This is true! The zoo where I volunteer (the illustrious Columbus Zoo & Aquarium) was one of the pioneers of this program.
Our zoo is known for raising cheetah cubs. Cheetahs have a terrible infant mortality rate and cubs are often rejected, so we get a lot of cubs to raise from all over the country (other zoos and sanctuaries, mostly).
The cubs are placed with a puppy friend when they are wee and small, so they grow up together like littermates. They play together, wrestle, and the dogs (yellow Labs) are so calm, friendly and well-socialized that the cheetahs take behavioral cues from them. When they meet new people, or go into new situations (which they often do, as ambassador animals for cheetah conservation), they check out if their dog friend is feeling chill - which he is - and then they know it’s okay for them to be chill, too.
Basically the dog is a service animal for them.
The cats need their dog friends less and less as they get older and more comfortable, but they still often hang out as grownups.
Our zoo does cheetah runs, where the cheetahs get to chase a lure and show off their speed. Often they’ll have one of the cheetahs run (we have like twelve cheetah), and then they’ll have one of the dogs do the run to show how much faster the cats are. People get a kick out of that. The dogs…let’s just say they try their best.
hey jsyk while hellofresh is dummy expensive and i wouldn’t reccomend it if you already know how to cook (if you’re a beginner like i was when i had it for 3 months, then it’s worth it), you should know that ALL OF THEIR RECIPES are free on their website and they all fuck hard
i will say that all the cooking instructions for veggies are pretty much the same (season with salt + pepper and roast on the top oven rack at 425F), but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
that being said, it also introduced me to methods i wasn’t at all expecting. i would have never thought to use cream cheese in my meat sauce, and now all my friends are constantly asking me to make my special rigatoni.
happy cheffin! :)
I am a person who uses Hello Fresh for realsies because it is a bit cheaper than groceries here and definitely cheaper than takeout, but we also remake the recipes when we want a specific one and don’t want to wait for it to come around in the rotation again, and therefore I know The Secret Translations of Proprietary Ingredients:
“Cream sauce base” = make a roux, add milk according to how much cream sauce base you’re supposed to have (ex: 4 oz cream sauce base = 4 oz milk)
“1 packet stock concentrate” = either one tablespoon Better than Bullion or, if you want to be really accurate, Savory Choice Broth Concentrate packets are available on Amazon and allegedly that’s what they use
“Italian Heat Spice”/“Blackening Spice”/“Fry Seasoning”/etc.: I promise you someone on Reddit has figured out what spices they use and in what proportions for each mix, if it’s not just a straight up branded mix (like McCormick Grill Mates Brown Sugar Bourbon spice mix)
“Roasted Garlic Herb Butter” (and other compound butters, like truffle butter) = they’re literally Epicurean branded butters, they do not hide this, you can buy them online
“Sweet Soy Glaze”/“Ponzu sauce”/“Hoisin sauce” = literally Kikkoman brand condiments: they don’t hide that, either
“Sweet Thai chili sauce” = any sweet Thai chili sauce from the grocery store will do. We use Blue Dragon or Taste of Thai because that’s what we can get in our grocery store.
