Lions and Tigers and Cologne, Oh My ... What a Smell

June 19, 2006 — -- Just as you may have a preference of cologne, so do the animals at the Naples Zoo in Naples, Fla.

For the tigers, it's Obsession by Calvin Klein; the African wild dogs, Angel by Thierry Mugler. Both colognes cost between $30 and $40.

Scents are commonly used at the zoo to stimulate the animals.

For Father's Day, the zoo put out a "Call for Cologne." This weekend and today, fathers who brought in bottles of cologne received free admission to the zoo.

The scents aren't used to help make the zoo smell better but rather as a source of enrichment for the animals, said Denise Rendina, a zoo spokeswoman.

"Our animals are in a situation where they don't have to use all their senses to their full degree because their food is provided for them," she said.

The scents are placed on a log, leaf or even a toy. The idea is to get the animals to react to the scents.

"Sometimes they ignore it, and sometimes they get really excited," Rendina said.

She says you can tell the animals recognize and react to the smell by their change in behavior.

"They are moving a little bit faster. They are really searching out the area, and they may try to mark that area," she said.

Another source of animal enrichment includes hiding some of their food. That forces the animals to seek out food using their senses, to create an atmosphere more like being in the wild.

The cologne collected this week will be used in the zoo's "Meet the Keeper" events, where zoo workers will explain and highlight the enrichment activities to the zoo guests.

More than 50 bottles of cologne had been collected as of this afternoon.