Jim Mackie - Animal Presenter
How long has Animals in Action been running for and how did it come about?
About 16 years ago, in 1991, Roger and Andy opened the theatre to start with. Keepers were already demonstrating animal behaviour during their talks, but a presentation with a variety of animals was quite a novel thing back then, although it had been seen in American zoos. One of the first animals to be displayed was the barn owl. Most of the animals involved in the demonstrations are hand-reared in the zoo.
Why is it important for a modern zoo to have something like Animals in Action in its schedule?
It is an interesting way to learn about animals. We also work hard abroad to research animal demonstrations in other countries. So we show the natural behaviour of animals which are often rare or exotic.
Which is the brightest animal you’ve worked with so far and which, on the other hand, struggled the most during training?
I’m going to have to cover Dana’s (the lemur guesting on the sofa) ears for this one! Dana is a very beautiful creature, but, unfortunately, she is not very bright! Owls are also quite stupid as their huge eyes take up most of the space in their head! Coatis, on the other hand, are very intelligent animals and also very sociable. Macaws are very intelligent, they are about as bright as a 4 years old. Amongst the animals outside the show, who get trained for veterinary purposes, I would say that lions and gorillas are the smartest ones.
How do you choose what animals to use for the show?
Well, there are actually various reasons. Endangered and rare animals are obviously high on our agenda. It is also good to tell the story of how certain animals made it into our country: for example we came up with the idea of getting the rats onto the stage inside a model ship to show how they first arrived here. Sometimes we simply choose animals that are brightly coloured or enjoy being on stage.
Watch the video below to see Jim introduce Willow the Barn Owl who will start appearing in Animals in Action from Easter 2008