<em>By
Stacy Johnson and Angela Matthews, Animal Keepers
Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Lake Buena Vista, Florida</em>

<strong>Background</strong>
Chinese alligators (<em>Alligator sinensis</em>) are one of the smallest crocodilians, with adult males reaching six feet long [~1.83m] from snout to tail, and weighing up to 90 pounds [40.82kg].  Chinese alligators are also one of the most critically endangered crocodilian species, with less than 300 left in the wild.  They are restricted to a reserve around the lower Yangtze River, in the Anhui province in China. While the wild population suffers, numbers in captivity are very healthy.

From our original eight Chinese alligators brought to Disney’s Animal Kingdom in 1997, we now have one female, “Birdie”, who was transferred to an off-exhibit holding area in 1999.  Since we were going to be working around her very closely, keeper and animal safety were a priority.  Within the last year, several husbandry initiatives were accomplished, both in training and enrichment, which have had a great impact on both the animal, as well as her caretakers.

<strong>Enclosure Renovation</strong>
Since “Birdie” may be a long-term resident, we decided to make some modifications to her husbandry program.  Her previous housing was limited to one stall with a pool and a strip of land for sunning (Figure 1).  When the other alligators were shipped out, we had ample space to increase her enclosure size.

She was given two large stalls; one with a bigger pool and grass for sunning and the other filled with dirt substrate.  These stalls are separated with a shifting corridor, where her crate will be housed, and can be closed off with guillotine doors.  Her enclosure furniture now consists of: deadfall, a ladder for sunning in the water, grass, dirt, and plants, all of which help provide a more complex environment (Figure 2).
<img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-966" title="alligator1" src="http://aecetia.net/gws/aazk/wp-content/uploads/alligator1.jpg" alt="alligator1" width="688" height="469" />
<strong>Figure 1:</strong> previous Chinese alligator off-exhibit holding (<em>photo: Stacy Johnson</em>)

<img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-967" title="alligator2" src="http://aecetia.net/gws/aazk/wp-content/uploads/alligator2.jpg" alt="alligator2" width="688" height="457" />

<strong>Figure 2:</strong> current Chinese alligator off-exhibit holding (<em>photo: Stacy Johnson</em>)

Using this model, we set our goals to encourage natural behavior such as locomotion, burrowing, digging, foraging, sunning, hiding, vocalizing, and swimming. To ensure she received a regular rotation of daily enrichment, we developed a schedule for implementation. We documented her interactions with the enrichment items on daily observation sheets. We found the most effective enrichment to be……..

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