Pandas and Wolves, and Owls, Oh My!
Teaching Empathy at the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo
By Tara Kelly

How does a chinchilla take a bath? Keep reading—or better yet, pay a visit to the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo at the Millbrook School. While well-known and highly respected in conservation circles, and a valued resource for area educators (a fieldt rip to the zoo is routinely on school calendars), it still feels like a well-kept secret for the general population.

Home to 75 species, from every continent except for Antarctica, the zoo is an oasis of calm—unless you happen upon the black-and-white-ruffed lemurs having a high-volume exchange with the red-ruffed lemur in the adjacent enclosure. Communication. It’s a wonderful teaching moment for moms and dads with toddlers in tow.

Teaching is what the zoo is all about. Frank Trevor was a biology teacher at the Millbrook School in 1936. He felt strongly that students would learn better from hands-on experience than from a textbook. Basically, the Millbrook Zoo was built to be a classroom, and it continues to function that way today. The school offers its students multiple ways and programs to spend time at the zoo.

It was recently renamed the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo, in honor of Dr. Thomas Lovejoy III, a world-famous conservation biologist. It was he who coined the term “biodiversity.” He was a student of Frank Trevor, and his attachment to Trevor, the zoo, and the Millbrook School continued throughout his life.

The opportunity to learn in an outdoor classroom is open to the public as well. Focused on conservation and stewardship, Alan Tousignant, director of the zoo, says it all comes down to teaching empathy. Spending time with the animals and observing them is an essential step in that process.

The zoo is home to nine endangered species, including the American Red Wolf. There are only 230 American Red Wolves in North America, with only 20 in the wild. The Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo has a mom with a litter of four pups, some of which may eventually be introduced into the wild. These pups will get a minimum of handling, so they don’t become acclimated to humans. The breeding program is one of the ways the zoo supports conservation.

Every time you go you will see different animals, depending on the time of day, season, and weather. Some animals like to hang outside, some seek shelter indoors, some are more active in the morning, some only come out to play after lunch. Do you know what a binturong is? (It looks kind of like Chewbacca.) How about a Reeve’s Muntjac or Guanacos? When you go, check them out.

By the way, a chinchilla, whose natural habitat is the high-altitude desert of Chile, likes to take a dust bath. They have very dense fur, and if it gets wet, it cannot adequately dry. The dust keeps their coat healthy by absorbing excess moisture.

The zoo is open every day of the year. millbrook.org/plan-your-visit/hours-and-admission