In the latest instalment of our Keeper Chat series you’ll be delighted to meet our mischievous meerkat mob, as carnivore keeper Bianca gets ready just one of their FIVE daily feeds.
Behavioural enrichment is a huge part of daily life at Auckland Zoo. It allows animals to use their natural adaptations, and engages their inquisitive minds. A really simple way to do this is mix up their feeding patterns – and today Bianca is burying their bugs in sandcastles and in underground tunnels. Importantly, this encourages digging and foraging throughout the day as they would in the wild. And as Bianca says, it’s not something you may think a zookeeper would do as part of their job, but thinking outside the box when it comes to enrichment enriches keepers’ lives too!
Although meerkats are doing ok in the wild, just by visiting our meerkats at Auckland Zoo you are supporting our conservation work for threatened African species like rhino and giraffe.