Posted on 03/12/2021 11:44:33 AM PST by SJackson
Edited on 03/12/2021 12:05:06 PM PST by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
When humans flooded their zoo in South Africa, after months of lockdown, the African penguins couldn't have cared less, according to a new study. Meanwhile, the bubbly meerkats at a zoo in the U.K. seemed uplifted by their bipedal visitors.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
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Petunia colada........... or whatever..................
Hakuna Matata
Harpoon a Potato to you too!.............
The penguins substituted mechanical replacements for themselves and made their escape - just like Joe Biden did before last night's speech.
The Meercats are as smart as your typical feral Monkey running loose in various cities. The Meercats probably know when people are around, they throw lots of snacks and tasty treats to the animals. The Meercats are desperate for more french fries, donuts and Doritos!
The penguins probably don’t give a damn, at least the adult ones don’t. They’re thinking “There goes the neighborhood.
More noisy, silly people, leaving lots of paper and plastic for my chicks to choke on. Thanks so much..NOT!”
Meerkats are easily excited by perceived predators. I suspect seeing more people isn’t particularly a warm and fuzzy feeling for them, but they’ll look more lively as they go into observation mode.
Penguins do seem to get along with humans, not perceiving them as predators. Even in the wild, they’re known to walk up to people out of curiosity. Seeing more people doesn’t mean that much to them, most likely. They’re not as nervous as meerkats.
Even with more alerts and watchfulness and with some meerkats moving to areas of their enclosure furthest from people, most were seen to have more positive interactions like mutual grooming and play. Perhaps the presence of people may put the meerkats on edge and prompt them to greater solidarity and mutual reassurance. In effect, the presence of zoo visitors may mimic the risks and tensions that animate meerkat troops in the wild. Paradoxically, although unnatural, crowds of zoo visitors may prompt the meerkats to more naturalistic behaviors.
good observations, FReepers
I love these little creatures. maybe I’d take one to go with my support weasel.
Being social mammals, the Meerkats love the return of entertainment!
(Hey Stuart, look at that fat one with her fat kids. I think I saw her in a Walmart video)
Just came from
The Boardwalk and
God has a sense
Of Humor!
You mean ‘spork weasel”?
BTW, I love meerkats too.. one of my favorites to watch ;^)
If they each had a can of beer in their hands, that could be a photo of my family reunion.
I watched that Meerkat show for a while, but all the actors kept getting killed.
I have read that not just meerkats, but that most zoo animals tend to become listless and bored without crowds of people around. Even more remarkable are those instances in which animals in the wild solicit help from humans when they are injured or caught in nets or cordage of one sort or another.
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