Animals Receive Valentine's from Trainers at Shedd Aquarium

For Valentine’s Day, Shedd’s animal trainers handcrafted heart-shaped treats and even sprinkled rose petals in some habitats getting into the holiday spirit while having fun with the regular training and enrichment sessions they develop for the animals in order to develop trusting relationships and provide exceptional care. Festive enrichment provides a fun, unique challenge for animal care staff to develop new ways for the animals to interact with their environment. Shedd’s animal care team will often use food, toys, puzzles, ice treats with frozen formulated food, verbal cues and more for positive reinforcement. This helps the animals learn, stay active and form lasting connections.

In addition, many of Shedd’s animals participate in training and enrichment – not just the marine mammals. A few animals from the Amazon Rising exhibit also received special enrichment for the holiday like the Goeldi’s monkey, White-faced whistling duck, Mimic poison dart frogs and Dyeing poison dart frogs.

VISUALS: A variety of animals received valentines from the trainers at Shedd. Magellanic and rockhopper penguins at Shedd, as well as the four sea otters, received conversation hearts in the form of ice treats and food molds handcrafted by Shedd’s animal care team. While animals in Amazon Rising had new items introduced to their habitats like rose petals, a paper heart, and more.

PHOTOS: High resolution photos are available for download:

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Photo credit: ©Shedd Aquarium/Brenna Hernandez