The other zoo project is the creation of Team Koolookamba. All of its members are freshmen: Sarah Frazier, Adam McMullen, Andrew Markham, Joseph Mapula and Calvin Tsay. Allison Garza, a junior mechanical engineering student, was the team's apprentice leader.
Their challenge was to design a feeder for giraffes that is safe and prevents the animals from consuming the hay it contains too quickly.
"They already feed the giraffes things like yams and fruit, and up till now they've been putting the hay in cargo-net feeders," Frazier said. "The animals get their horns stuck in the net, and they eat the hay too fast."
Using plastic pipe, the team made a barrel-like cylinder about 4 feet long and cut 3-inch circular holes into it. Filled, the barrel device holds about 7,500 cubic inches of hay. Giraffes use their tongues to grasp their food, and the small holes prevent them from quickly emptying the contents. The feeders are suspended 10 to 13 feet above the ground by winches attached to a wooden pole.
A team of Rice University freshmen have built a unique giraffe feeder in cooperation with the Houston Zoo. The feeder keeps giraffes from eating too quickly by making it more challenging for them.
(Photo Credit: Brandon Martin/Rice University)
"The students worked hard on a design that met the goals of challenging the giraffes to work to get their food from the feeder and making it convenient for the keepers to get the food into it," said John Register, the zoo's hoofed stock supervisor. "They did several prototypes and tested them on our giraffe herd. We're happy with the final design and plan to use it."
Rice University students work on the feeder built for giraffes at the Houston Zoo. The hanging feeder will keep giraffes from eating too quickly.
(Photo Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)
Rice University student Greta Shwachman tightens the screws on a maze bound for the Houston Zoo, where orangutans will have to solve the puzzle for treats.
(Photo Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)
Source: Rice University