ZOO to YOU
Catch up with the latest news at LRZ with articles, press releases, and other fun updates
written and created by Zoo Staff.
Sleep at the Zoo
- Alice Nelson, Conservation Awareness Manager
African lioness "Amali" rests in her outdoor habitat, lions sleep between 16 to 20 hours a day, active primarily at dusk and dawn.
Sleep is a wonderous and sometime fleeting physiological state noted by reversible unconsciousness, special brainwave patterns, eye moments, etc. What makes sleep special? Unlike hibernation, torpor, aestivation, brumation, or coma, sleep itself is quickly reversible. For example, a tenrec, a small species of mammal from Madagascar, may not wake up easily during torpor even to a food offering that would normally wake them easily from sleep. However, sleep is not the same across the board and varies greatly from animal species to animal species.
While scientists are finding more and more evidence that all animal species sleep this sleep can look very different depending on the animal in question. Some species share the human sleep schedule, a diurnal pattern, where the animals are active during the daytime and sleeping during the night. Most diurnal animals follow the light as the most defining environmental clues determining sleeping patterns. Light affects the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls circadian rhythm in most animals and tells the body to be awake when there is light. Our large, natural light habitats are inhabited by primarily by diurnal species. Our big horn sheep are a great example of a diurnal species, even if they nap during the day, most of their sleep is in one long stretch during the night. Big horn sheep can sleep in long stretches because they chose strategically difficult places, like steep cliffs with rocky outcrops, for other animals to sneak up on them.
Another sleep schedule is the nocturnal pattern. This pattern opposes diurnal directly, nocturnal animals sleep during the day and are awake at night. The most well-known nocturnal animals are owls, however, did you know that burrowing owls, like the habitat near cat canyon, are more likely to follow a diurnal pattern of sleep. This may be because they have the safety of community burrows to sleep in during the night. A great example of nocturnal animals here at the Lee Richardson Zoo are those housed in the night house. The pygmy slow lorises and the emerald tree boa are both nocturnal animals. If you have been in the night house, you may have noticed the red lights. These lights do not activate the hypothalamus so our nocturnal animals can be seen moving around as though it is night. During the true night, the lights in the night house will act like the sun, cueing the nocturnal animals to sleep as they normally would.
A third sleeping strategy is to be crepuscular. This means that the twilight period is when they are active. Some, matutinal, are active at dawn, some, vespertine, are active at dusk, and some are active at both dawn and dusk. This sleep pattern is thought to have originated as an antipredator adaptation, however, some predators, like foxes, primarily hunt during the twilight hours. Most ferret species are crepuscular as are our tenrecs from the torpor example.
The amount of time that an animal sleeps and if they sleep in short bursts, long sections, or with half of their brain all depends on the species and the pressures of their habitat. May you enjoy some wonderous sleep tonight, knowing that you are not the only diurnal sleeping species. To learn more about our animals at the Lee Richardson Zoo and some of their sleep habits, please read the habitat signs or visit www.leerichardsonzoo.org. You may also call 620-276-1250 with any zoo related questions.
Employee Recognition
Congratulations to Zoo Registrar Cassidy Payne for being awarded as the Employee of the 1st Quarter for 2026!
Cassidy was nominated by her coworkers and is known for her willingness to jump in and get hands on!
Thank you Cassidy for everything you do!
Zoo Mourns Passing of Bactrian Camel
Celebrating Gibbons & Earth Day
Something exciting is always happening at the Lee Richardson Zoo! Recently, “Jian” and “Tangra”, two critically endangered gibbons, have gotten closer, thanks to a successful introduction designed by their caregivers. The pair arrived separately from other facilities as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan for Northern white-cheeked gibbons and have since been settling into their new home in Wild Asia. The pair had been sharing an indoor space while being separated by a barrier that allowed them to see, hear, and smell each other. After observing Tangra and Jian’s behaviors during this “howdying” process, their caregivers felt confident that the pair could share their outdoor space, and the two were given full access to one another.
Tangra, the elder female, showed great interest in her younger and shyer male roommate. She was quick to follow him everywhere as he swung about their habitat. Their Keepers report that the pair are literally getting closer with each day, Jian is warming up to Tangra’s attention, and they have been heard singing their loud, territorial calls in duet.
Zoo guests are invited to visit the gibbons as well as celebrate Earth Day with us this Friday, April 24th, from 9 am to 2 pm! Community exhibitors will be on grounds to help spread a variety of conservation messages, and you don’t want to miss Richard Renner’s Recycle Cycle or our wingspan comparison activity! Activities are geared toward 3rd-grade students, but all ages are welcome to join!
"Jian" left and "Tangra" right in their outdoor habitat.
March's Staff Pic of the Month
March's Staff Pic of the Month Winner was Lead Keeper Cameron with their submission of this photo of the Goeldi's monkeys.
The Pic of the Month winners are selected by the Zoo's Advisory Board during their monthly meetings.
Congratulations Cam!
Madagascar: the Island of Misfit Mammals
- Houston Glover, Conservation Awareness Coordinator
A red -ruffed lemur pauses in their habitat at Primate Forest - Lemurs!
Designated in 2013 by the United Nations, World Wildlife Day is an annual celebration of the importance of wild fauna and flora. The date itself, March 3rd, is the anniversary of the signing of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, better known as CITES. Every year, the UN office in charge of CITES selects an educational theme for that year’s World Wildlife Day, and this year’s theme is Medicinal and Aromatic Plants. For thousands of years, wild plants have formed the basis of our medical practices and traditions. Willow tree bark, which the ancient Egyptians used as a pain treatment, would later be the source of modern aspirin. The flowers of chamomile, echinacea, and lavender can be made into teas to treat a variety of illnesses, and the classic aloe vera has been soothing burnt skin for more than 4,000 years.
But humans aren’t the only species who appreciate the healing powers of plants. Many animals have been observed engaging in what scientists call self-medicating behaviors. Of course, it can be hard to tell whether an animal is eating a plant because it’s self-medicating, or simply because it likes eating plants. To count a behavior as self-medicating, scientists ask themselves several specific questions. Does the animal normally eat this plant? Is the whole group of animals eating the same thing? Does the plant offer any significant nutritional value, such as calories or protein? If the answer to all of these is ‘no’, then scientists start to think that they might be watching a non-human pharmacist at work.
The best-known example of self-medication in non-human animals comes from our closest cousins, the apes. “Leaf-swallowing” is a practice in which an ape selects a bristly, rough-textured leaf, folds it into a bundle, and swallows it whole. Eating leaves is nothing unusual for most apes, but swallowing them without chewing is what makes it a medical practice. The rough texture of the whole leaf acts as a physical brush, scraping parasites from the walls of their intestines. This behavior has been seen most often in chimpanzees, but is also documented in other apes, including gorillas, bonobos, and gibbons.
Apes aren’t the only big-brained animals who know how to take care of themselves with medicinal plants. In general, birds are prone to contracting blood parasites from biting flies, but scientists have noted parrots specifically as having very low infection rates in the wild. That’s thanks to a diverse diet of fruits, seeds, and buds with antiparasitic properties. Taking it a step further, pregnant elephants in Africa have been documented eating the bark of a particular tree to induce labor. The same tree has long been used in traditional African medicine for the same purpose in human mothers.
There is a lot we don’t know about medicinal plants, and we learn a little more every year. This is one of the key arguments for conserving wild spaces, especially in the tropics. There’s no telling what secrets those rainforests hold, and what medicines we might be missing out on when we deforest the land.
To learn more about apes, visit the gibbon habitat in Wild Asia between 2pm and 4pm on Saturday, March 7th, and speak with our educator about World Wildlife Day. For a more in-depth exploration of medicinal plants, visit our friends at WildlifeDay.org.
It's Easy to Help Songbirds
- Kristi Newland, Zoo Director
A female North American cardinal perches in a tree at the Zoo.
If you tend to look up at the sky you may have noticed various ducks and other waterfowl during their recent spring migration, which is winding down. You may have also noticed more passerines, also called songbirds or perching birds, around as their spring migration is underway and coming near its peak, which is late April through mid-May in southwest Kansas. For your viewing pleasure, the best time is usually from the last week of April through the first week of May. As far as the time of day, the best time for seeing such activity is early morning since a great deal of migration occurs overnight.
There are over 300 species in the order Passeriformes that spend part of the year in North America. These birds play vital roles in healthy ecosystems. They help disperse seeds and pollen, both essential elements of plant reproduction and diversity. Many of them help control pest populations by eating large numbers of insects. Songbirds are early warning systems for the environment, i.e., the canary in the coal mine. They also offer joy to many through their songs and beauty. Birdwatching is a very popular hobby. In 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated there were 96 million birders in the United States. That hobby also contributes to the economy, with an estimated $107 billion spent by birders on their activities in 2022.
These birds need your help. A study showed that North American bird populations have declined by over three billion (yes, billion with a B) since 1970. That’s 30% of the birds of North America! Many of the species with the greatest declines are North American songbirds. These populations are declining due to habitat loss, climate change, building collisions, and predation from outdoor domestic cats.
There are ways you can help address the North American songbird crisis. One is to reduce evening and overnight lighting during peak migratory seasons in the spring and fall. While night lighting helps us see where we’re going, it doesn’t help birds migrate. In fact, migrating birds can become disoriented and drawn into the light. This can result in them wasting energy needed for their long trip or collisions with structures. To help, you can close your curtains to reduce light spilling outside from your windows. Limit outdoor lighting to necessary structures/areas and necessary times only, using timers or motion sensors. Avoid upward light scatter and keep lighting pointed down and as low to the ground as possible. Keep outdoor lights as dim as possible and use “warmer” lights (<3000 Kelvin) such as amber, orange, and red. The warmer colors have longer wavelengths and are less likely to trigger a behavioral response from the birds. International Dark Sky Week is April 13-20. To learn more about this and the five principles of responsible outdoor lighting, visit www.idsw.darksky.org.
There are also other ways you can help songbirds. Planting native plants provides vital sources of food, such as fruits and seeds. They also support insects (especially caterpillars), which are food for the birds. The plants also provide shelter and nesting sites. Providing bird feeders is also helpful. Due to changes in the climate, plants aren’t always blooming at the same time the birds are used to, which means there may not be food along the way during their migrations. Your feed stations may provide the energy they need to get to their breeding grounds or to raise their young.
If you have a window birds run into (known as a bird strike), you can use bird-friendly window treatments. These can be added to existing windows or installed during construction or remodeling. There are a variety of options, all with the goal of cueing the bird to fly around or stop before the window rather than trying to fly through it. Each breaks up the transparent or reflective area of glass enough that the bird perceives that it can’t pass through. Closing your curtains or blinds can also help to reduce the transparency of the windows.
Some of the other ways to help include purchasing sustainable paper products to help preserve the nesting grounds of boreal forest songbirds and keeping domestic cats indoors to prevent predation of songbirds.
While Lee Richardson Zoo doesn’t have an area with such birds under our care, we are developing a North American Songbird Garden to help support songbirds and share information about this crisis and how we can all help. You can keep up to date with the development of the Songbird Garden and other Zoo happenings via the Zoo website (leerichardsonzoo.org) and our Facebook page. There’s always something going on at the Zoo!
Zoo Mourns Passing of Bactrian Camel
Zoo Prepares Rhino for Transfer
"Ayubu" the black rhino in his habitat at the Lee Richardson Zoo.
“Ayubu”, the young male rhino in our care at the Lee Richardson Zoo, is getting ready for his next big milestone! Ayubu was born on January 20th, 2021, a successful result of the breeding plan set in place by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums’ (AZA) Species Survival Plan (SSP) for Eastern Black Rhinoceros. It is now time for Ayubu to move into his new role within the SSP and say goodbye to Mom, just as he would in the wild.
Through the SSP, Ayubu will be moving to the Racine Zoo in Wisconsin, another facility accredited by the AZA, supporting the healthy management of black rhinoceros in human care. Ayubu’s departure is set for early April.
The large custom crate that Ayubu will be traveling in has already arrived and has been placed inside the rhino’s habitat. Thanks to positive reinforcement training with the Zoo’s Animal Care Staff, Ayubu has become quite comfortable with the crate and is voluntarily entering it on his own. He can often be found eating and even napping inside of it.
While female black rhinos may sometimes have overlapping ranges, male rhinos are generally solitary. 15-year-old Mom, Johari, will remain with us at the Lee Richardson Zoo, as the SSP determines if she will be matched with another male. Johari has been an excellent mother and mate. However, as solitary animals, black rhinos are quite successful thriving on their own.
Zoo hours will be extended on April 1st, and we will be open daily from 8 am to 7 pm, with the drive-through entrance closing at 6 pm. More information about the Zoo can be found at www.leerichardsonzoo.org.
The Great Backyard Bird Count
- Emily Sexson, Communication Specialist
A hooded warbler is spotted on zoo grounds.
Bird is the word, not only at the Lee Richardson Zoo, but around the globe, as the Great Backyard Bird Count will take place this Valentine’s weekend. Join us February 14th, from 2 to 4 pm, on the overlook deck located along the duck pond/Nature Trail. Our Conservation Awareness Team is ready to share fun facts and birding tips to help teach Zoo guests all about our avian friends and one of the largest community science projects in the world!
But you don’t have just one day to help conservationists with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society collect data on local bird populations, the event spans over four days! All you have to do to participate is step outside and start listing birds that you see. You can spend as little as 15 minutes of your time in any outdoor location to contribute. Once you’re finished birding, you can submit your findings to www.birdcount.org; it’s just that simple! You can submit a new checklist for each day, as well as each location you visit. You can also submit multiple lists if you stay at the same location on the same day, but at a different time of day.
If you’re not an experienced birder or aren’t sure what type of bird you are seeing, there’s an app for that! Popular bird identification apps for your phone include “Merlin Bird ID” and “eBird”. The apps give helpful guides for bird identification and can even detect bird calls and identify species through sound. The apps can also submit your observations for you, saving you a step. The observations we share help scientists better understand global bird populations before one of their annual migrations.
If you don’t typically find birds in your own backyard, feel free to approach the term “backyard” a little more broadly. Your backyard can be any area you are! Lee Richardson Zoo is home to species of birds from around the world who are cared for by staff, but we also have plenty of native wildlife that visits the grounds, especially our duck pond and Nature Trail. Ducks and other waterfowl take advantage of the water resource year-round, but only the trumpeter swans are in the Zoo’s care. Around the grounds of the Zoo, you can also come across owls, hawks, juncos, woodpeckers, nuthatches, doves, pigeons, herons, hummingbirds, cranes, and many, many more.
The Great Backyard Bird Count is a wonderful way for bird watchers to contribute to a global database of bird populations. Mark your calendars for Friday, February 13th, through Monday, February 16th, to take part in a global citizen science project. For the love of birds, stop by the Zoo on Valentine’s Day, February 14th, between 2 and 4 pm to participate in fun bird-themed activities. No matter the skill level or age, it’s a great nature activity for anyone. Come on down to the Zoo to see how many species of birds you can discover!
Zoo Mourns Passing of Bactrian Camel
Small but Mighty Primate
- Joe Knobbe, Deputy Director
Two adult goeldi's monkeys sit in a basket of enrichment in the aviary at the Zoo.
Tucked away in the Tropical habitat in the Marie Osterbuhr Aviary is a tiny species of monkey.
In fact, it’s the only species of monkey at Lee Richardson Zoo. Goeldi’s monkeys, also known as callimicos, are New World monkeys found primarily in the Amazon of Peru, as well as in some regions of Colombia, Bolivia, and Brazil.
Unfortunately, these countries represent four of the world’s top seven nations in terms of forest loss due to human expansion, timber harvesting, and agriculture. Less than half the forests where they are found are protected.
Since the species is so patchily distributed across its range because of its need for particular habitats and food sources, Goeldi’s monkey populations are especially sensitive to these human activities. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the species as Vulnerable.
Due to their elusive nature, there are no good estimates of the world’s overall population, but loss of historical habitat and less frequent sightings indicate that their numbers are declining.
The other primates found at the zoo are classified as prosimians or as lesser apes. Prosimians retain ancestral traits, such as being nocturnal or having the capability to scent-mark. Lesser apes are characterized by their lack of tails and higher intelligence.
The zoo’s prosimians include the ring-tailed, black and white, and red ruffed lemurs, and the pygmy slow lorises. The lemurs are found at the zoo’s Primate Forest Lemurs!, and the slow lorises in the zoo’s nocturnal building in Wild Asia. The representative lesser apes are the white-cheeked gibbons, who also reside in Wild Asia.
Goeldi’s monkeys are unique primates in many ways. Like their close cousins, the tamarins and marmosets, Goeldi’s are very diminutive. They weigh just about a pound and are less than 10 inches in length, with a tail just as long. They move about the tropical forest much like squirrels because of their claw-like nails. This is different from larger-bodied primates.
These claws allow them to escape predators quickly and help them extract certain foods. They prefer fruits, flowers, insects and spiders, mollusks, and small vertebrates such as lizards, snakes, and frogs. Goeldi’s monkeys have a unique adaptation: they can feed on fungi to sustain themselves during dry seasons. This dietary trait is found in no other tropical primate.
Like other small New World monkeys, baby Goeldi’s are initially carried by their mother’s, but are gradually handed off to fathers and other members of a troop as the infants grow. This is especially important in marmosets and tamarins, which typically have twins or even triplets that collectively weigh 15 – 25% of the mother’s weight. Those mothers must share rearing responsibilities so they can provide for their own nutritional and energy needs while lactating.
Goeldi’s monkeys, however, give birth to a single infant who weighs just about 10% of the mother’s weight. This allows mothers to carry their single infants a little longer before sharing the role and to delay weaning.
With this strategy of concentrated effort, Goeldi’s monkeys grow faster and become independent much earlier than others. By four weeks, Goeldi’s infants can be seen begging or robbing food from others who readily provide it to them. By three months of age, they are rarely carried at all.
On your next visit to the zoo, don’t mistake our pair of Goeldi’s monkeys, “Peach” and “JB,” as baby monkeys. They’re fully grown and among the world’s most unique primates.
To learn more about what’s happening at the Zoo, visit www.leerichardsonzoo.org or the Zoo’s social media pages. The zoo is currently open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with drive-through access from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.