Name: Amber Pitsenberger
Class Year: 2019
Hometown: Danville, OH
Internship: Behavior and
Large Mammal
Location: Toledo, OH
Hello everyone! My name
is Amber Pitsenberger and I will be a junior in the fall. This summer I have
the amazing opportunity to intern at the Toledo Zoo in two separate
departments. In the mornings, I spend my day in the large mammal
department and in the afternoons I am with the behavior department. For this
blog, I will be only discussing what I do in the mornings with the large mammal
department.
 |
|
Standing
in front of the hippos statues near the Tembo Trail
|
Throughout the week I
work with two separate keepers who work in the large mammal area known as the
Tembo Trail. This is where many of the large African mammals are located. On
Mondays and Wednesdays, I spend the morning with Trudy the keeper responsible for
the brown bear-snow leopard-tiger-dingo-and sloth bear sections of the Tembo
Trail. I meet Trudy over at brown bears where Montana and Kodi, the two brown
bears, and Dodge, the Kodiak bear, live. I help make their enrichment and place
it in their outdoor enclosure. Enrichment is any item or activity used to
enhance the quality of life of the animals living at the Toledo Zoo. It is used
to help encourage natural behaviors. Recently, the bears were given a new pool and they can often be
found swimming in it while enjoying their enrichment. They are a lot of fun to
watch and seem to attract a lot of visitors especially when they play around in
the pool.
 |
|
Dodge
playing in the pool located in the brown bear enclosure.
|
After the brown bears
are on exhibit, Trudy and I head over to the tigers and then to the snow
leopards. First, we drain and clean the tigers' pool and wash the windows.
After that, we place their enrichment in their enclosure. I enjoy hiding their
enrichment in the barrels they have in their enclosure or in one of their trees
because it takes the tigers a little longer to find their enrichment. Once we
let the tigers out, we go over to the snow leopards and clean their enclosure
and hide their enrichment as well.
When we have finish with
the big cats, we head over to the sloth bear enclosure. We say hello to the
dingoes Indigo and Tawny as we pass since they are usually outside already when
I arrive. Kara is currently the sloth bear that lives at the Toledo Zoo. I love
hanging out with Kara because she is really cool to watch. Trudy and I clean
her outdoor enclosure and then we hide her enrichment in the hollow logs and on
her climbing structures. In the wild, Sloth bears eat a lot of termites and
ants which requires the sloth bears to use their claws and tongue in order to
get their food. A lot of times Kara's enrichment will come in special feeders
that encourage Kara to use her claws and tongue. There are also hollow longs
inside her enclosure that we can hide her enrichment in as well. After her
enrichment is eaten, you can often find Kara sitting by the windows where the
public can interact with her or sleeping under the shade of one of the bushes
in her enclosure. After all of the animals are outside, Trudy and I get to work
cleaning the animals' indoor homes. There is a lot to clean but with two people
it doesn't take too long.
 |
|
Kara
the sloth bear interacting with visitors.
|
On Tuesdays, Thursdays,
and Fridays, I work with Robin the hippo-meerkat- and rhino keeper. My mornings
usually start off by meeting Robin at the "Hippoquarium" where the
zoo's two hippos, Herbie and Emma, live. After preparing the hippos' diets,
Robin and I go out into the outdoor enclosure and clean allowing Herbie and
Emma some time to eat. Once they are done eating, Robin and I clean and inspect
their teeth and then send them outside to their large outdoor pool. One of my
favorite parts of working with the hippos is the rooftop feeds we do. We cut up
fruit and veggies for the hippos and then make our way to the rooftop to toss
the food into the outdoor pool. A lot of times Emma and Herbie will swim below
us and wait for us to drop their favorite treats in. It's a neat experience and
the guests always seem to enjoy watching Herbie smash a watermelon up.
After we say goodbye to
Herbie and Emma, Robin and I head over to rhino holding where Sam the white
rhinoceros lives. We give Sam a shower every few days and then we help
exfoliate Sam's skin by asking him to walk inside a training chute so that we
can brush him. Robin also checks Sam's feet, ears and horn and then we apply
fly repellent to him. Once we are finished, we send Sam out into the rhino yard
for the rest of the day.
 |
|
Sam
the White Rhino
|
Our last stop is at
meerkats. Currently, there are twelve meerkats that live at the Toledo Zoo. We
have two males that live together in one enclosure and a family of ten meerkats
that live in another. It is a lot of fun to watch the meerkats play around. They
are expert diggers and enjoy making tunnels in the sand in their enclosure. At
the meerkats, I help Robin prepare their diets and refresh their water. We also
make and put out the enrichment for the meerkats. One of their favorite snacks
is mealworms and it's fun watching the meerkats figure out how to manipulate
their enrichment to get their favorite treat.
That is how I spend my
mornings at the Toledo Zoo. I have a lot of fun doing it and I enjoy the
amazing experience that I am getting. Robin and Trudy are really amazing and I
can't thank them enough for the things that they are teaching me. It's really a
great experience and I am enjoying every minute of it.
