Animal Snaps and Science

Sometimes the best surprises are the unexpected. When I took this photo of Coquerel’s sifaka lemurs basking in morning sunlight last winter, I had absolutely no idea there was a baby in the troupe! A couple of other guests kindly told me about it, and when I checked my photos, I had a couple perfect shots of the tiny baby. His name, as it turns out, is Dionysius.

Peacock mantis shrimp are famous for being able to see a range of colors far beyond what humans can even conceive of, but what’s not as well known as how colorful they are as well! You’ve got to wonder exactly how much more striking their markings are when seen by another mantis shrimp.

Watching animal content from zoos and aquariums is a great way to relax and feel a little better during the COVID19 shutdown: but the longer this goes on, the more those facilities - especially your smaller, local ones - desperately need donations and community support.

All businesses are impacted by the shutdowns right now and asking for donations, so what makes zoos different? Most businesses can turn off the lights & send their employees home. Zoos and aquariums have living collections that need specialized food, care, and housing.

In a crisis, zoos can't just shut down to save money: most of their expenses remain steady in order to ensure the animals are cared for. The big problem: many zoological facilities make approx. 1/3 of their revenue from admission tickets alone! All that income is gone. The loss of revenue from guest tickets doesn't even take into consideration the addition $ normally made from concessions, parking, guest experiences (like BTS tours), gift shops, camps, and special event tickets. All told, that can add up to >50% of a zoo's operating budget. Losing ~50% of operating budget would hurt any business, but for zoos there are so many unexpected expenses associated with maintaining animal care. E.g., food, utilities, medicine, facility upkeep, life support system maintenance, and $ for keepers, vets, & security staff.

How much does it cost to keep zoo animals healthy and happy on a daily basis? A /lot/. Animal care, associated salaries, and facility maintenance tends to cost zoos and aquariums between 25%-50% of their annual revenue.

What that actual animal care operating cost is varies massively by facility - some zoos have absolutely immense budgets. The San Antonio Zoo has said it costs 75k/day to run the zoo during the shutdown. The Luray Zoo, a much smaller facility, quoted 15k/month in cost.

Zoos all try to have money set aside for emergency situations (it's a requirement for AZA facilities) but contingency plans within the industry have /never/ had to account for total shutdowns of this duration. There's just not enough money saved.

You've probably seen facilities soliciting donations to care for their animals on the cute videos, but nobody is being honest about how /incredibly fu**ed/ the entire industry is if COVID19 takes months more to resolve enough that facilities can re-open to guests.

Zoos and aquariums are absolutely dependent on guest-based revenue to survive. Most of them have enough $$ to cover shutdowns for a little while, but as it stretches into months, the future of the facilities and the welfare of their animals becomes increasingly uncertain. To try to survive the shutdown for a long as possible without compromising animal welfare, facilities are cutting costs everywhere they can. That's why you've zzoos furloughing or firing all non-essential staff. They're running on skeleton crews so they can feed the animals.

Even with those sacrifices, there are some really hard challenges for the zoo industry in the months ahead. The shutdown started at the beginning of the busy season. Visitation doesn't occur equally, and many facilities depend on spring & summer revenue for the whole year.

Every non-profit zoo's annual report has this chunk of the income pie chart marked "events." This is revenue that's brought in by the big fundraisers and galas, the ones that sometimes cost hundreds a ticket. They all happen in the spring and summer. They're all cancelled. Zoo fundraisers and events that can bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars? Can't happen during a shutdown. Summer camps? Nope. Educational outreach programs to libraries and schools? Visitation increase when school is out? Also nope. This is a huge revenue problem. What if a zoo's annual visitation revenue (33% or more for many) comes entirely from spring break and summer vacation? That's a very real situation for facilities located in tourist destinations. Three months of impacted visitation might hurt the zoo's budget all year.

It's hard to know as a consumer how badly zoos and aquariums are hurting. The industry tends towards older-style PR messaging, where problems aren't talked about until it's unavoidable. And they don't want to beg. But we're already seeing some facilities start to struggle.

- The Oakland Zoo closed to the public on 3/17. As of 4/5, 110 employees laid off, staff pay cut 20%, exec pay 40%. The truly scary part: the zoo had $4.5 million in emergency cash: animal care for /less than a month/ used up one third of it: $1.5m.

- The Vancouver Aquarium announced on 4/15 that it had 2-3 months of money left before permanent closure. Basic care for their collection of 70k animals costs $1mil/month, and revenue went from $3mil to nothing. They've already fired 60% of their staff.

Just think about that for a second. If the Vancouver Aquarium closes, they'll have to find somewhere to rehome seventy. thousand. animals. Sure, they're mostly fish, and that makes it a little easier than if they were large mammals - but that's a herculean task in the current climate.

Every facility is struggling to stretch their savings right now: most have 1000s of their own animals to provide for. Who can afford to take on new mouths to feed without regular income? If a zoo folds right now, what will happen to the animals? Hard truth: Nobody knows.

People may think sanctuaries can step up to take zoo animals: but that's not real right now. Most sanctuaries are /incredibly/ reliant on donations and free labor/services for their survival, as well as gate take, all of which is in short supply during a prolonged crisis. Many carnivore sanctuaries depend on expired meat donations from grocery stores (just like in Tiger King) to feed their cats. But when Walmart sells out of meat daily due to human demand, that source vanishes - and then limited budget has to stretch to cover food now, too. Sanctuaries - and to some extent zoos - also depend on a regular stream of monetary donations, whether in small chunks from supporters or from wealthy patrons. The pandemic killed that too. Nobody has the flexibility right now to just take on more animals if a zoo closes.

Do not get me wrong here. I am NOT saying that if zoos & sanctuaries fold because of the shutdown they will choose to euthanize their animals. Those animals are loved, and every effort will be made to find them a home. But if, where, how, and with what $, is totally unknown.

It's hard to imagine an established zoo closing forever, but it's likely that there will be facilities that don't come back at the end of the shutdown. Even if they can survive without closing, ramping back up operations isn't as easy as just turning on an "open" sign.

So what can you do to help your local zoo or aquarium survive the shutdown?
- Donate! (if you can)
- Use AmazonSmile! (almost all non-profit zoos have one, and if you're shopping on amazon already it costs you nothing)
- Use your voice re: state/local business support!

That last one - be an advocate for your zoo - is a big one.

Contact your local/state/federal representatives when there's stimulus packages being drafted or business support being proposed, and tell them how important it is that they include support for zoos & aquariums.

To end on a positive note: in studying the industry, I've noticed zoos and aquariums survive hard times best when they have the enthusiastic support of their community. So if all you can do is tell your local zoo how much you appreciate them, every little bit counts.

A last thing: I've completely avoided accreditation throughout this thread, and that is purposeful. All azoos are struggling right now, and all of their animals need help and support. I encourage you to support to the facilities you appreciate & value, regardless of affiliation.

(Originally posted on Twitter at https://bit.ly/2XNUtCh)

Is this ring-tailed lemur being hypnotized by Gatsby’s green light? Abducted by extraterrestrials?? Engaging in an ancient rite? Well, actually, the last one is almost right... this is a version of a common lemur behavior called “sun worship!” ☀️When sun worshiping, lies sit upright, face their bellies into the sun, and splay their limbs out to the side for maximum exposure to the warmth of the sun. So what’s up with this strange version of the pose? This lemur at the Omaha Zoo has figured out he can warm up just ask quickly by “worshiping” one of the heat lamps provided for the tortoises that share his indoor enclosure! (The light from the specific type of heat lamp always looks a little green when seen through glass). According to keepers this is a really normal behavior for their ring-tailed lemurs, especially on chilly mornings. If the tortoises want to use the lamp and get there first... they just get sat on. Do you have a similar photo of lemurs hanging out like this from your zoo visit? Tag me, I’d love to see it!

It’s amazing how gracefully Golden Lion tamarins can move through the trees, given their supposed weight! 😂🤣😂 Swipe ▶️ to see my favorite recent internet animal misunderstanding. Even though they’re not actually as heavy as a baby elephant, these little marmosets are pretty darn cool creatures. They’re a social species and almost always give birth to twins, who grow up high in the forest canopy. There used to be less than 200 of them in the wild, but a successful zoo conservation breeding program has helped reverse that decline - there’s now more than ten times as many living in the wild and in human care.

How do you spot a snoozing elephant? Look for signs of relaxation, such as leaning on other objects or resting their trunk on the ground. This old girl at the Dallas Zoo is enjoying a nice nap against a warm rock in the winter sunshine.