Hello! On this week's edition of I Spend Way Too Much Time On The Internet, I noticed a fabulous phenomenon: zoos, aquariums, and science centres posting on social media about their animals touring other animals' exhibits. This kind of species-to-species interaction actually takes place regularly as an enrichment activity in many institutions that care for animals, but it is usually done behind-the-scenes. Since the threat of COVID-19 has caused all museums, science centres, aquariums, and zoos to close their doors to visitors, animals at these institutions can spend more time exploring out of their enclosures.
Magellanic penguin Tilly meets Kayavak the belgua at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. As a warm-weather species, Tilly would never encounter an Arctic creature like a beluga in the wild. Source
I came across this recent outpouring of documentation of animal interactions since I've been looking out for how staff at cultural institutions are managing during the crisis. As an emerging cultural sector professional, it is important to me to know what operations are ongoing in a dire situation like the one we are facing. In many institutions, the crisis response has consisted of canceling nonessential operations, communicating changes with staff and visitors, and continuing essential operations as safely as possible. Others have gone beyond this and taken the opportunity to engage the online populace with fun and educational content.
While it is of course important to take note of the more formal educational resources being promoted remotely by cultural institutions, it is also interesting to observe the role that these institutions can play in maintaining our mental health. My colleague Melissa Mertsis recently reported on how online collections, tours, lectures, and tutorials can ease feelings of loneliness and anxiety, and I think less intellectually stimulating content has a role to play as well.
When you got no game at the #StaringGame but your animal enrichment is on point. pic.twitter.com/dbp67i3mu3— Mystic Aquarium (@mysticaquarium) March 19, 2020
The keepers can also take the opportunity to insert sweet animal facts, as the Shedd Aquarium did to give context to this interaction:
The penguins aren’t the only animals taking field trips around the aquarium! Tyson the prehensile-tailed porcupine visited the penguin habitat while munching on a hard biscuit, which helps file down his constantly-growing teeth. pic.twitter.com/X2PpEHt1L3— Shedd Aquarium (@shedd_aquarium) March 19, 2020
I encourage you to follow suit and enrich yourself via animal viewing with some amazing livestreams.
Did looking at this make you feel better? Have you taken advantage of any online museum content this week? Let me know in the comments below!
