The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (CMZoo) is inviting guests to celebrate the ‘Dog Days’ of summer with them by bringing along their ‘well-behaved’ dogs to explore the grounds.

The zoo recently announced that it will be hosting additional Dog Days next month after the success of the event earlier this summer.

“We can support healthy animal behaviors by providing a changing environment with diverse enrichment opportunities,” said Rick Hester, curator of animal behavior at CMZoo, “When we do this well, we observe animals behaving in varied ways to achieve different goals, including some of the behaviors and outcomes that appear to be most important to their species in the wild environment.”

According to CMZoo, some of the animals did not react to the presence of dogs at all, while others were excited to see them. The meerkats and lemurs reportedly strengthened their bonds as a group, because they saw the dogs as predators.

“Meerkats are well known for their sentinel anti-predator behaviors, observed in the wild and in human care,” said Hester.

“The meerkats would huddle together and approach a dog, which is called ‘mobbing.’ All the dogs would eventually move away as their group would walk on and the meerkats, having accomplished their goal, would resume other activities like foraging for food. From the perspective of the meerkats, they were successful!”

They also reported that the African lions and mountain lions noticeably perked up, perhaps thinking of ways to pounce or stalk.

According to the zoo, holding semi-frequent Dog Days could help some species reach their enrichment goals.

‘Dog Days’ at the zoo will take place on August 14 and August 29 from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m.

“Every person and every dog coming to the Zoo must have an advance timed e-ticket, available now at cmzoo.org. Dogs must have a designated dog ticket to enter the Zoo. Human tickets will not be honored for dog admission,” officials said. 

Dog tickets cost $19.00 each and can be found here. 

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