What’s on the animals’ holiday wish list?

It’s the best time of the year! Well, in my opinion, anyway! If you do not share the same sentiment about the December holiday season, that’s okay! Just humor me for the length of this blog. My name is Emily, and I am part of our Ambassador Animals Team, and I love the holiday season. Everyone who knows me knows this well. I am one of those “decorate as many surfaces of my house with décor as possible, multiple trees, flashing lights all over my yard, watching all the great and cheesy Christmas movies, only listening to holiday music” kind of humans. I am currently listening to one of the four playlists I have made just for holiday music as I type this!

Something that is synonymous with this time of year is gifts. I find it very reinforcing to find the perfect gifts for every special person in my life, whether they are homemade or store bought. I have also found that it gets a little more difficult for me to create my own wish list each year, mostly because I am a human adult with access to money and am very good at shopping for myself! So that got me thinking. If our animals could write their own wish lists to the great Holiday Armadillo (my best guess as to what the animal version of Santa would be), what would they ask for?

I went around and asked all the animals I care for down in Wieland Wildlife home what they are asking for this season, and they all told me in the best way they know how, with their words! I’m just kidding. Unfortunately, not all our animals make vocalizations to understand, but what I do understand very well is natural history and what our animals’ preferred enrichment and food items are! Let’s see what they all put on their list this year.

On the chickens’ list are games! More specifically hide and seek. The chickens enjoy it when the care team hides worms and grapes and corn around their home to find them. Chickens are very good at the “seek” part, thanks to their feet that scratch at the ground to reveal the hidden food as well as keen vision to spot moving prey!

On the snakes’ list are jungle gyms! All our snake species that call Wieland home are proficient climbers. Some snakes, like the eastern indigo snakes, will climb trees to eat eggs in the wild! Our red-tailed boa has a special climbing tree that is big enough for her 20-pound, 7-foot-long frame, but she still likes to try and use the climbing tree that our 3-pound ball python uses.

Our chinchillas and rabbits would like to send their list straight to Mr. White Christmas himself, aka Snow Miser, and ask for cold weather all the time! Chinchillas and rabbits are especially well suited for cold weather thanks to very thick coats of fur and high body temperatures. Honestly, I might put this on my list too …

On our tortoises’ lists are leaves! Tortoises, like the gopher tortoises, are excellent burrowers. So, to allow them more burrowing opportunities indoors during the winter, we will offer them boxes and hides filled with different types of leaf litter for them to burrow through. The tortoises find these leaf-filled boxes very reinforcing and spend more time burrowing to make the best sleeping spaces.

Lastly, on our armadillos’ lists are phone books! Luckly this is very easy for the Holiday Armadillo to bring! Armadillos, like the tortoises, are excellent burrowers. But they also participate in nesting behaviors, meaning they will scoop shreds of paper into their hide boxes to make cozy sleeping spots. To an armadillo, phone books are big blocks of nesting material they will shred to make the best nests.

Sounds like the Holiday Armadillo has their work cut out for them, but with the help of the care team, we can definitely deliver all of these items to our animals!

All silliness aside, if you would like to be Santa or the Holiday Armadillo for an animal at the Zoo, please check out our Animal Holiday Wish List of items that can be purchased for various animals throughout the Zoo. There are items to fit a variety of budgets, and the best part is that this Wish List is available year-round, so there’s no need to worry about the panic of last-minute holiday shopping.

Happy holidays, everyone!

(Photo: Emily B.)

Emily B.
Senior Keeper, Ambassador Animals