Wish List

Paatsy the aardvark keeps her mind and claws sharp by solving puzzles, and is rewarded with her favorite snacks. Slide feeders provide a challenging brain teaser as Paatsy must “slide” food along a maze for retrieval. Help encourage problem-solving and promote foraging with a tricky new slide feeder!

Marco and Adina, two red kangaroos who reside at Lincoln Park Zoo, thrive on leafy greens, including romaine, kale, collard greens, and spinach. Keep the mob crunching and munching into the cooler months with an abundant infusion of nutritious greens!

It’s back to school time but kids aren’t the only ones enjoying peanut butter and jelly! Throughout the zoo, Animal Care staff use sweet, flavored jams and savory peanut butter to encourage training behaviors, provide enrichment, or aid with medication delivery. Provide the zoo’s residents with some peanut butter jelly time this fall!

Did you know? There are six species of turtles that call Lincoln Park Zoo home. Like most turtles, they are adept at hiding! In the wild, turtles will hide under rocks, logs, leaves, or even underground to protect themselves from predators and the elements. With this Wish List purchase, you can help provide a series of “round houses” to give the turtles a place to hide, and feel protected while they sleep.

The red wolf pack at Pritzker Family Children’s Zoo enjoys playing with its food as much as eating it! Keepers attach beef shanks, meaty bones, and other savory items to a special feeder called a “J-Moody.” This device is made from a wobbling base with a pole in the center, where keepers can attach food or toys. When the wolves pull on the items, they feel resistance—and if they let go, the item will bounce back, encouraging them to maneuver around the item as it wiggles and wobbles. Provide the wolves with a fancy new feeder that fosters natural hunting behaviors and keeps mealtime fun!

The seals at Kovler Seal Pool love to munch on ice! Keepers use ice cubes to enrich the seals’ environment, and also as a secondary “reward” during training sessions. Help us purchase a new ice machine and give the seals access to unlimited ice cubes!

Ever had an itch that you just can’t reach? The American black bears know just how you feel! When black bears need to satisfy an itch or remove loose fur, the stiff yet pliable bristles of a street sweeper brush are perfect for reaching those hard-to-reach spots. Provide a new street sweeper brush for Birch and Katai today!

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect our community, the health and safety of our guests and staff, as well as the animals in our care, is our top priority. Keepers frequently use alcohol wipes throughout the day to disinfect shared areas. Help our staff keep the zoo clean by chipping in for disinfecting alcohol wipes!

At Regenstein African Journey, few items are as versatile as boomer balls! The sturdy balls provide hours of play for animals like African painted dogs, who kick, roll, and bounce them throughout their enclosure. When holes are drilled in the balls, they can be hung in the air and used as feeders for giraffes, who manipulate the wobbling orbs with their long tongues. Even birds enjoy boomer balls—when a large hole is drilled in the side, they make a cozy dome home for the zoo’s feathered residents. Help us purchase a new set of boomer balls today!

When new animals arrive at Lincoln Park Zoo, they spend a period of time in quarantine to ensure a clean bill of health. Like all other zoo residents, animals in quarantine receive specialized enrichment to add complexity to their environment. Arboreal animals—like red pandas—enjoy climbing and resting on collapsible ladders which can be moved around to keep their space dynamic. Help outfit our quarantine area with a new ladder for red pandas and more!

What’s better than a warm bed on a chilly night? Nothing! The gorillas and chimpanzees at Regenstein Center for African Apes like to cuddle up with fresh, cozy wood wool each evening. As evening temperatures get cooler, keep the great apes snug and warm with comfortable bedding!

Something here doesn’t look like the others! Keepers at Lincoln Park Zoo keep birds on their webbed toes by introducing novel items to their exhibit, which promotes both visual stimulation and object manipulation. Give the wetland birds something novel to explore with a heron decoy to explore as they wade through the shallow waters of their exhibit.

Birds are natural searchers—from granivorous birds who spend their time searching for grains and seeds to insectivores whose diet is made up flying, crawling, or wriggling insects. Keepers at Lincoln Park Zoo encourage these natural foraging behaviors by using special feeders and substrates to promote searching behavior. Provide the zoo’s birds with a new hanging bird bath and feeder tray which keepers can utilize as they create dynamic foraging opportunities!

Throughout the zoo, keepers provide birds with a variety of materials they can use for nesting. Artificial autumn maple leaves are particularly popular with the zoo’s feathered residents. Not only can birds use these ample and pliable leaves to “feather” their nests, but keepers can also use the faux foliage to encourage natural substrate foraging by sprinkling food among the leaves. Provide the birds with some seasonally appropriate maple leaves today!

A “Tipsy Tom” may sound silly, but it provides serious enrichment for Piper, Penny, and Petey—the trio of domestic pigs who reside at Farm-in-the-Zoo! Made with durable plastic, the “Tipsy Tom” moves unpredictably as it weebles and wobbles, allowing the pigs to kick, roll, or push it across their yard. Chip in for a new “Tipsy Tom” today, and provide the pigs with hours of squeal-worthy playtime!

The rhinos at Lincoln Park Zoo enjoy a daily dose of fresh leafy plants as part of their customized nutrition plan. Not only are these greens tasty, but they also encourage natural foraging and feeding behaviors. Help Romeo, Kapuki and Ricko celebrate World Rhino Day with a heaping helping of fresh leaves and twigs!