Page 22 - Gateways_2019-Fall

A Day in the Life continued
Amanda Pearce
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22 GATEWAYS | A DAY IN THE LIFE
You’ve likely seen our flock of helmeted guinea
fowl meandering around the zoo. They aren’t just
visitors—they’re part of Brookfield Zoo’s animal
population. Here, animal care specialist Amanda
Pearce provides information about their care.
What do the helmeted guinea fowl typically eat?
“We feed them pellets—they get them out of tubular feeders
that we scatter around. We place them all throughout the park
to get them to explore and wander around. They’re blended in
throughout the park, but if guests keep an eye out, they might
spot them. They’re also given some greens and fruits.”
What are their sleeping habits?
“These birds are awake during the day and sleep at night, but they like to
take naps! They can often be seen napping in the West Mall or East Mall.”
What do you do for enrichment?
“We give them whole fruit and an array of bugs, their favorite
treats are bugs. We also have them trained to come to a particular
sound, then we reward them with mealworms. The fruit is used as
enrichment because they are foragers in the wild. By giving them a
whole piece of fruit, they have to take time to peck away at that.”
Are these animals social?
“They have small groups they stick together with. There’s
one giant flock of 15 and they’re all together occasionally.
During breeding season, they’ll separate in groups of about
six, usually with three females and three males.”
How does animal care staff interact with these animals?
“Mostly, we bring them food, but we do train them a bit. As mentioned,
we make a sound and they come to us. We use this to do inventory,
which we do every day. Every day we do a head-to-toe scan on each
of the birds. All of the females have a different colored band on their
right leg, and the males have colored bands on their left leg, so that we
can tell who is who and make sure all the birds are accounted for.”