Lion (lying) around on a warm summer day. Like most cats, lions like to sleep. A lot, in fact - theyre perfectly content sleeping for 21hrs a day, so its no wonder zoo guests dont normally see them doing very much. How is it that a lion, sleeping 21hrs per day, can still be so fit and healthy? On the rare occasions when they do shift themselves, wild (and captive) lions are certainly lean, mean killing machines. But how do they remain in such good condition, when they sleep nearly all the time, and even when hunting tend to walk as slowly as possible, or sit motionless in ambush? Lions certainly can get fat - zoo keepers have to be careful to maintain the weight of captive lions within normal bounds by restricting their access to food and trying to get them to be more active through environmental enrichment activities. Our lions receive daily enrichment to help stimulate them and keep them active. Various scents, treats, toys and items will be placed on exhibit with them daily. This allows them to wonder, hunt and seek out what is grabbing their attention. Also, our lions go through daily target training exercises that teach them various commands. So its not as though they are somehow immune to such fitness concerns. So whats special about lions that help them through this? The answer, of course, is that they do sufficient exercise: although they are pretty inactive most of the time, the effort it takes to actually catch and kill an animal is huge, even if the action only occurs for a few short seconds. During those seconds theyre giving it everything they have. And if theres anything similar about their metabolism to ours, these short but extremely intense bursts of exercise are more than enough to keep a lion - or us - in good shape. To learn more about animal enrichment, make plans to attend animal enrichment day at the Montgomery Zoo on Saturday, July 19, 2014, 10am – 2pm. We will travel through 15 exhibits planting various enrichment items using a simple, yet proven, stimulus-reward system. It is fun, stimulating and enriching for the animals as well as our guests. Check out the schedule for times and exhibits. For more information, please check out montgomeryzoo or give us a call at (334) 240-4900. montgomeryzoo (334) 240-4900 #montgomeryal #summeranimalenrichmentday :)
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 14:00:14 +0000