Wild Wednesday: Tulsa Zoo Chinchillas Home for the Holidays in New Exhibit

The chinchillas at the Tulsa Zoo are home for the holidays after moving into their newly renovated exhibit this week. Visitors can see the chinchillas in the WildLIFE Trek Life in the Cold building near the west entrance to the zoo.

The Tulsa Zoo recently renovated its chinchilla exhibit to give the animals a space that more closely resembles their natural environment. The project took about 3 and a half months to complete. Jessica Reicks-Murray is the WildLIFE Trek Zoological Supervisor at the Tulsa Zoo and is part of the chinchilla care team. She said the new exhibit allows them to engage in behavior similar to that of a chinchilla in the wild.

Q: What is a chinchilla?

"A chinchilla is a small rodent, kind of like a softer-looking rabbit," said Reicks-Murray. The chinchilla is native to the Andes Mountains in South America. Their fur is very dense and holds moisture in, so Reicks-Murray said chinchillas cannot get wet, or they risk getting a skin infection. Instead, chinchillas take dust baths.

Q: How many chinchillas does the Tulsa Zoo have?

Reicks-Murray said there are six chinchillas at the Tulsa Zoo and four of them are in the WildLIFE Trek exhibit. Their names are Churro, Dad, Harley Chin, and Pikachu.

Q: What do chinchillas eat?

"We feed them chinchilla grain, so it is a specialized grain diet that has all the nutrients that they need. We also give them lettuce, alfalfa, hay, and then sometimes they get cranberry treats and oxbow treats," said Reicks-Murray.

Q: Why did the zoo decide to renovate the chinchilla exhibit?

"These animals really live in a rocky mountain terrain, and our exhibit was kind of lacking that elevation and just the ability to climb around," Reicks-Murray continued saying, "A chinchilla can jump six feet, so giving them the opportunity to make that and to really utilize those muscles is a huge change."

Q: How are the chinchillas liking their new exhibit?

Reicks-Murray said Pikachu was the first chinchilla they introduced to the new exhibit. "It took her a while to kind of find her way around, but once she noticed how to get through all the little rocks, she was just climbing away."

Q: When can zoogoers expect to see the chinchillas in their new exhibit?

Reicks-Murray said the renovations are complete, so visitors can start seeing the chinchillas in the new exhibit now. The window to their exhibit is inside Life in the Cold next to the Snowy Owl.

For zoo hours and information visit https://tulsazoo.org/.