Fossil Rim’s Children’s Animal Center
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Goats at the Children's Animal Center

Our goats love to be brushed. We have an Emu “Einstein” who is quite curious about humans. Some of our other birds have been known to make sounds like a horse or a car alarm, see if you happen to hear them. And try to figure out which of our tortoises weighs 100 pounds.

There are a few things that will make your venture in with these animals more enjoyable. Please leave all types of food outside when you enter. These animals would quickly get accustomed to searching for food from visitors and start coming up to see if you brought them something. If you are a young child this could be an intimidating experience so please don’t get them started, we ask that you not even hand-feed them the hay out of their racks for safety’s sake. Remember the old stereotype of the goats eating the tin cans? Just think that anything you take into their area could be looked at as an edible object whether it’s your backpack, a package from the store, purse or most any other object. Also please realize that these goats are not horses and do not “ride” them.

You may dig through our sand pit just outside the Children’s Animal Center

Be on the lookout for enrichment items while you are in the Children’s Animal Center. To keep them active and curious our staff will place items in their enclosures. These often take the form of baby toys or dog toys. During spring break the goats will likely get more than enough “enrichment” with all the visitors they will have so their usual items (like large boxes filled with hay, feed bags for them to rub their horns on, or the big drinking water jugs with holes and feed inside to give them a puzzle to solve for food) will not be evident. However, check in the birdcages and you will find many items to keep them “thinking”.

Nick and Pearl, our Eclectus Parrots, show off their enrichment items

Find Ashley, who is in charge of the Children’s Animal Center, or her intern Rachael and you can learn more about Einstein or find out how to know if you are looking at a boy turtle or a girl turtle. They might share some of their stories with you such as seeing Nick (an Eclectus Parrot) teasing Jack (a Moluccan Cockatoo) with a brazil nut, slowly eating it while holding it just out of reach from Jack’s claw in the next cage.

Bring your children or grandchildren and recall the first time you ever petted a goat, your experiences growing up on a farm, or the first trip you made to visit these animals at Fossil Rim. Now is a great time to make memorable moments that you can share for years to come.