Do you have any daily rituals that you participate in? Think about any patterns in your behavior around mealtime or bedtime, or even when you first wake up?

Those of you that have visited the Minnesota Zoo may be familiar with our three brown bears, located along our Russia’s Grizzly Coast trail. The three bears are named Kenai, Sadie, and Haines. Something you may not know is that every evening the zookeepers transition the bears into a behind the scenes habitat by placing out three piles of dog food with some produce (like carrots and lettuce) scattered around.

The zookeepers have shared that Kenai loves oranges so he goes looking for oranges. He then puts as many as he can into his mouth, which is often about four oranges! Kenai then walks to a pile of dog food and buries his oranges in the middle of the dog food, and then takes a few bites of the dog food. Once he has finished this part of his routine, he then sticks one of his claws in the oranges to open them up and suck out the juice. He continues with a bite of dog food, then orange, dog food, then orange!

Unlike Kenai, Sadie likes to take as much lettuce as she can for herself! Finally, Haines likes the carrots best!

How about you, do you share any similarities with the Minnesota Zoo’s brown bears? Do you like orange juice or carrots? Do you like to move your food around on your plate before you eat it? What stories do you have about you or your family’s daily routines?

The Minnesota Zoo would love to see examples of how you used this activity at home! Please share pictures or comments via email at [email protected], and take less than 5 minutes of time to provide us feedback by completing this short survey.