12-19-05
What a great day of Winter Camp at the San Diego Zoo. Today’s theme was “crazy for cats” and we hung around with some fabulous felines.
The day started off with a visit from Jisiri the African serval. We got to watch a training session with him and his trainers from Wegeforth Bowl. Training sure looks a lot like playing!

We then made enrichment toys for some big cats. We painted paper with tempera paint and wrapped boxes filled with different scents. Boy, cats sure are interested in some weird smells. Each box was filled with hay and then a squirt of “something interesting” was added; bear urine, persimmon extract, fish chowder, or perfume.

After a quick snack we headed for Cat Canyon. Keepers Matt and Daniel were waiting for us on the cat walk. Matt provided smelly boxes for Orson, the Brazilian jaguar, and Daniel provided boxes for Jama, the North Chinese leopard (pictured above). Each big cat was brought into the back bedroom so that the keepers could safely enter the exhibits. Boxes were placed high and low and then the cats were released. Orson inspected each box (I think he was looking for food) but wasn’t too interested in opening them up. Instead he decided to mark his territory - probably because of all of the strange new smells. Jama was a different story. He was really interested in the boxes and even tried opening some before he got them to the ground. Once the boxes fell he chewed holes in them with his massive teeth!

The highlight of the afternoon was meeting Diego, the ocelot, who lives in
the Children’s Zoo. Diego spent most of his time climbing a pole and jumping off and on a big box. He also LOVES to play! His keepers Janell and Clint had lots of toys to keep him busy. He plays rough using all of his claws and teeth.

Just before leaving we got to play some really fun games on the lawn; “cat and mouse”, “cat, cat, mouse”, and “steal a meal.” No wonder cats spend so much time resting - stalking is exhausing! Well, I’m off to do what kitties do best (and most) SLEEP!
Until tomorrow - Lisa

Lisa Townsend is an educator at the San Diego Zoo.

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