Seal be right, mate, when your fans return

Malie the sea lion can ignore ­social-distancing rules, but zoo keepers believe he and other animals miss their human admirers.

‘Where’d everybody go?’ Danielle Fox takes Malie the lonely sea lion for a walk around a deserted Taronga Zoo in Sydney. Picture: Jane Dempster

Malie the 18-year-old Australian sea lion can ignore coronavirus ­social-distancing rules, but zookeepers believe he and other animals are feeling the absence of human admirers.

So in a bid to keep their spirits up while their adoring public are being forced to stay at home, some of Taronga Zoo’s animals are experiencing new-found freedoms.

On a daily basis, without humans staring at them and tapping the glass, extraordinary scenes are playing out at Sydney’s zoo as sea lions are out and about enjoying walks and visiting neighbours.

And at Melbourne Zoo, movies are being shown to gorillas, ­orangutans and monkeys to keep them stimulated during the virus lockdown. Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Frozen and Barnyard are among the blockbusters on high rotation.

On Tuesday, Malie visited his friends at the elephant enclosure with unit manager for marine mammals Danielle Fox at his side.

“We’re taking more animals out of their exhibits and for walks around the zoo,” Ms Fox told The Australian.

“We maintain routine, but to do something different we go for walks to the elephant exhibit.”

Ms Fox said it was important for the animals to maintain the routine they’re used to, even without human watchers.

“It’s good for their mental health, as well as ours,” she said. “I’m sure they would notice that there’s no crowd out there now.”

Ms Fox said the lack of visitors made the zoo quieter but also freed up keepers’ time from giving talks, allowing them to interact more with the animals. “When we ­reopen and crowds start coming back in, it will probably be more of a bigger change for (the animals) than taking the crowds away,” she said.

“We need to be mindful of what will happen on the other side. When things go back to normal and the keepers are taken away from them, it might cause them more stress.”

Zoos Victoria chief executive Jenny Gray said some of the zoo’s primates, such as the gorillas and monkeys, were people-focused and the keepers had been showing them movies. “We expected them to be looking for visitors and made sure to have additional enrichment available for them — items that keep them busy and encourage their natural behaviours,” Dr Gray said.

She said two of the female orangutans, Kiani and Gabby, often climbed high to a platform where they could see the visitors through a glassed viewing area, and then mimic what they saw ­visitors doing.

“Gabby often tries to look inside visitors’ bags and Kiani copies anyone cleaning,” Dr Gray said

“So keepers have been playing movies on the TV screen in the visitor space that the orangutans can see, and have continued to provide the orangutans with ­enrichment items along with ­additional keeper interactions.”

While watching movies isn’t suitable for all animals, the keepers have been busy making other things to keep them entertained, such as giant balls that have been filled with hay smeared with zebra dung for the lions at Werribee Open Range Zoo.

Dr Gray said the three zoos, Melbourne Zoo, Werribee Open Range Zoo and Healesville Sanctuary, all operated on a standard “rounds” system of care for each animal, which includes feeding, cleaning and training. While the scheduled care for the animals hadn’t changed, she said, the zoos’ closure to the public had allowed the keepers to spend more time inspecting an animal more closely and quickly addressing anything that could be seen as a negative ­behaviour or health issue.

The extra time is also allowing keepers at Healesville Sanctuary to spend time building up trust with the sanctuary’s female tree kangaroo, Mani, so that she allows them to inspect her pouch in preparation for when she becomes pregnant.

Further down the line, the increased levels of trust will better allow keepers to monitor the health of the joey when it starts venturing out of the pouch.

Meanwhile, although the public is being kept away from visiting the animals in their zoo homes, they can go online and access a number of “zoo cams” that bring the animals to them.

Zoos Victoria launched its Animals at Home live-streaming in March and attracted more than two million views in the first month. And when the zoos reopen, visitors will be delighted by some new additions, with a baby boom of snow leopard cubs and otter pups at Melbourne Zoo, a tree kangaroo joey at Healesville Sanctuary and a blackbuck at Werribee.