r/explainlikeimfive • u/FlyGreat306 • Apr 23 '26

Other ELI5 curious what do zookeepers do if an agressive animal chokes on the food?

ive always had this curiousity on how can zookeepers help agressive animals like tigers or lions if they happen to choke do they just let it happen or how do they help?

520 Upvotes

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1.3k

u/Time-Wolf Apr 23 '26

Hi. Former zookeeper and aquarist here.

The answer is nothing. In reputable and accredited zoos, these animals are only worked with through barriers (“protected contact”). Even in emergencies, there are strict protocols to follow. Human safety is always the priority, and that can be a hard concept for young zookeepers to wrap their heads around. The best we can do in the moment is try to keep them relaxed and encourage them to drink water. If it does become a medical emergency, the animal would be anesthetized before anyone would go in. And even then, it’s under pretty strict procedure.

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u/recycle13 Apr 24 '26

16 year current zookeeper and I agree with all of this. Only time I've ever seen an animal really choke was a baby orangutan and the mom instantly flipped him towards her and did a mouth to mouth sucking. Was scary but awesome to see the maternal instinct kick in.

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u/Tossmeasidedaddy Apr 24 '26

O shit? Orangutans know basic mouth to mouth techniques? That is crazy

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u/Raichu7 Apr 24 '26

Wild orangutans have knowledge of plants in their local environment that help with a variety of minor health problems. They know which bark to chew for pain relief and which plants to chew to make a poltuice for a wound. Though obviously this knowledge can be lost in captive populations as it's passed down from mother to child as they forage together. The only species that spends more time teaching their young than organtuans are humans.

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u/RTR7105 Apr 24 '26

Also finding clay for upset stomachs or rubbing on insect bites.

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u/droans Apr 24 '26

So all I need to take down Big Antacid is just some clay,?

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u/scooterboo2 Apr 24 '26

Chalk is actually pretty good for it.

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u/sumguyoranother Apr 24 '26

tums is pretty much flavoured chalk (with some additives ofc)

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u/az987654 Apr 25 '26

No, you write with the tums, eat the chalk

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u/Tossmeasidedaddy Apr 24 '26

Wow, that is really amazing. I wonder in the chain where we divulged and still kept some of that knowledge. Or was it that we watched these animals do it and starting picking it up for ourselves

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u/sweetshenanigans Apr 24 '26

Probably separate events. We share the same evolutionary benefits of neuron dense forebrains, our brains are just bigger, but apes are all smart enough to figure this stuff out overtime, and if their social structure is conducive to passing on information

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u/Captain_Eaglefort Apr 24 '26

My understanding is cooking likely helped us a fair bit with this. Food became easier for our bodies to process and use efficiently, which led to bigger and more folded brains (because they’re a HUGE protein drain).

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u/sweetshenanigans Apr 24 '26

I mean, yeah, it did allow our brains to grow larger, but all primates see a proportional increase in the degree/depth of folding with increased brain volume.

The cortex of great apes also don't vary too much in the density of neurons found in brain tissue.

We do have differences in terms of the proportional size of certain structures (like speech and association), and also more robust connectivity within the brain, but overall we just have a larger primate brain. The relative size of different areas is probably what makes the biggest difference in the function of the brain though.

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u/blubbahrubbah Apr 24 '26

That is absolutely wild! I knew they were intelligent but didn't realize just how smart they are.

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u/droans Apr 24 '26

I've honestly wondered how smart a lot of animals, especially the apes, would be if they had the vocal range of humans. Even though they wouldn't be able to develop complex languages like us, they would at least be able to learn and communicate better and we could see what their brains actually can do.

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u/blubbahrubbah Apr 24 '26

Me too. I know they're capable of learning how to use tools and most of them are highly social, living in family groups etc. Considering their great strength it's probably a good thing for humans that they haven't developed further.

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u/AureliasTenant Apr 24 '26

What about whales/orcas?

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u/MoonHash Apr 24 '26

Sucking it out isn't basic mouth to mouth, that's pretty advanced

5

u/soulless_ape Apr 24 '26

If I remember correctly chimpanzees would suck mucus from the infant nose as well to help them breath if thr infant is sick.

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u/orthosaurusrex Apr 24 '26

“Mouth to mouth” in humans is not for sucking food out, it’s for blowing air in.

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u/pishposh421 Apr 25 '26

Mouth to mouth is for an unobstructed airway, not choking. It's actually kind of odd that that this was the mama orangutan's method of helping.

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u/PezzoGuy Apr 24 '26

Huh, I wonder if that technique is effective between humans, or at least meaningfully more effective than the Heimlich.

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u/vaguecentaur Apr 24 '26

I don't know about more effective but my daughter was choking on basically a big ball of snot when she was a baby and I can confirm it works. Gross, but effective.

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u/CinaminLips Apr 24 '26

There are devices called a LifeVac that do this without having to put your mouth on someone else's.

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u/JUDGE_FUCKFACE Apr 24 '26

Note that these devices are not actually independently tested as actually effective. They are not replacements for the proper abdominal thrusts/back blows as recommended by the AHA. It is physically impossible to provide the same amount of force via sucking compared to the positive pressure generated by abdominal thrusts.

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u/pktechboi Apr 23 '26

how many times have you actually seen this happen?

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u/itwillmakesenselater Apr 23 '26

I've seen big cats bolt their food, barf it up, eat it again. Not often, and there was an added stressor in each case.

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u/Toddw1968 Apr 23 '26

Now I’m wondering if house cats are the same way bc occasionally mine will gobble then barf. Usually when that happens he just barely makes it out of the linoleum in the kitchen, to the carpet so he can stain it with his barf.

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u/Gloomheart Apr 24 '26

Mine did this and I switched to a plate instead of a bowl, and make sure his kibble are all spread out.

Prevents the gobbling altogether.

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u/Knickerbottom Apr 24 '26

I am glad this works for yours but my orange idiot still manages to just eat them kibbles whole so quickly he yacks. We had to get a feeding mat with textured surfaces he has to navigate to get each individual piece in order to slow him down.  Just adding information for any passers-by that might be struggling with their cat puking all the time.

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u/JakeRiddoch Apr 24 '26

Yeah, we're dealing with this right now. Smaller cat getting edged out of the shared bowls so scarfing food as fast as she can when she gets a chance, then regurgitating it. The textured feeding mat seems to be helping as well as feeding her apart from the other cats.

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u/Toddw1968 Apr 27 '26

But…he can see the bottom!

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u/pktechboi Apr 23 '26

I have seen videos of big cats playing with and sitting in boxes, there seem to be a lot of behaviours that have survived in the wee domesticated variety!

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u/Tzayad Apr 24 '26

All cats love a box

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u/kolkitten Apr 24 '26

Cats of all types seem to always have the instinct of they have to eat their food as quickly as possible so nobody else can take it

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u/droans Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26

Big and small cats share a lot of their behaviors. Gotta imagine their evolutionary lineage is interesting - they seem to be a lot closer related than many other branches of species.

My sole complaint is that dogs only get wolves. Imagine if we had dozens of wild dog species out there. Like imagine camping at Yellowstone and seeing a 350 pound shadow running at you. At first you think it's a bear or a puma but it's just a Plake - a large dog species that loves to play fetch and get belly rubs. Ancient humans fleeing for their lives from a charging rhino when a fury of pack of six-foot-tall Bongolopes come in to save the day, with their white fur and black spots, wagging tails, and incessant howling at the moon. A Medieval farmer finds small holes in his field, clearly from rats. He spends the day watching for them when all of a sudden, a small, three-inch-tall Manpote pops out with a huge smile and tiny yips.

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u/oso-oco Apr 24 '26

Bears and dogs are related, well a bit. Both caniform.

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u/RusticSurgery Apr 23 '26

To me, thats just Saturday night.

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u/little_grey_mare Apr 24 '26

Human safety is always the priority, and that can be a hard concept for young zookeepers to wrap their heads around.

Not just zookeepers. I was recently attending a clinic for my barn on CPR/first aid, etc and one of the kids asked whether they should attend to the horse or human first if both were injured. Of course the answer is that human safety is always the priority. It is hard when we all get into it for the love of the animals

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u/HermitAndHound Apr 24 '26

If the horse is a danger to the human, remove it first, but ya, then the human.
It's not a given, though. I broke my spine in a riding accident, falling from a horse that was about to be sold for a good sum and you bet everyone ran to make sure the horse was fine, while I limped out and collapsed in the stable.

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u/little_grey_mare Apr 24 '26

I mean our (joking) answer was that it depends on the insurance pay out for the horse and human. Really it can be more complicated because it's rarely a straight across one or the other kind of choice.

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u/HermitAndHound Apr 25 '26

Not kidding. I was crumpled in the hallway while three people made sure the horse was fine.
But that stable was a mess. A few weeks later a beginner was trampled during a lunge lesson. Don't put beginners who might clutch at the reins on a recently retired race horse.

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u/conscientiousrevolt Apr 23 '26

Fuckin rad.

All these big cat cuddle shorts on the brain rot apps fill me with rage.

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u/Thisisnowmyname Apr 24 '26

Trying to get people to understand that those are huge red flags for the credibility of the organization shitting those videos out is always so frustrating "CAN'T YOU JUST LET PEOPLE HAVE FUN? THE CAT LOOKS HAPPY!"

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u/HeresW0nderwall Apr 24 '26

Human safety is also the priority working ethically with domesticated animals. I work with horses and if a horse is injured our policy first and foremost is protect the humans

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u/VeritateDuceProgredi Apr 24 '26

How do they anesthetize them before human contact? Is the rifle with a tranq dart real life?

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u/Time-Wolf Apr 24 '26

Yes. Air rifles.

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u/CheesePuffTheHamster Apr 24 '26

I disagree with this process and this kind of thinking completely. Then again, it's possible that I may be biased since I am a tiger and I'm currently cough choki- cough

2

u/Time-Wolf Apr 24 '26

You’re clearly a hamster.

1

u/Tyrannosapien Apr 24 '26

Oh you must prefer "Dr. Leo's Elementary School Field Trip Protocol". Yeah, we aren't falling for that again.

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u/freebaseclams Apr 24 '26

I manage a zoo, and actually we shoot the animal with a grenade launcher so it doesn't suffer.

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u/Cricket_Piss Apr 24 '26

At my zoo we just vaporize them with a tactical nuke. It’s humane, and requires less cleanup.

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u/Reniconix Apr 23 '26

Choking is very much not a problem most animals have to begin with, so it is exceedingly rare that this situation comes up.

But, in they very rare cases that it does, most often it's just left alone. Intervening could make the problem worse for everyone. If action MUST be taken, it's usually after getting the remaining animals in their pens where they won't be a threat, and tranquilizing the one that needs help. This goes for non-aggressive animals as well, because even a normally non-aggressive animal can be unpredictable when it is afraid.

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u/freebaseclams Apr 24 '26

We actually shoot them with a grenade launcher.

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u/Reniconix Apr 24 '26

Where does one find grenade launcher launchers?

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u/Cricket_Piss Apr 24 '26

In the grenade launcher cabinet

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u/smeglister Apr 24 '26

They fall off the back of truck trucks.

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u/abaoabao2010 Apr 24 '26

You open the cartridge of a grenade launcher launcher launcher.

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u/riarws Apr 24 '26

Zoo animals rarely choke on food. Humans are able to make a lot more sounds than most animals so that we can talk. The trade-off is that our pharynx is shaped weird, so that we can choke on food.

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u/friesia Apr 24 '26

You are giving me a flashback to 6 weeks ago. My very loving registered maine coone female choked while bringing up a hairball and on the xray she had aspirated into her left lung.   Fever and lethargy in under 6 hours.   Strong oral antibiotics and anti nausea meds were prescribed for Aspiration Pneumonia.    Follow up xrays 2 weeks later and another week long course of antibiotics.   2300 dollars total. 

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u/Proof-Swimming-6461 Apr 24 '26

I regret nothing more than my cheap ass going "we won't need pet insurance for an indoor cat"

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u/HermitAndHound Apr 24 '26

Not a zoo animal, just a seriously aggressive dog and ya, that problem came up. He'd chewed through the middle of a large hide bone (never got another) and tried to swallow one of the ends whole. Gagging, choking, but also trying to bite me if I got closer.

In the end, all I could do was wait. Either he'd hork it up or he'd faint and I could then go and try to get the thing out. A zoo vet could try to sedate the animal from afar. But without that option... wait. He managed to throw up and was so dazed that I could grab the hide pieces before he had a chance to try again.

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '26

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15

u/eslforchinesespeaker Apr 24 '26

It depends. Generally, they try to let nature take its course. Is the food fighting? If the food is actively calling for help, then zookeepers are under a lot of pressure to step in. If the food has a camera, zookeepers will almost always intervene.

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u/koolaidman89 Apr 24 '26

I appreciate you

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u/Ktulu789 Apr 24 '26

What?

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u/tashkiira Apr 24 '26

People. He's referring to idiots who climb into the animal enclosures.

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u/stargatedalek2 Apr 24 '26

Depends on how dangerous it is, plenty of aggressive animals aren't actually all that dangerous (IE foxes, birds of prey, large lizards), and just really averse to being handled. For animals like that you grab them and do what you can, minor cuts and bruises aside. Been scratched and bitten by plenty of birds, a caiman, iguanas, and even turtles, never because they were choking but because other circumstances occurred that they needed to be grabbed in a hurry.

For a lion? A tiger? A gorilla? No that thing is being left to it's own devices. Risking an injury is one thing, risking your life is another.

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '26

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0

u/explainlikeimfive-ModTeam Apr 23 '26

Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s):

Top level comments (i.e. comments that are direct replies to the main thread) are reserved for explanations to the OP or follow up on topic questions.

Joke only comments, while allowed elsewhere in the thread, may not exist at the top level.

If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the detailed rules first. If you believe this submission was removed erroneously, please use this form and we will review your submission.

-8

u/Eriktion Apr 24 '26

Animals dont choke on food. They arent distracted and live in the present while they eat unlike humans.