The zoo's black-footed kittens discover the existence of crickets
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion got a paper bag of crickets today.
Hey, anybody sick of videos of Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion (seriously), the African Black-Footed Cat kittens born at the Philadelphia Zoo in April? I'm definitely not. It's hard to tell from this video, but the black-footed cat is actually only about four pounds as an adult, which is about half the size of a small housecat. (Realistically, it's probably a third of the size of the average housecat, because a lot of housecats are fat.)
The zoo, like any canny zoo with baby animals, is milking this for all it's worth, doing things like naming them after the dragons in Game of Thrones and, in the latest video, putting bags of crickets in with the kittens so they can chase them around. They don't even eat crickets!
Our black-footed cats are fed a commercial mix of raw meat formulated specially for exotic cats. They also receive enrichment in the form of small rodents and insects like mealworms and crickets, all of which is managed by our nutritionist to ensure all of their dietary needs are met.
The brown paper bags you see in this video contained crickets—until the kittens discovered them. This is the first time they had ever encountered live crickets, so they were a bit uncertain at first, but it wasn't long before their predatory instincts kicked in.
So, yup, the cameras were right there to record the kittens stalking crickets like the stone-cold, merciless killers that they are.
