Delaney Lyons
2020
Powell, Ohio
Records/Nutrition Intern
The Dallas Zoo
In my last five weeks in
Dallas, TX I was in the nutrition department. During my time in the nutrition
department I got to do so many fun things! My main job was to prepare diets for
all of the animals in the Dallas zoo and the aquarium in Fairpark. Another part
of my job included making cakes for special events for the animals. While I was
there we made a cake shaped like a bunny out of powdered milk, food coloring,
and water for our cheetah and his Labrador retriever companion. We also made a
cake for, Twelve, a Galapagos tortoise that I got to work with in the hospital.
This healthy tortoise was returned to his herd after a long hospital stay. His
cake was made out of carrots, melons, kale, water, and food coloring.
One of my favorite things that the zoo recently started
was allow the public to feed the Galapagos tortoises. Personally this was a
very memorable experience for me and I am glad I was able to share this
experience with guests. After I finished feeding the tortoise a little boy who
was also feeding them turned to his dad and said “I cannot wait to tell mommy
what I got to feed today!”
One my favorite parts about
working in the nutrition center was talking to the nutritionist Kerri Slifka.
The Dallas Zoo is one of 14 zoos in the U. S. that have a full-time
nutritionist on staff. Kerri is responsible for formulating diets for all of
the animals in the zoo and the aquarium. In addition to formulating diets she
is also responsible for body condition scoring all of the animals at the
zoo. Since I was Kerri’s intern I was
able to go and body condition score elephants, tigers, cheetahs, lions,
tamanduas, kunekune pigs, goats, sheep, and penguins with her. She made it her
priority to explain everything. She gave
us helpful handouts so we could accurately identify and give individual animals
a body condition score. 
One thing that I found very helpful was that the Dallas
Zoo’s internship program offered professional development classes to help
interns learn about zoo jobs and general things about the zoo. I attended
classes on ZIMS, animal behavior, zoo history, exhibit design, research,
veterinary care, national parks, and animal training. A lot of this information
I could take and use in my internship. For example, I went to a class on animal
training and the next day I got to see this training in action on the hippos.
Keepers were able to call both of the hippos up to the glass, open their
mouths, and touch the glass. I was very proud of how dedicated the Dallas Zoo
keepers were in training these animals.
While in the nutrition department I was
very privalged to oversee other departments. We were able to get behind the
scenes tours of the reptile, big cat, elephants, wild encounter stage, and the
childrens zoo. In addition to these tours I also got to spend a day as a
primate keeper intern. During this day I cleaned the gorilla enclosure,
observed training sessions, and got to toss fruit to the mandrills and
gorillas. While I was the primate keeper intern I learned what it was like to
be a keeper and all of their responsibilities.
Outside of
the zoo I got to have very memorable experiences. I was able to share these
experiences with the other wonderful interns who I became friends with at the
zoo. Some of these experiences included going to the Fort Worth Zoo, going to a
drive-through safari wildlife center, going to a farmers market, and watching a
movie at the Alamo. In addition, I went to a fundraiser called Bowling for Rhinos
that the AZK - Dallas Chapter put together. We were able to bowl, play mini
golf, and rock climb all while giving back to conservation. I am finally back in Ohio and reflecting back on my internship. I had a great time! I got to meet so many individals and make life long connections. Although it is bitter sweet coming back to Ohio, I am so excited to start my junior year of college.
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