A lemur approaches a fruit ice treat, which was chosen by the public in a poll on the Riverside Discover Center’s Facebook page. Each week, the zoo lets the public choose treats for one of its species.
RIVERSIDE DISCOVERY CENTER
A spider monkey enjoys a fruit ice treat at the Riverside Discovery Center. Fans of the zoo’s Facebook page voted during the zoo’s Enrichment Monday campaign to choose a treat for the species.
RIVERSIDE DISCOVERY CENTER
A waterbuck enjoys treats in the shape of “20” at the Riverside Discovery Center. The zoo asks its Facebook followers to vote on treats for its animals each week on what it calls “Enrichment Monday.”
SCOTTSBLUFF — Which would a chimpanzee enjoy more: corn on the cob, fruit pops or forage boards loaded with food?
Or how about a donkey? Would the animal rather frolic among bubbles, chomp on Cheerios or jostle a wiffle ball stuffed with hay?
A zoo in Scottsbluff is letting the public decide.
The zookeepers at Riverside Discovery Center are letting followers of its Facebook page choose a special treat or game for its animals. Each Sunday, the zoo posts a photo of an animal with three options. Followers cast a vote for a treat by clicking the corresponding emoji, either “love,” “haha” or “wow.”
The concept, called Enrichment Monday (animals get the treats on Monday), makes the public feel invested in the zoo animals.
“It has gone really well,” said zoo Director Anthony Mason. “I regularly have people walk up to me in the zoo or at the grocery store and tell me ‘My kids love it.’
“It’s educating the public about the enrichment the animals get, why it’s important and at the same time getting people more involved and feeling like they have more of a connection with the animals at the facility.”
The idea started, Mason said, during a brainstorming session with staff. About a year later, it’s down to a routine, with zookeepers planning options weeks in advance and preparing treats as they watch the votes tally.
The 23-acre zoo is the largest in western Nebraska, and one of only four facilities accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums in the state. It houses more than 70 species, including chimpanzees, lions, tigers, panthers, lemurs, alpacas, zebras, addax and grizzly bear brothers that were rescued from the wild after their mother was poached in Wyoming.
Mason said the zoo is planning a large exhibit for the bears, including a functional water tower that will act as a climbing structure for the bears and will feed a stream inside their enclosure.
The zoo is soliciting donations to help fund the exhibit, and expanding its reach on social media through campaigns such as Enrichment Monday will only help that effort.
“There are some cool things we’re doing out here with very little resources,” Mason said.
So far, the zoo’s Enrichment Monday has delivered Cheerios to donkeys, dust baths to chinchillas, fruit chunks to crows, fruit ice to chimpanzees, a big salad to a Sulcata tortoise, a whole cantaloupe to a panther and plastic Easter eggs filled with dog food to raccoons, among other things. Posts typically get more than 200 votes.
A few other zoos have contacted the Riverside Discovery Center asking permission to do their own spin on Enrichment Monday. Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo in Gainesville, Florida, for example, let followers choose between a puzzle feeder, hanging tissue paper flowers or rat burritos for its barred owls.
In a landslide vote, they chose rat burritos. Recipe: one rat, one piece of lettuce to wrap the rat.
Photos: 50 of our favorite shots of Omaha zoo creatures through the years
A lemur approaches a fruit ice treat, which was chosen by the public in a poll on the Riverside Discover Center’s Facebook page. Each week, the zoo lets the public choose treats for one of its species.
A spider monkey enjoys a fruit ice treat at the Riverside Discovery Center. Fans of the zoo’s Facebook page voted during the zoo’s Enrichment Monday campaign to choose a treat for the species.
A waterbuck enjoys treats in the shape of “20” at the Riverside Discovery Center. The zoo asks its Facebook followers to vote on treats for its animals each week on what it calls “Enrichment Monday.”