The Cincinnati Zoo Is Putting Its Animals Online Each Weekday For Viewers At Home

Mar 30, 2020 by apost team

In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden closed its doors to the public earlier this month. But devoted animal lovers need not despair. The Cincinnati Zoo is now putting its animals online as part of a virtual safari.

To keep the community connected while also trying to flatten the curve, the zoo now offers Home Safari Facebook Live sessions weekdays at 3 p.m. Parents stuck at home with children will be happy to hear that beyond just showcasing one of the zoo’s animals, the live sessions will provide folks at home with ideas for in-door activities, according to a Cincinnati Zoo press release.

“We’re bringing the Zoo to people who are stuck at home,” said Cincinnati Zoo Director Thane Maynard in a press release. “This Zoo is so important to the community and not being able to visit will create a void that we’re trying to fill. The goal with the daily live sessions is to provide fun and educational content to people who are stuck at home.”

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The zoo’s first digital safari, which took place on March 16, featured the world-famous, 1,300 pound hippo Fiona, who came to the media’s attention after she was born six weeks premature. In anticipation of Fiona’s livestream, the zoo received an overwhelming response on social media with the zoo’s Facebook announcement reaching over 18 million people and racking up hundreds of thousands of shares. Hundreds of thousands of folks from around the world also followed the zoo’s account for the first time following the announcement. For those of you who missed Fiona’s breakout Home Safari debut, you can find the video on the Cincinnati Zoo’s YouTube channel along with other videos from the series.

And don’t think that the videos are just for children. Animal lovers of all ages can learn a ton from the in-depth, 20-minute-long videos. In the zoo’s first video, for example, we learn that hippos eat a lot of food (from romaine lettuce to squash) and produce 22 pounds of waste per day. And who knew that a group of hippos is called a bloat? Live viewers who are extra curious can also go ahead and submit questions that the zoo keepers will try to answer during the safari.

So far, the zoo has showcased red pandas, tortoises, penguins, cheetahs and more, with most videos garnering hundreds of thousands of views. With that said, in its most recent press release, the zoo announced that despite the positive uptick in web traffic, the zoo closure is hitting the non-profit organization hard.

"We still have mouths, beaks, jaws and maws to feed and care for,” Maynard said in the March 27 release. As we can all imagine, feeding 2,000 animals — including one especially hungry hippo — requires a lot of chow.

In order to keep the zoo's animals like Fiona happy and healthy, the zoo is encouraging fans to renew their zoo memberships, adopt an animal, donate to the zoo’s emergency fund and/or make plans to visit the zoo when it reopens.

Have you tuned into the Cincinatti Zoo's livestream? Let us know and make sure to pass this on to all the animal lovers you know.