Keeper Stories – Thursday, March 2

As you’re walking by the bald eagle habitat, you may notice some new faces nearby. In a new space built behind the eagle, you have the chance to see either our beautiful Toco toucan, Lupe, or our charismatic hooded vulture Baobob. Neither of these birds are new to the Zoo, but typically they live behind the scenes and are only visible to guests during our Fantastic Flights bird presentation or animal encounter. But now, they have the choice to either spend time in their home space or hang out with guests in a new space.

At Zoo Atlanta, we never stop improving the lives of the animals in our care. We recognize that both of these birds love to interact with guests, so what do we do? We let them interact all day long. Giving our birds the choice to spend time where they want creates a more enriching environment to keep those very intelligent bird brains entertained.

Very near future plans include building shifts for our crows and the famous Abby the Abyssinian ground hornbill so that they can also use this space. We will create a rotating system so that on any given day, it will be a surprise who you might get to see. This is just one of the many industry leading improvements we have made and are making for our wonderful ambassador birds.

And don’t worry, this does not take them out of our theater presentations. They are still just as excited to come out in the World of Wild Theater as they are hanging out with you in their new space.
Justin Eckelberry
Keeper II, Program Animals