It’s a Good Thing We’re Extroverts

Names: Rachel Wilson and Gabby McDonald 

Years: Classes of 2019 and 2020 

Hometowns: Zanesville, OH and Germantown, MD 

Internship: Veterinary Research Interns 

Location: National Zoological Gardens of South Africa, in Pretoria, South Africa 

Approximate time frame: May 14th - May 27th

You know when you were a kid and your mom told you to clean your room because you’re having guests over, and you’re just thinking “Why? Is the party in my room?” and then you’re grumpy and don’t want to have visitors? That was us on Monday morning, after Gabby had to move into Rachel’s room to make space for the five additional guests who would be staying in the house with us during week two (Bear with us for a minute, it gets better!). 

A resident Southern Ground-hornbill!

The zoo was hosting a Southern Ground-hornbill Workshop, with the intention of working out guidelines and regulations to help the South African government. It is important that everyone is on the same page when making decisions about the ground-hornbill, especially because they are considered vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN. But you knew that, right?). While many of the conference attendees stayed off-site, there were five who joined us here at the house. 

First, we met Tim around 5:00 pm, who'd been up since 4:00 am driving his motorcycle the entire way here. Then there was Alf, the funky barber from London who has traveled the world. Now, he basically has Gabby's dream job, doing field research. Rob from Cape Town enjoyed watching cricket and was kind enough to help us get our lights fixed after a night of chatting in the dark (with cricket on the TV of course). Arriving the next day were Evans, who was quite reserved but had amazing stories about the intelligence of elephants, and Merlyn, who was quite funny and has been to Pennsylvania (and hated all the fast food except for Subway). On Wednesday evening, Prof hosted a braai (like a barbeque), where we were introduced to many of the other conference attendees (spoiler: we met the lady who gave us new projects). What a great networking opportunity! 

The view from the zoo's cable car!

One morning we helped one of the vet nurses Sabbath, with vaccinations and sampling of the Southern Ground-hornbills. After hearing many stories from the professionals, it was exciting to get a closer look at them the very same week. They are extremely intelligent with individual personalities! We grew fond of our guests, learning a lot about the different opportunities and realities of field work. Despite our initial hesitance, when Friday rolled around, we were sad to see our guests leave. 

After spending the weekend dreaming of marrying a prince, the next week settled back into a routine. Tracy, the Director of Conservation (who Prof had introduced us to at the braai) gave us a couple of small projects regarding conservation efforts and welfare analysis at the zoo. Throughout the week we helped scribe for the health exams of two ring-tailed lemurs, a warthog, and even a lion-tailed macaque. We also helped weigh and move a group of baby tortoises to a new enclosure! 

The weekend brought a trip out of the zoo with Jamey to get food from a café, as well as tasty gelato. Things in Africa are a lot different than home, so it is taking a bit of adaptation. But, we are lucky enough to have met amazing people who are willing to show us the ropes! 

After we spent the day with Sabbath,
she brought us a giant avo from Limpopo!

Lunch with Jamey and Hasita! Forgive us for using straws, they were already in the glasses.

Pandas, Parks, and Plazas!

Names: Chelsey Butler and Catherine Jenkins
Class Year: 2019 and 2020
Hometown: Williamstown, WV and Proctorville, OH
Internship: Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
Location: Chengdu, Sichuan, China

Wow it's already week 5! We can't believe how fast it's gone by! The past two weeks we have been in the husbandry department working in the Sunshine Nursery and Delivery House. We have been working independently and along side the keepers preforming the daily husbandry tasks for the pandas. On a typical day, we start off the morning by cleaning the enclosures and scrubbing them down as well as bringing out each panda's daily diet which is a crate of bamboo. After cleaning the facility it is time to give the panda's their panda cake as well as the other specific supplements they need. We love watching the pandas eat the cake, they are very sure not to miss a single crumb! After the lunch break, we go back to the panda's enclosures and spot clean as well as cleaning the outdoor enclosures on some days. 

Some of the highlights of working in the husbandry department was seeing how blood draws were taken, touch training, feeding pandas the panda cakes, and distracting the four one year old cubs while the keepers cleaned the glass for the visitors. 

Lake at the Panda Base 

Even though a majority of our time is spent at the Base, on the weekends we like to go and explore Chengdu. Last weekend we went to the New Century Global Center which is the world's biggest building! The Global Center was five floors, and had an ice skating rink, a movie theatre, and a HUGE water park all inside! 

New Century Global Center

Water Park inside the Global Century 

   

Ice Rink 

We also visited IFS which is another shopping area that has a panda crawling up the side of the building!!! We ate at the Good Good Mexican Grill, that was suggested by a colleague at the Base.

Entrance into IFS 

It was indeed GOOD GOOD!  We compared this area to the Times Square because of the immense size. Then we went to People's Park and rented a power boat and drove to explore the small lake. Many people visit People's Park to play various card games and Mahjong tile game.

Good Good Mexican Grill

Boat Ride at People's Park

Huan Huxi Stream Park is one of the list visited parks of Chengdu but not for a lack of beauty. It is right next to the Du Fu Thatched Cottage and includes many of the poets works. In the center of the park there was a huge lake where many of the locals played with squirt guns as well as wrote symbols on the sidewalk with water. Across the lake you could see what is known as Eagret Island where various birds perched to rest.