Keeper Diary for 24 09 20

Written by Jack Williams, Manager of Lakeland Wildlife Oasis

A couple of days ago the autumn equinox occurred, when the hours of daylight and darkness are equal. As the year continues to turn, the nights will keep getting longer (sorry!)

Animals have their own ‘internal clocks’. They instinctively know the seasons better than us, as modern innovations like alarm clocks, electric light, and superfast travel distance us from the natural rhythms of nature.

The last of our migrant summer birds have already flown off to warmer climes. Many of our mammals will breed over the winter months, cleverly ensuring offspring arrive in spring and summer, when food is plentiful.

Our Swinhoe’s Striped Squirrels still have the instinct to store food, to see them through the lean winter months, and if our tortoises get exposed to colder outside temperatures, they will go into hibernation.  On those really rotten winter days, that sounds very tempting!

While animals who live to the far north or south have adapted to cope with extremes of temperature and days of total darkness, others remain in a perpetual equinox.

Because of how the earth rotates, if you live on the equator, day and night remain pretty much equal length, all year. You may have noticed this if you’ve been on holiday to somewhere like Singapore, Kuala Lumpur or Nairobi, all of which sit virtually bang on the line.

The climate also remains generally more stable year round than countries further from the equator.

So animals in our ‘Africa Drylands’ exhibit, like our dik-dik antelopes, wouldn’t normally experience the days getting longer and shorter.

They seem to adjust pretty well, but it’s something that, as a diligent zookeeper, you need to be aware of, and be alert for any signs of stress or discomfort.

This is also why we design our enclosures to mirror the animals’ natural environments as much as possible, whether that’s temperature, humidity, foliage or shelter.

Our monkeys need branches to leap about, and retreat into if threatened, whereas our snow leopards like snoozing on platforms, which replicate the rocky outcrops of their Himalayan ranges.

Whereas my natural habitat, as the nights draw in, becomes a nice, comfy sofa!