Mandrills, Chimps, and (baby) Gorillas!

Mandrills, Chimps, and (baby) Gorillas! 

Hannah Simmons
2020
Portsmouth, Ohio     
LWOA Great Apes Intern
The Dallas Zoo

Hi guys! My name is Hannah Simmons and I spent my summer in Dallas, Texas.  I am back in Ohio now, but I can’t wait to tell you about my summer.  Spending 12 weeks in at the Dallas Zoo was an incredible opportunity for networking and making professional connections as well as learning about work as a keeper. 

I was an Intern in the Lower Wilds of Africa with the Primates/Great Apes department.  This department takes care of the chimpanzees, gorillas, and mandrills (which are actually monkeys and not apes, but were close enough geographically to the chimps and gorillas to be part of the department).  The keepers take care of three mandrills, two gorilla troupes (9 gorillas total), and a troupe of 9 chimps.  I spent most of my time with the gorillas, but got experience with day to day tasks in all the areas.  Most of a typical day is spent cleaning and prepping the diets for the next day, but the keepers take time every morning to train with all the animals and make sure everyone gets any vitamins or medication they might need.  All the animals (gorillas, chimps, and mandrills) work on body presentation behaviors.  This way, if an animal would ever have something that needed the vet’s attention, they know how to show the keeper and vet, and they know they will get a special treat.  Teenage boy gorillas like to roughhouse and play a lot, so these behaviors are extra important for them.  Spending time with the animals every morning builds a very strong relationship between the keeper and the animal.  Apes are dangerous, and as an intern, there was a lot that I could not do because of the safety risks and necessary training.  But to be able to see the relationship between the gorillas and the keepers up close every day was probably the most powerful thing about the internship.
It wasn’t just me that got to see the keeper’s relationship with the animals.  Every day there would be a keeper talk at the gorillas and at the chimps, with training demonstrations on the weekends.   As an intern, I would switch off between tossing the gorillas their mid-day fruit and actually giving the keeper talks!  Answering questions that the public might have and being able to interpret the gorilla’s behavior was an incredible experience, and it also allowed me to watch the animals and just have fun with the guests and the gorillas. 


Out of all the things that happened this summer, there was one thing that stood out above everything else; there was a baby gorilla born in June!!  Her name is Saambili, and she is the first gorilla born at the Dallas Zoo in over 20 years!  Being the intern, I was able to observe keeper tasks both during and after pregnancy, such as ultrasounds and monitoring the baby right after birth.  By the end of her pregnancy, Hope the gorilla was so good at ultrasounds, she probably could have done them herself!
                             
That’s all for this entry!  Check out my other entry to hear about some of the other animals I got to work with this summer!