Life at Reid Park Zoo

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


I am well past the midpoint of my time here at Reid Park Zoo, and I cannot believe how fast time has gone by. In our Zoo classes at Otterbein, we talk a lot about enrichment. I think I have truly come to understand how important enrichment is for zoos through this internship. I work on enrichment based projects every day. It has been great to be able to broaden my knowledge on enrichment and enrichment for specific animals and behaviors. 

Early morning swims in the pool

About four weeks ago I switched over to being solely an Elephant Barn Intern, but not before I had some more great experiences and learning moments at the andean bear/tapir/anteater area. I started out this internship by just observing the andean bears, but slowly I was able to see more of the husbandry side. I also go to learn about anteater and tapir husbandry. Which includes a lot of cleaning, creating diets, cutting browse, and deciding on enrichment. I have lots of fun hiding and spreading various foods and scents around the habitats. Both the andean bears and anteaters love honey.

While working at andean bear one day, I saw that there was a dead black crowned night heron in the moat. When the care staff went down to check it out, there was also another live juvenile night heron and a mother duck with her eggs! They ended up giving me the juvenile night heron to take to the health center because he was dehydrated and starving. My Ohio Wildlife Center knowledge came in handy when figuring out the best way to carry him! They are extremely loud though when they are stressed, so I tried to calm it down as much as possible. He ended up recovering fine.

Making target sticks.

I had some down time once to create some target sticks. I made them out of PVC pipe and small buoys. I cut the PVC pipe into various lengths and then hot glued a small buoy to the end. There were three colors of buoys, red, white, an yellow, and each animal responds to certain colors differently. The length of the PVC also varies on what animal the target stick is for. For example, the anteater gets a long target stick, whereas the lions get a short target stick. These target sticks are used for training.

Lion King paper enrichment!
Not pictured: painted balls and cubes with pellets inside 

Sometimes in the afternoons when I was at andean bear, I got to experience some of the lion husbandry as well. One specific afternoon I got to watch the care staff give SQ fluids to the male lion, Shombay. He gets a whole 3000 ml of SQ fluids. They use a large water basin to create a sort of 'stall' to help him stay laying down against the mesh. Then, one of the staff feeds him while the other gives the fluids. It was an amazing experience. It would take me a while to get used to being around lions. Their size always takes me by surprise and they are so fierce.

I love creating enrichment for the elephants. Most of it is food based, but I enjoy the challenge of trying to create more sensory based enrichment. The elephants can also get essential oils, so they are a helpful non-food tool. I use a lot of boxes and paper bags when creating elephant enrichment. I also like to use hay cubes and balls. I have been able to help turn an old water drum into a complex elephant feeder, by inserting firehose on the inside in a crisscross fashion. Firehose is also a helpful enrichment tool. I enjoy making 'burritos' for the elephants too. It consists of me adding bran, veggies/fruit, and pellets to a paper bag and then folding it up. I like to hide them around the stalls. I also created special breakfast enrichment for Sundzu, Mabu, and Lungile. I was able to observe them in the morning when eating breakfast, and mark down on a chart how well they used it and what behaviors it was creating. All of them turned out to be successful! We also create enrichment for specific events! For the 4th of July we created colored sand to put out, and we also created Lion King themed enrichment for when the movie came out. In the theater here, they showed videos of the Reid Park Zoo lions before the movie.

On a browse run for the elephants!
We go to local parks to cut browse. In this load we have
mesquite and pistache. 

Recently I have been able to do some more diverse elephant things. I was able to participate in a meet and greet with Sundzu, where I was able to feel the velvet softness and the prominent veins on the back of his ear. I have been able to toss burritos to a couple elephants, and I have also been able to use a hose to give water to Mabu and Sundzu! I have also been able to lock and close certain doors by myself which is a big responsibility.

I am so thankful for all the wonderful experiences I am having and all the people and animals I have met.