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SOCIAL MANAGEMENT continued

“In zoo care, we bring solitary animals
together when they are ready to mate and
we are ready to have offspring produced,”
said Daniels. After estrus ends, the female
will no longer tolerate the male. “There is
no benefit for the male to stick around.
Male okapis don’t assist in rearing
young or have any interaction with
the young calves.”
Many precautions are taken when
the animals are put together in the same
habitat. “These are usually all‑hands‑on‑
deck situations,” said Wanner. “You have
to have the proper tools, noisemakers, and
such to separate the animals if needed.”
Even after the initial introduction, animal care
specialists continue to closely monitor the animals
to ensure their safety.
Introduction strategies vary from one species to
another. “There are certain species of snakes that are
known to eat other snakes, so herp keepers need to be extra
careful when pairing these species for breeding,” said Ashley
AFRICAN PAINTED DOGS Taylor, lead animal care specialist for Herpetology and Aquatics.
“Snakes are adapted to have a well‑advanced sense of smell.
They find mates by tracking pheromones; they use their forked
tongues to pinpoint what direction a scent is coming from.”
Before putting snakes together, Taylor collects the skin shed
Introducing Animals for Breeding of one snake and places it into the habitat of the other. “When they
come together, they are more likely to be comfortable with each
Sometimes the animals being introduced for breeding are other because they had previously been exposed to the other’s
unpredictable and capable of injuring one another, such as polar scent, which is now familiar.”
bears. “Depending on the species and its social structure, we
typically put carnivores in separate habitats next to each other Challenges of Highly Social Species
without any visual so they can only hear and smell each other,” The group dynamics of some species—especially African painted
said Mark Wanner, associate vice president of Animal Care dogs, mongooses, and meerkats—can be very complicated, said
and Conservation. “Then we create a visual so they can see Wanner. “We try not to break up a group of a highly social species
and communicate with each other through a shared mesh or once it’s been established,” he said.
bars.” If either animal shows signs of aggression or agitation, the "A meerkat may have to be separated from the group if
animals are kept apart longer or not brought together at all. it doesn’t mesh well with the others or if it needs a medical
Solitary animals, such as the okapi, generally don’t tolerate procedure,” said Wanner. But if you remove that animal, it will
being with other okapi, said Daniels. “They are not a herd species.” probably not be accepted back into the group. “That’s the way
The okapi, a close relative of the giraffe, lives deep in the rain meerkat social hierarchies work. Hypothetically, if one of our
forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The exception to animals needed a medical exam and had to be anesthetized, we
their life of solitude is the period of time when females are in estrus would anesthetize the whole group all at once so they would have
and are receptive to males for breeding. all been through the same experience. Then we would bring them
all back together and reintroduce them immediately.”

34 GATEWAYS | WHY IS THAT ANIMAL ALONE?