Name: Allison
Gould
Class Year: 2021
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
Internship: Elephant and Conservation
Learning Center Intern
Location: Reid Park Zoo in Tucson, AZ
Hello from sunny (and
hot) Arizona. I am about halfway through my 10-week internship at the Reid
Park Zoo. Moving to the Arizona climate for the summer has sure been an
adjustment from Pennsylvania and Ohio, as it is normal to have 103ºF and higher
days here. The Reid Park Zoo is a small, AZA-accredited facility, specializing
in giant anteater, tamandua (lesser anteater), and African elephant breeding
and conservation programs. Everyone I have met at the Reid Park Zoo has been
incredibly friendly and helpful as I have learned my way around the zoo.
For the first few weeks
of my internship, I primarily worked in the zoo’s Conservation Learning Center,
or CLC area, with keeper Katie Hutchinson. This area consists of the “Bird Run”
and the CLC building. The Bird Run houses birds that have been taken off
exhibit for a number of reasons or those that are under veterinary care. There
are macaws, blue-crowned pigeons, a peacock, a great horned owl, and
guineafowl. Also in the Bird Run are three tamandua, which are arboreal anteaters
from South America. I had not heard of or known about tamandua prior to my
internship, but I have loved getting to learn about them. In the Bird Run, my
duties include preparing and dispersing diets, changing waters, cleaning
enclosures, getting daily weights on the macaws, and providing enrichment items
to the animals. With every day comes new projects that need to be completed.
Some days we work on replacing perching or substrates, do extra training
sessions, or complete additional cleaning and maintenance of the area. So far,
my favorite extra project has been “painting” with one of the tamandua.
While this project was a form of enrichment for the tamandua, it was also very enriching
for me and Katie!
Xochi the tamandua finding wax worms as she “paints.”
Xochi’s claw and nose prints on a small canvas.
Another one of my
favorite parts of my internship has been getting to work with Nimbus the great
horned owl. He is a two-year-old rescued owl that is now an ambassador animal. For
the past few weeks, I have been working with Nimbus to get him more comfortable
both with being around new people and with being on a glove. I practice jessing
him and keeping him on a glove as often as I can. The hope is that he will
eventually be able to voluntarily fly to a glove. I have also gotten to assist
in his regular nail and beak trims and an anklet replacement.
A
wide-eyed Nimbus clutches his mouse.
One
of my greatly enjoyed feeding sessions with Nimbus.
Around my third week as an intern, I started helping in
the elephant barn. The Reid Park Zoo currently houses five elephants. As an
intern, I do not work directly with the elephants; the keepers are responsible
for all the care of the elephants. My main duties at the elephant barn are
those of cleaning: morning cleaning of the two-yard habitat, three paddocks,
and three barn stalls; cleaning tools and carts; sweeping keeper areas; raking
areas outside the barn. I have also gotten to make popsicles for the elephants
to help keep them cool during the intensely hot summer months. Another one of
the main responsibilities of the staff and interns is to collect, sort, and set
out browse for the elephants (which together require about a truckload of tree
branches every day!). To do this, browse is either dropped off at the zoo by
various partners or must be collected by staff and interns on a “browse run.” I
have gone a few times with the keepers to local parks where we pick up branches,
usually mesquite, that have already been cut or where we trim the trees
ourselves (which I quickly learned is a great workout). Once the browse is
gathered, it must be sorted and checked for thorns and any toxic plants that may
have accidently gotten mixed in. At the end of each day, the elephants are
shifted inside as we do a “drop” in the habitat, meaning that we drive carts
filled with browse through the enclosure and throw branches off the back, which
is actually quite fun.
As I mentioned, I do not work hands-on with the elephants.
However, I have been able to watch many training sessions and animal shiftings.
All training is done using positive reinforcement techniques, meaning that all
training is both voluntary and highly rewarding for the animals. For the most
part, the behaviors that the elephants are trained to exhibit are important for
completing daily health checks, meaning that by participating in the training
sessions, the elephants are playing a role in their own health husbandry. I have
also had the opportunities to see a radiograph done on one of the elephant’s
tusks (on my very first day), have answered questions from the public while the
keepers are involved in training sessions, and watched the elephants splash in
their habitat pool.
The
Elephant Team and I enjoying a well-deserved rainy day.
As an intern, I have been
passed around to many different keepers within the zoo, basically to anyone
that needs help for the day or just for the afternoon. With this, I have been
engaging in great conversations and learning immensely about different animals,
husbandry techniques, and the general management of a zoo. I can’t wait to see
what the last few weeks of my internship holds and what else I will learn!
