shown enlarged pouches and significant pouch movement; indicating a joey is present. Keepers have also occasionally observed a foot or a head sticking out of the pouch and they are eagerly waiting for the little ones to emerge!
To celebrate their arrival, we are asking the community to help us shower Cara, Sadie, the joeys, and the rest of the mob with vital care supplies and enrichment items! Choose from a variety of animal enrichment items handpicked by our dedicated and knowledgable keeper staff, or send a gift card to use on produce and other specialty supplies that are not available on Amazon.
What is Animal Enrichment?
Enrichment enhances animal welfare and health. It is vital to animal welfare as it stimulates an animal’s senses, curiosity, and desire to manipulate their environment.
Enrichment also encourages different natural behaviors that animals might exhibit in a wild environment, such as foraging or scent marking. Enclosures are designed to mimic a very natural habitat, and enrichment helps give the animal choices in their environment: to forage, climb, investigate, or play.
Ideal forms of enrichment are tactile, visual, auditory, food, and olfactory.
- Tactile enrichment includes any sort of physical change or addition to their environment, including new exhibit furniture (such as logs or perches), balls, slides, or puzzles.
- Visual enrichment includes any enrichment that changes up the general sights that an animal sees each day, such as animal decoys, strings of lights, and disco balls.
- Auditory enrichment is given in the form of any new sounds that an animal might not typically encounter, such as new animal sounds or music.
- Food enrichment is any changes to the overall diet of the animal, in which they receive a new food item they may not typically receive.
- Olfactory enrichment is an incredibly stimulating form of enrichment for many animals, as many animals rely heavily on their sense of smell. Spreading new scents around an exhibit provokes curiosity and exploration.