CHICAGO — Huge crowds will flock to the Lake Michigan shoreline this weekend for the annual Chicago Air and Water Show, and the animals at the Lincoln Park Zoo will get a front-row seat. But how do they feel about all of the noise?
“It’s very similar to a human, how we feel when something all of a sudden is really loud around us, it doesn’t feel good, so we don’t want to put the animals in that situation either,” Katie Cronin, Director of the Animal Welfare Science Program at Lincoln Park Zoo, said.
Cronin and other scientists took on a study during the Air and Water Show in 2016 and 2017, where they looked at how different primate species reacted to all of the action.
“The snow monkeys were on high alert, they were more anxious, more aware of the threats out there, compared to the chimpanzees and gorillas,” Cronin said.
Researchers measured the sound levels near the animals and found the noise levels exceeded 90 decibels at times, similar to the noise level of a nearby leaf blower.
Cronin said it’s likely that the snow monkeys were more anxious, in part, because they weren’t used to the yearly commotion.
“We think that that might be because the snow monkeys haven’t been at the zoo as long as the chimps and gorillas have. The chimps and gorillas have had more time to experience this once-a-year jarring event, than the snow monkeys, but there’s a clear difference between them,” Cronin said.
In order to alleviate stress on the animals, the Lincoln Park Zoo offers choices for the animals.
“One of the things that we do at the zoo is make sure that the animals have the choice to get away from these loud, noisy jets overhead. So they always have their behind-the-scenes space available to them, so some choose to use it, others choose to stay outside,” Cronin said.
According to Cronin, some of the animals may actually enjoy the show.
“I heard from keepers today, our lion Jabari, our big male lion, he has access behind the scenes, he could move away from it if he wanted to, but he’s laying up on his big rock watching them fly overhead, so their responses really vary,” Cronin said.
Cronin said zoo monitors will continue to test decibel levels inside enclosures and monitor the animals for any mood changes throughout the weekend.
“I think that’s key, if you see them outside, they’re choosing to be outside,” Cronin said.