I spent quite a while working with exotic animals in my younger years, and one of the things that surprised me was how intelligent and full of personality each individual animal I met was. It totally changed the way I understood nature.
It's also how I ended up with a personal vendetta against a parrot named Xander, but only because he outsmarted and made fun of me. Repeatedly. But only when we were alone; he was a total angel in front of anyone else. Dude was a bully and a jerk and I'm not afraid to say it.
So when one Reddit user reached out to zookeepers and asked:
It really got me thinking - how are the animal homies doing? (Except you, Xander.) And I do mean homies.
The average person might not realize how much individual personality the animals at their local wildlife parks have. It's quite possible y'all don't realize there's probably maybe could be a kangaoo named Dave out there bored because he misses you.
Dave misses you. You gotta keep it together and be strong for Dave.
And there's definitely a lonely cockatoo singing Row, row, row your boat longingly to herself because there are no more kids coming in for her to sing to. Seriously. That's one of the responses. Saddest thing ever. Someone get the bird a Zoom so we can all sing with it.
It really got me thinking - how are the animal homies doing? (Except you, Xander.) And I do mean homies.
The average person might not realize how much individual personality the animals at their local wildlife parks have. It's quite possible y'all don't realize there's probably maybe could be a kangaoo named Dave out there bored because he misses you.
Dave misses you. You gotta keep it together and be strong for Dave.
And there's definitely a lonely cockatoo singing Row, row, row your boat longingly to herself because there are no more kids coming in for her to sing to. Seriously. That's one of the responses. Saddest thing ever. Someone get the bird a Zoom so we can all sing with it.
They Don't Care
As a zookeeper coordinator I've been working at the now closed zoo almost every day for the past month. Animals that are free roaming (peacocks, iguanas) are more active, and follow keepers around like they usually do with visitors. Most of the others don't show much change in behavior. Although birds like swans and flamingos are using the edges of their habitats more.
Cuddling Koalas
Most of our animals are happy as long as we can keep their routines, feeding times etc. For some they need a little extra. We do public encounters with our koalas, wombats and snakes among others so we spend an hour or so a day cuddling and handling these animals to keep them happy. A few of our koalas really fret if they don't get their cuddles. Otherwise we just try to continue to spend time with animals that are expecting human interaction and of course we can take things for walks around the place like I'm sure you've seen at other zoos. Our wombats love a run and sniff, dingoes as well.
- sdooj
Who's Watching Who?
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I live close by the zoo and we get updates a lot. In our local zoo (I live somewhere in Europe,) the apes started to miss the visitors. Keepers could tell they missed the visitors because the apes became very bored and are much more excited about the keepers than usual; apparently they watch the visitors as much as the other way around.
The keepers now have to pay them more attention to and they also do stuff like hide food for them as a game. So they brought in an artist in who's now just painting in the empty monkey house so the apes have someone to watch.
A Wombat Vendetta
Due to temporary staff cuts, they no longer have the people to regularly walk the wombats. Some of the wombats are holding the keepers personally responsible. Imagine having a 20kg chunk of muscle with big rodent teeth mad at you.
The Shire Horse
I work on an activity farm. There is a 22 year old Shire horse. He acts like a d*ck when there are customers around.
Basically, if he sees any customer feeding any other animal in the large barn where he hangs out in the day, he will stare at them and stomp his front hoof on the ground. That guarantees they look at him. If they don't immediately come over to feed him, he will start kicking the heavy metal bars that divide his area and the pen next door. This makes one hell of a noise. And he will keep it up, all whilst staring at the person with the food. If they feed him then he rewards them by slobbering all over their hands as he takes the food.
Also, at the end of the day he is really good at telling the time. He knows when we close and what time he should be released from the barn and taken to the field/stables where he spends the night. If he isn't let out bang on time he starts kicking the gate at the back of his pen. This is a big metal gate and it sounds like someone playing a giant glockenspiel with a sledgehammer. He will keep this up until it is opened.
Some customers are just scared to hand feed him. He is massive and his mouth is big enough to easily fit someone's hand in. Some customers come up to me with their bag of food and ask me if I will feed him, because "He keeps staring at me but I'm a bit too nervous to feed him." I happily oblige. I love that ornery old bastard.
With no customers, he's actually still a d!ck. That being said, he's still awesome.
- Nicklo2k
Curious About Us
My wife works at the gift shop for our zoo and the other day we had to go move some stuff around in the store because due to some heavy rains, it had flooded a bit.
Of course we took a lap around the empty park (other than the keepers and few maintenance workers) and found that all the animals were really active and playful. A lot of them seemed really curious about us too. I'm sure they get used to seeing crowds every day and were starving for attention.
Nobody To Sing For
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For a lot of our animals, having the ability to interact with guests is actually extremely important. Even for primates to be able to play with kids through the glass, they are missing out on a lot of enrichment. Guests keep a lot of the monkeys entertained. I watch our guests all day long show our marmosets and capuchins selfie cameras and they LOVE to see their reflection. Guests will also show videos on their phones to animals and the monkeys totally enjoy it.
We have a rescue cockatoo named Row who sings "row row row your boat" to guests. When little kids dance and sing it to her, she gets really excited and feeds off their energy. So do our other cockatoos on exhibit. But now without guests to show off for, every now and then when it's quiet we'll hear her start "row row row..." and then she stop and huffs a bit and gets really quiet and sad because she has no one to sing to. Some of our animals REALLY miss having kids to show off for.
You also have to remember that animals in zoos for the most park have grown up totally accustomed to being around people 24/7. They're not wild animals at all really. They've grown up in a very different social dynamic. Quite a few animals get noticeably depressed in the winter months every year when we have few guests, and then perk up in the spring when we get busy.
Depressed
My girlfriend is a zookeeper and animal behaviorist. She says their animals are becoming stressed. One of their African Grey birds has been plucking his own feathers.
She also mentioned that because they can't touch many of the animals due to the virus potentially spreading to another zookeeper, many of the animals are looking and acting depressive, not eating well, etc.
Aquarium Activity Increases
I'm an aquarium keeper, and I've certainly noticed a change. Fish are not as stressed as they use to be, as there are no longer children stomping around and banging on glass screaming "NEMO, NEMO, ITS NEMO" at every clownfish.
We brought some of our younger penguins down to let them watch the fish, and they were intrigued but confused as to why they couldn't catch them through the glass.
Our octopus has become much more friendly as well, and instead of hiding all day from people, enjoys playing with small baby toys or solving food puzzles. Its been nice.
I wish there were guidelines people had to sign to behave at zoos before entering, but at the same time, they are the lifeline we so desperately need to keep functioning.
- Qiklash
Fellow octopus keeper here. Without the crowds scaring her into her cave, our GPO has gotten straight up fiesty. She's so active, I've encouraged our parrot keepers to go past her when taking the birds on walks just for a little extra visual stimulation. She's got quite the love affair with one of the cockatoos.
Both More And Less Stressed
Not a whole lot of change, but animals definitely missing out some enrichment of seeing guests, especially the otters that follow the kids in the glass under water. Takin, maned wolves, bison, gibbons, birds of prey, lions, etc all are about the same. Some of our animals that are skittish have been standing closer to the fence where guests usually are (zebras, gazelle) which is nice.
It's kinda this weird balance of being both more and less stressed. On the one side, I don't have to worry about keeper talks or tours and I have more time to get everything done and spend more time with animals. On the other side we're skeleton crewed and there's less of us to care for the whole zoo, so I'm working a lot more in areas I don't usually cover as often.
There's one kangaroo that still tries to box me while the emu is shifting. The one peacock still really doesn't like taking his medications of course.
I have noticed that the crows in the city are behaving a bit differently as well; they are being a lot braver lol
Jealous Birds
Bird keeper here: the penguins weren't sure it was really feeding time if no one was watching them... they're a little bit exhibitionists. (Especially Hubig/Ocio. They've been caught going at it in front of the windows during public hours and then basically avoiding each other when we're closed...) After a few days they adjusted.
However the parrots are demanding alllll the snuggles and attention, but heaven forbid one sees you snuggle someone else even if they JUST had their turn. So the macaws get to go on individual walks and get snuggles elsewhere so my ears don't start bleeding from the screaming.
Eagle Eggs And Bored Goats
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The majority of our wild animals haven't been behaving differently. This is probably because their exhibits have visual blockers where they can avoid the public eye if they want.
The only exception to this is our eagles who laid an egg for the first time in the 13 years they've been here.
Our domestic animals, especially the goats, miss you guys. They are used to having members of the public come to feed and interact with them. It is very enriching and while we provide them with toys, puzzle feeders, browse, and other treats we don't have tons of time to spend one on one with them.
Loving It
I work at a museum that also is an animal rescue. Our animals are loving it! Our beaver has been allowed to walk around and explore the museum with staff supervision. Our macaw has been free to fly around as much as he pleases. It's amazing to see the animals explore and see new sights. However, I do think the macaw especially misses the attention he gets from visitors.
Zoo Cats
I look after the cats at our zoo. Not the big cats mind you, just the regular domestic cats and I can say with absolute confidence that the cats simply don't give a fck if people are around or not.
Suspicious Giraffes
Our giraffes have gotten a bit suspicious without the guests being around. It seems to be really spooking them. The gorillas are happy though as they don't really like the guests so they are spending way more time outside which is nice.
Oh and i just remembered that the zoo is running extra announcements over the loud speakers aside from the usual to keep the animals used to the sound of the speakers.
The Human Exhibit
Friend of a zookeeper here.
He manages the apes and monkeys. And currently he is also doing his best to entertain them.
While other animals seem to relax to the max, the apes are just bored without their human exhibit.
Do you have something to confess to George? Text "Secrets" or "
" to +1 (310) 299-9390 to talk to him about it.
For many childhood memories are overrun by living nightmares.
Yes, children are resilient, but that doesn't mean that the things we see as babes don't follow us forever.
The horrors of the world are no stranger to the young.
Redditor -2sweetcaramel- wanted to see who was willing to share about the worst things we've seen as kids, so they asked:
"What’s the creepiest thing you saw as a kid?"
Serious Danger
"Me and my best friend would explore the drainage tunnels under the Vegas area where we grew up. These were miles long and it was always really cool down there so it was a good way to escape the heat of our scorching hot summers. We went into this one that goes under the Fiesta casino and found a camp with a bunch of homeless people."
"Mind you we are like 11 years old lol. And we just kept going like it was nothing. It wasn’t scary then but when I look back at it we could have been in some serious danger. Our parents had no idea we did this or where we were and we had no cellphones. We could have been kidnapped and never have been found."
oofboof2020
Waiting for Food
"I was at a portillos once when I was 12 and I was waiting with my little brother at a booth while my parents got our food. This guy was standing with his tray kind of watching me then after a couple of minutes he started to walk over really fast not breaking eye contact with me."
"He was 2 feet from the table and my dad came out of nowhere and scared the s**t out of him. He looked so surprised and just said he wanted to see if I’d get scared or not. He left his tray full of food near the door and left. My folks reported him but we never went to that location again since we found a better one closer to home."
nowhereboy1964
Captain Hobo to the Rescue
"When I was a pretty young teen, my friends and I were horsing around in San Francisco and started hanging out to smoke with some homeless guys. Another homeless dude came up and began aggressively trying to shake us down for anything (money, smokes, a ride, drugs- all of it) and wouldn’t take no for an answer."
"We got in over our heads and could tell this guy was now riling the other 2 guys up and they were acting like they wanted to jump us. Some grandfather-looking old homeless man appeared out of nowhere and yelled at us to get the f**k out of here- nice kids like us don’t belong down here at this hour!!"
"Captain Hobo saved our lives that night. My parents sincerely thought we were at a mall all day lol."
FartAttack911
Survival
tsunami GIF
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"I was 7 and survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. Witnessed the wave rise way above the already massive palm trees (approx. 40ft?) and my family and I watched/heard the wave crash into the ground from a rooftop."
faithfulpoo
These Tsunami stories are just tragic.
On the Sand
Scared The Launch GIF by CTV
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"We were a group of kids who went to swim in a local lake. And there was a dead body on the beach with their hands raised and their legs bent unnaturally that local police just took out of the same lake. I've never put my foot in these waters again."
oyloff
Be Clever
"I was walking to school and I was about 5 or 6 years old and some guy pulled up beside me in his car and asked if I would get in. He also offered me sweets to do so. I said no. The creepy bit was when he calmly said ‘clever boy’ to me, then drove off. I’ve never even told my parents or anyone else about this as it would most likely freak them out."
OstneyPiz
Bad Jokes
"Dad's side of the family pranked me by burying a fake body on our back property and had me dig it up to find valuables. Was only allowed to use a lantern for light. They stuffed old clothes with chicken bones. Sheetrock mud where the head was... Random fake jewelry as the treasures... I was like maybe 10 or 11.. I remember digging up the boot first and started gagging because it became real at that point."
Alegan239
YOU
Who Are You Reaction GIF by MOODMAN
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"Woke up to find my little brother staring at me in the dark, asking, Are you really you?"
PrettyLola2004
Siblings can really be a bunch of creepers.
No one should talk to others in the dark though.
Not all pet owners have the same relationship with their pets.
While anyone who decides to become a pet owner, or pet parent as some say, love their pets equally, some never ever let them leave their side.
Taking their pet with them to work, running errands, even on vacations.
Many pet parents even allow their pets to share their bed with them when going to sleep.
For others though, this is where a line is finally drawn.
Redditor Piggythelavasurfer was curious to hear whether pet owners allowed their pets to share their bed with them, as well as the reasons why they do/don't, leading them to ask:
"Do you let your pet sleep in your bed? Why/why not?"
The Tiny Issue Of Water...
"Absolutely not."
"I have fish."- Senior-Meal3649
Everyone Gets Lonely Eventually...
"I adopted an eleven year old cat the day before Halloween."
"She has mostly lived in my closet since I got her, and she hasn’t been too interested in coming out."
"Last night, she came out of my closet and jumped up on my bed, and crawled under my covers and curled up by my feet to sleep."
"I was so happy!"- YellowBeastJeep
The Comforting Reminder That You're Not Alone...
"I recently lost my Greyhound but I used to let him sleep on my bed with me."
"The company was nice and he was no trouble to have on my bed."- HoodedMenace3
Hungry Cookie GIF by De Graafschap Dierenartsen
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What Do You Mean Allow?
"I have no choice."
"She is a cat, cats do whatever they want."- Small_cat1412
"He lets me sleep in my bed."- Poorly-Drawn-Beagle
Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way
"I carry my old boy upstairs to bed every night."- worst_in_show
Hug GIF by The BarkPost
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Who Needs An Alarm Clock?
"I let my two cats sleep with me."
"They're so full of love and just want cuddles all the time."
"And so do I."
"We've all developed a lil routine."
"Get to bed, oldest sleeps on my feet to keep them warm, youngest lies in my arm while I lie on my side (she the little spoon), then when I snooze my alarm for work in the morning the youngest paws at my face and meeps loudly to wake me up."- GhostofaFlea_
Whose Bed Is It Anyway?
"Yes."
"They're also kind enough to let me squeeze into whatever space they've left for me."
"Although I do get a few dirty looks off them."- Therealkaylor
"I found this tiny kitten screaming her head off under a car."
"Would not come out."
"Got some food and some water in dishes."
"I stood by the tire so she couldn't see my feet."
"She got curious about the food and water and started gobbling it down."
"I thought she would bolt when I squatted down."
"She was too busy eating."
"I grabbed her by the nape of the neck and all four legs went straight out and she tried to scratch me to death."
"I got her in the door and tossed her toward the couch."
"She ricocheted off the couch as if she was a ping pong off a table and I lost sight of her."
"I put out food and water and a sandbox and did not see that kitten for three days."
"On the third day, I came home and she was on my bed pillow."
"I thought she would bolt when I came near, but she didn't."
"I wanted to sleep so I tried to scoot her little butt off my pillow."
"She would not go."
"I put my head down to sleep and that is the way it was from then on."
"She ran the roost."- Logical_Cherry_7588
sleepy kitten GIF
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Sleeping Is A Prerequisite...
"No, he's a cat and he cannot keep still during the night."
"He walks across the headboard, opens the closet doors, jumps into the windows and rustles the blinds, etc."
"If he would sleep he could stay, but alas, he's a ramblin' man."- Spong_Durnflungle
Saying No Just Isn't An Option...
"'Let'."
"Lol."
"It's a cat's world and I'm happy to be on her good side."- milaren
Felines Only!
"The cat does, the dog doesn't and the horse certainly does not either."- Xcrowzz
Angry Tom And Jerry GIF by Boomerang Official
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Is That My Hair On That Pillow?
"My dog is perfect."
"She comes up, cuddles til we start to fall asleep, then gets down to sleep on her bed so she doesn't get too hot."
"Jumps back up in the early morning for wake up cuddles."
"The hair everywhere is the only downside but she is so cozy, what can you do."- HoodieWinchester
It is easy to understand how some people are able to fall asleep more easily knowing their friend and protector is there, in bed, with them.
Though we can't blame others who don't want to run the risk of being scratched or bitten in the middle of the night either...