Time Away From the Giants

Time away from the giants

Amanda Sibert
Class of 2019
Harrisburg, PA
Elephant care team intern ( at the Conservation Learning Center)
Reid Park Zoo, Tucson, Arizona

While the majority of my internship at Reid Park Zoo was spent with the elephant care team, there were a couple of days that I was able to work alongside some other staff members within the education department and their ambassador animals. 

During these days, I was able to help prepare diets, clean enclosures, observe and help with training; all while learning about a variety of species in Reid Park’s collection. Some of these include macaws, tamandua, ferrets, fennec fox, armadillo, a variety of reptiles, and three 7 month old alligators. A couple of times, I was able to observe animal encounters with the zoo’s summer camp and hear how the educators present various animals and tie conservation and facts together to create a great presentation to a wide age range of kids. One of the talks that I got to observe a few times was the alligator. Because the zoo recently received the three babies and a 9 foot alligator on exhibit, handling and talking about these apex predators is new for the staff. I had the opportunity to watch a staff member be trained on handling and using the gators for programs as well as learning how to handle them myself. This experience was very beneficial because I got to learn how a facility creates protocol for new animals in their collection. I also had the chance to help target train the tamandua and get them used to different people training them. These few days in education were very different than my time with the elephant team, but gave me the opportunity to see how different parts of the zoo are run and managed. 

Outside of my scheduled 5 days a week, I was able to help with Summer Safari Nights. These special evening events are themed throughout the summer and allow guests to experience the zoo as the sun is setting. One of the times that I volunteered, I helped zoo guests create enrichment items for some of the birds on and off habitat. Every guest I encountered was so excited to be able to create something for the animals that they see every time they visit. The other time that I volunteered, I was able to assist some keepers with goat encounters. The goat herd at the zoo is one of the newer editions and this was the first time that the encounters were happening. These few evenings of volunteering were so enjoyable and allowed me to interact with some of the guests and see how excited they were to be at the zoo.

A Summer in the Desert

A summer in the desert

Amanda Sibert
Class of 2019
Harrisburg, PA
Elephant care team intern
Reid Park Zoo, Tucson, Arizona

Over the past 10 weeks, I had the opportunity of a lifetime interning at the Reid Park Zoo, primarily with the elephant team. Working five days a week from 6am to 3pm never have been as wonderful as they have been with this team. Since my first day, every one of them were inviting, knowledgeable, and helped me adjust to being across the country in the dry heat of Arizona. 

Days would consist of cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning. Don’t get me wrong, this may seem daunting, but this internship truly showed what an elephant care taker does on a daily basis. Starting the day, I would gather hay wheel barrels for the herd while the elephants would be shifted into the barn so the team could clean the yards. As one of the interns with the team, my raking and shoveling skills skyrocketed and I have definitely gained some upper body strength. Once the two yards were cleaned, each elephant received a health check. Being able to observe these health checks, foot work, and training was incredible to see the bond between pachyderm and trainer. While this may seem routine, every day was different for the team and the elephants, to keep everyone on their toes and change up training sessions. With watching so much training, you have the opportunity to witness the bonds the team has with the herd and you can’t help but smile and know that they all truly enjoy what they do for a living. Reid Park’s elephant team uses positive reinforcement training and bridges with a whistle, similar to some marine mammal training. Over my 10 weeks here, I have learned how important timing is when training, and each staff member has shared countless experiences, knowledge, and advice to me about training and what I can take with me in my future career.

Throughout the day, various types of training sessions are done with the elephants and various team members. Short training sessions along different sections of the habitat, shower sessions to cool the herd off and so much more are included in training. These training activities allow a change in pace and routine for the day and help the elephants become comfortable with actions that are useful for their vet checks and daily health. Along with the training, some days the team needs browse for the elephants. Browse, tree limbs and branches, is one of the largest components of the herds’ diet. I will sometimes get to tag along and help pick up or cut browse at surrounding parks and establishments that donate to the zoo. When it comes to food for the herd, there are many ways to present and prepare their diets. Whether it is creating unique ways of presenting their food in popsicles or nets to promote foraging, or even hanging food and putting some in pellet balls to promote activity and patience to receive their food; the team tries to change things up for the herd. Enrichment is another key aspect to stimulate species specific behavior within zoos. The many ways of presenting food just touches the surface of all of the enrichment that is used. For Reid Park’s elephant team, they are constantly thinking of new and exciting projects to work on for the herd. During my time at with the team, they have created firehose braids, hay nets and so much more that the elephants enjoy whenever these novel items are presented to them.

This summer will be one to remember for the rest of my life. I have learned so much about the field I want to pursue a career in along with learning so much about myself, met some pretty incredible people, and have had gained experiences that will help me grow in the future. Through the 100 degree weather, constant sunshine, the start of monsoon season, and the always gorgeous view of being surrounded by mountains, Tucson and Reid Park Zoo have given me an experience I will never forget.

My Last 5 weeks at the Dallas Zoo

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.