Savannah Kerns
Class of 2021
Lakeview, OH
Elephant and Andean Bear Intern
Reid Park Zoo, Tucson, AZ



Tomorrow will mark two weeks of me being in Tucson, Arizona. Tucson, Arizona! I'm still trying to wrap my mind around being here. Tucson is so much more beautiful and inviting than I would have thought. It is the complete opposite of Ohio. Though I will definitely miss the lush greenery of Ohio, the mountains and national parks of Tucson and Arizona excite me.

Catalina Foothills,
checking wildlife cameras my second day in Tucson
with Sam, grizzly bear keeper

I arrived in Tucson on Friday, May 31st, 2019. My housemate Mara, a former Otterbein grad and elephant caretaker, was so welcoming. I started my internship at the Reid Park Zoo two days later. My first day I got up bright and early at 5am. I was with the elephant care team which starts at 6am. At this point,  I was still pretty unsure of how my weekly schedule was going to be laid out, but I am good at going with the flow. By the time we took our morning break (around 9), I couldn't wait to write down all that I had learned so far. I had already gotten know so much about or five elephants, Mabu, Lungile, Semba, Sundzu, and Nandi. We started out our morning with a short meeting, and instead of being partnered with Mara, I was partnered with another awesome elephant keeper named Michelle. After the meeting, we started cleaning, washing drinkers, scooping up hay/poop, and picking up stripped branches. I also learned about the elephants diets, which consists mostly of 3 different types of hay; alfalfa, timothy, and bermuda. They also get pellets, cucumbers, carrots, and sometimes fruit during trainings. Reid Park Zoo uses positive reinforcement training, and I been lucky to see it in action. The positive reinforcement training uses a primary and secondary reinforcer. I also learned about LRS which a 3 second, neutral pause if an animal does not do the action asked of them. The elephant keepers use positive reinforcement training mainly to prepare the elephants for medical procedures. I got to see a training session with our largest male elephant, Mabu. They were running through commands which involved him putting his feet, side, ears, mouth, and trunk to the barrier so the keepers could do assessments. I enjoy watching these trainings, and when they give the elephants meds or clean wounds.

My first day, I also did a browse run. This is when we collect foliage for the elephants to eat. We go out and saw and lop browse from trees such as pistache, mulberry, mesquite, and sumac. Browse runs are definitely a workout, but it is a nice way to pass the time. This particular day, we wanted to get more mulberry because it is easy to digest and Nandi, our youngest female elephants, was have some stomach issues.

Research Materials
Operational definitions, ethogram, and notebook

My second day was very similar, except no browse run! Everyone was so excited about that. On my third day, I left the elephant care team and went with Rebecca and Stephanie to learn about the zoo's welfare policies and assessment procedures. I was then taken down to the andean bears, Oja and Worf. I watched them for four hours and got to interact with guests.  I also got to feed an anteater some avocado, which was very interesting and odd. Their mouths are the size of a coin slot so he was having a bit of a challenge licking the avocado off my hand. I also realized that their saliva is sticky.

On my fourth day I created operational definitions, an ethogram, and a map of zones using my zoo notebook from freshman year as a reference. I will use these to study Oja and Worf's behaviors. Oja, our 5 year old female, only came onto the habitat in April so she is still trying to get used to it and also to Worf, our 26 year old male. They are starting to exhibit a lot of mating behaviors such as yelling and swatting at each other, and Worf is pacing and marking areas in the habitat. It is really funny to watch them interact, and we think they may mate soon. Hopefully I will be there study them when they do! I am using focal sampling and one-zero recording.

 Yesterday, I actually started using a program called Zoomonitor to record their behavior instead of my own homemade ethogram. It is an interesting technology, that I think is very helpful. I also got to see and help with the husbandry side of tapirs, anteaters, and the andean bears. Josh and I prepped  diets and then we started spot cleaning the tapirs' habitat. Josh called one of the tapirs named Tupi, a poop submarine, because they will poop in the water and then swim in it. I thought that term was hilarious. I have learned a lot about protective contact and also about the nighthouse procedures. I got to see some positive reinforcement training with Worf, he did so well! I also got to set up enrichment for the tapirs and the andean bears. I am hoping to also use my research to continue improving enrichment for the andean bears.

Laser technology for Worf's paw

My favorite thing so far was being able to watch a laser surgery on Worf's right paw that has a little cancer. Josh taught Worf to put his paw up on the barrier and Elaine, our vet tech, used laser surgery on it while Josh kept Worf busy with treats. We all had to wear these cool heavy duty glasses, because the light from the laser can blind you. I was so excited to see this procedure , and afterwards I got to feed Worf a piece of fig newton. He is so sweet and gentle.


While my internship at the Reid Park Zoo is going very well so far, I am also trying to get involved when I'm not interning. My coworkers, Michelle, Shelby, Megan, and I all went to Bath and Body Works semi annual sale, which they love and then we got ice cream at the Screamery. I am also going hiking with some coworkers!

Worf in his favorite pool chilling spot
The yellow floating is a piece
enrichment to put food on

I am excited for all that is to come.