Final Days at Toledo Zoo

Haley Wasserman

Year: Senior

Hometown: Medina, OH

Internship: Avian care

Location: The Toledo Zoo and Aquarium

I have so many good memories to reflect on as my internship draws to a close. Since my last post, I have spent time working at the Zoo’s Avian Breeding Center. This building is home to Pink-neck Fruit Doves, Many colored Fruit Doves, Anna’s Hummingbirds and many other small bird species. My mornings consisted mostly of taking care of the brooder room. This room is home to an assortment of birds, including two Bali Mynahs, a Bird of Paradise, a House Finch and two Impeyan Pheasant chicks. Each morning I changed bedding for each bird, pulled dishes from the day before and prepared diets for that day.

Adult male Impeyan Pheasant

Once all of these birds were taken care of, I would move to the building’s back hallway and take care of several more birds, including Blue Crowned Hanging Parrots and a Yellow backed Chattering Lorikeet. Also in this hallway are an amazing collection of Many colored and Pink neck Fruit Doves and Hummingbirds which are in breeding pairs. I have to be as quiet as possible to minimize stress to these birds. The Zoo has an amazing success rate for offspring in these breeding programs. This is the only zoo in the United States to have Pink neck and Many colored Fruit Doves in captivity and it is a huge accomplishment to be so successful.

 

The zoo's display showing where in the world its in situ conservation is. Here are the Pink Necked and Many Colored Fruit Doves!

I have been lucky enough to watch the progress of a Cinereous Vulture chick as he grows under the careful care of his father. It is amazing how rapidly the chick has grown, it seems like every day when I come in he has more and more feathers! It is so fascinating to see how gentle and timid the father is with his chick. It is a tender side of vultures that people usually do not get to see.

 

For my final rotation, I am helping keepers in several exhibits around the Zoo. I start my mornings helping to clean outdoor yards for the Cassowaries. Sometimes if it is hot enough outside, I get to help give the female a good misting session with the hose. She loves it so much that she will lay down and wallow in the pool of mud and lift her wings to make sure you don’t miss any spots on her!

 

Once the Cassowaries are shifted to their outdoor yards and have their morning diets, I head over to the African Penguin exhibit, Penguin Beach. This is home to several arctic species of waterfowl and 24 African Penguins. I spend time power washing the outdoor exhibit and cleaning algae off of the viewing glass in places where it is submerged under water. Then, the penguins have a daily feeding at 10:30 a.m. each day, where they respond to the cue of a bell ringing and come to the keeper on exhibit to receive fish. The keepers stuff the fish with daily vitamins to ensure their dietary needs are met. The keeper takes a clipboard in with her and makes note of how many fish each penguin eats, and who still needs to take their vitamins. I love watching this in the mornings because all of the penguins have different personalities and it’s obvious when they are interacting with the keepers.

 

African Penguins

Some mornings, instead of staying at penguins once the exhibit is cleaned, I will head over to help another keeper with our Pheasantry exhibit. This area holds ten exhibits with various pheasants, Kiwis, Tawny Frogmouths, Kookaburras and Magpies. I help pull diets, clean dishes, get a head count on all birds and then replace food and water for the day.

Kookaburra

Tawny Frogmouths

I also help keepers with some of our seaduck and waterfowl exhibits. There is one large exhibit with American Flamingoes, White fronted Geese, Plovers, Pelicans, Mergansers and duck species. With the amazing amount of diversity in this exhibit, it is understandable that it requires a lot of daily attention. There is a large communal pool on exhibit, so some days of the week the keeper I am with has to drain or half-drain and refill the pool- which can take a long time because of how large it is!

Two posters I created for the Bird Department's keepers

The amount of variety on my final rotation is immense and it has helped me to get such a well-rounded experience. Working with so many different species has aided me in understanding how unique different types of birds are and how wildly their mannerisms can differ. I also loved getting a chance to work with all of the keepers in the bird department. Each has their own unique advice and knowledge that they were willing to share with me. I am so grateful for everything each and every person in the bird department has taught me this summer. It has solidified my decision to pursue a degree working with birds once I graduate, and it is so relieving to have validation about your career choices!

It's My Time to (c)leave(land)

Name: Holly Rundle

Class Year: 2020

Hometown: Medina, OH

Internship: Cleveland Metroparks Zoo

Location: Cleveland, OH

Hey it's me

Hello again! After spending my entire summer at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, my internship has sadly come to an end. My last month here has been full of meeting new people, testing my creativity and lots and lots of observations for my independent study.

             I was lucky enough to have been given the opportunity to meet and talk to all of the big guys here at the zoo. Including the executive zoo director, deputy zoo director, curators, veterinarians, registrar, training & enrichment specialist, zookeepers… you name them, I talked to them. During our meetings I got the chance to learn all about their jobs, their backgrounds, and get lots and lots of advice from them. Overall, it was a very eye-opening experience and also great for networking ;) I got to know one of the Curators, Tad, pretty well and he gave us a mini private tour underneath the depths of monkey island (their oldest exhibit to date at the zoo). And boy did that place seem haunted, as it's not being used anymore. However, it was cool to see how exhibit design has changed throughout the years.

My design for the display

             Working with Emily, the Conservation Engagement Specialist here at the Zoo, I have done many projects where I can bring out my creative side. Some projects entailed coming up with ideas on how to celebrate world animal days such as world giraffe day, lion day, turtle day, etc. I helped put together activities, signage and infographics for a variety of them. Another project I had was designing a display board in the public viewing area of the Steffee Center for Zoological Medicine. Here I put together messages about our 6 key conservation programs on what actions people can take to Make a Difference on their own.

A HUGE dragon lantern

The entrance to the Zoo

          The Zoo just recently opened a new exhibit called Asian Highlands, and to celebrate this new exhibit the zoo has put on a month long event called the Asian Lantern Festival. There are displays throughout the entire zoo and people can come every night from 6:30-10:00 to view them and also the animals. It has been a huge success and I went one night to experience it myself. There are shows featuring dancers, contortionists, acrobats and jugglers, and also a ton of vendors selling food and goods as well.

            Every so often we have one of our conservation field partners come to visit and I had the opportunity to meet a few of the leaders of the Education for Nature- Vietnam.  ENV’s main focus is combatting the illegal wildlife trade and also working closely with government partners to strengthen policy and legislation. I had lunch with these three leaders and I grew to appreciate all that they do, as their work there not only affects Vietnam, but the world as well.

Inside the Mandel Pavilion

            A big chunk of my time was spent doing behavioral observations for my independent study on the new Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Welcome Pavilion at the Zoo. I went out every single day at least once (sometimes twice) and did hour long observations watching how people used the pavilion. This experience really gave me a better idea on how to form a solid study, how to implement it, how to analyze the data found, and then finally how to present it. Doing this alone helped me grow and become independent, while also not being afraid to ask for help and advice from those all around me. After a month of observing the pavilion, I analyzed my thousands of data points and presented my findings to my department and some of the zoo staff as well.

            Overall, I am going to miss this place all too much. My favorite part was being able to bond with those I worked with and feeling like I was a part of the team. Every Friday we would all go out to lunch (usually to Ohio City Burrito) and would bond over stuffing our faces with burritos. This internship wasn't the typical animal keeper position that most people go for, it's more of the conservation, engagement and research side to things, which is the perfect fit for me, and it has strengthened my love for it all as well. I know I will be back for visits, as I appreciate all that they have done for me and for making this experience one where I learned and grew so much and will remember for years to come.

Nothing Com-parrot-s to You!

Names: Eileen Connon and Mallory Fox
Hometowns: Mandeville, LA and Harrison, OH
Internship: Cape Parrot Project Research Intern
Location: South Africa

Hello one last time from Eileen and Mallory! We've been back in the States for a while now but we have a few more updates that we thought you'd be interested in. Our last month in Hogsback was very busy but so, so fun. Practically every morning we were heading out to various field sites to observe parrots, and during the day we were taking turns working on call analysis and going out into the field for nest box surveys. So for instance, one morning Eileen would walk to the Arboretum, Mallory would walk to Oak Avenue, and Cassie would drive....somewhere... to count parrots flying over. Then, we would all meet up again in the office. Eileen would set up to work on the lexicon for Dr. Young's research and Mallory would pack up into the bakkie with Cassie to go survey nest boxes. The next day, we'd be at new observation sites in the morning, Mallory would work on recording analysis for Cassie, and Eileen would go out to do nest box surveys. 






 It was always fun to do morning observations but some mornings were harder than others! For instance, if we had to walk to a site in the middle of the forest, we'd have to head out super early and march through almost complete darkness. Or if it was in the negatives, we'd still have to go out and observe until our extremities were numb. Seriously, look at that photo- it SNOWED! Happy summer internship, are we right? It was still worth it though, because we got to watch these goofy parrots. Eileen sat right under a tree that they flew into one morning and got to watch them fly around and squawk. Mallory got to be witness to Cape parrot mating, something very few others have ever seen, and we all got to visit Baddaford Farm to see a flock of 50 or more juveniles playing, flying, and eating.
























One of the coolest things we got to experience was a day with students from the Claremont High School birding club in Cape Town. They were on a big birding excursion and they came to volunteer with the Cape Parrot Project after reaching out to Kate to see if they could help! With their creative eyes and hard work, we painted the whole aviary, which will hopefully be used in the future to rehabilitate injured birds for release. The students were super passionate about birding, so it was really awesome when a pair of Capes flew over and landed in a tree right above their heads. It was also a really cool experience for us to have a small cultural exchange with the kids; they were incredibly curious about America and more than willing to answer questions about South Africa. We sent them off after lots of pictures and promises to follow all of them back on Instagram!

Eventually, though, we did have to go home. It was hard to say goodbye to Hogsback, especially for Eileen, who's spent two summers in a row there, but we left with so many amazing memories, new skills, and lasting friendships.


BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

After getting back from South Africa, Eileen only had about a week at home before hopping right back on a plane to London (on purpose this time). She met Dr. Young, Dr. Esson, and Dr. Burk to head to Tring, England, to work on data collection for her honors thesis about parrot morphometics. It was a really fun week in one of the most amazing museums ever! Their ornithology collection takes up a whole additional building and we were lucky enough to meet several curators and learn about their work. We also made time to go check out the museum and its centuries-old collection. If you're ever in the area, it's definitely high recommendation from us!

Eileen, Dr. Young, and Dr. Esson at the SeaLife Aquarium
in London- thanks to Dr. Chris Andrews, Otterbein
friend, for the tickets!

The whole research crew at our usual bench at Tring!

Eileen taking measurements on a
specimen of Poicephalus gulielmi

Thanks for following our adventures this summer! We hope you enjoyed learning all about field work, and that we peaked your interest in the wonderful Otterbein Zoo and Conservation Science Program :)

My time at White Oak

Name: Madison MacElrevey
Class Year: Senior
Hometown: Lewes, Delaware
Internship: White Oak Conservation Center
Location: Yulee, Florida

Greetings from White Oak Conservation Center in Yulee, Florida. My name is Madison MacElrevey, and I am a senior Zoo and Conservation Science major. White Oak is located on the Florida-Georgia border, accessed by a seven-mile drive down a dirt road. I am living on site, which is very nice, at the Animal Science Building. Many of the other interns also live here, and it has been a lot of fun getting to know everyone. And, my neighbors are rhinos.  

I am interning in the East department at White Oak, which includes Dama Gazelle, Eastern Bongo, Gerenuk, Nile Lechwe, Lesser Kudu, Roan Antelope, Slender-horned Gazelle, Cape Buffalo, Okapi, Giraffe, and a Babirusa pig. It was a little overwhelming my first day, because I knew I would have to learn the routine for all of these animals. Luckily, the department splits up into three areas for the daily routines, including large antelope, small antelope, and Okapi-Giraffe. It took a few days for me to understand how to get around. All of the enclosures are very large, so the keepers drive between them when feeding and cleaning. While there is no such thing as an “average” day, a typical schedule begins with a morning meeting. I really like how the morning meetings at White Oak are conducted because the different sections get together to discuss tasks that were completed the day before and are to be completed that day. Then, we go out to check on all of the animals. We count them and look for any that are acting abnormally, far from the rest of the herd or are not walking normally. The rest of the morning usually includes cleaning and feeding the animals, along with any medical procedures or medications. In the afternoon, we collect browse from the property to give to the browsing animals, recount and walk the pens of animals that are expecting to give birth soon and complete tasks around the property. There is not a landscaping crew, so the keepers are responsible for things such as lawn mowing, picking up fallen limbs, and adding dirt to areas in pens that have washed away.   

Some limbs from a fallen tree in one of the enclosures

Using a leaf blower to clear the hay off the giraffe slab

Hannah (another intern) and I giving the giraffe their hay

On my first day, I assisted in applying a topical dewormer to the roan antelope. We had to first sort the roan to receive medication, and then get them into a chute to apply the liquid dewormer. Roan antelope are large and potentially dangerous. I slightly questioned what I had gotten myself into with this internship, but the staff are very helpful, know what they are doing, and always prioritize our safety first.

Since my experience with the roan, I have had the opportunity to assist in many other procedures that involved the restraint of animals. The blanket technique is often used here and includes walking towards the animal with a blanket held on the corners by two people and the other corners on the ground, this provides a visual "wall" to the animals. As you get closer, usually the animal will lay down. Then you cover it with the blanket, which allows it to feel more secure. I have used this technique on several of the gerenuk to give them copper, which is used as a dewormer, a kudu, to give her oral dietary supplements, and dama for regular check-up exams.

Cutting two days worth of produce for all of the giraffe, okapi, and babirusa

We also used this technique to restrain several animals for special procedures. One of the dama had tendons in her foot that the vets and keepers believed were very weak, which was causing her to walk with a limp, so they decided to put casts on her legs. I assisted in blanketing the dama, and then the vets gave her anesthetizing medication, before taking her to the animal hospital. This was the first procedure I was involved in, and I was amazed at how well all of the keepers and vet staff worked together to accomplish the task in the least amount of time possible. I was given the task of holding the head of the dama while she was under anesthesia. It is very important to keep their heads higher than their bodies and pointed down so that their saliva can drain properly.

Another procedure I have experienced is three artificial inseminations for gerenuk. I expected this to take a lot longer than it did. From entering to restrain the animals until we were done with the three AIs, it was about fifteen minutes. I was given the blanket and sent into the barn with another intern to restrain the animals. I was excited, but also nervous, that the keepers trust me enough to allow me to do these things.

So far, my time at White Oak has been filled with a lot of dirt, poop, and sweat, but also many great hands-on learning opportunities. The staff here is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the animals they work with, and I am excited to continue learning and make more lifelong memories.

A bongo

Dama gazelle

Panamazing

Name: Gwendolyn Broderick
Class Year: 2020
Hometown: Oregonia, Ohio
Research Assistant
Gamboa, Panama

Hello again! Welcome to my second blog post! I wanted to give everyone an update about how great things are here in Panama! We are down to a little over a week left, and I cannot believe how fast time has gone by! There is so many fun and amazing things to do in Panama, and I cannot wait to come back here one day so I can visit everything. But for now, the work must gone on. Keep reading to find out some pretty cool stuff I have been doing and what amazing things I have experienced

Panamanian food is much different than your typical Ohio foods. Luckily I am not a picky eater, so I am willing to try anything and everything. Even if that means eating fish, a whole fish, head still attached and everything. They just throw that sucker right on the grill and serve it up. Surprisingly it was amazing, just had to get past the part where it is starring at you.






Along with exotic foods, there is some amazing wildlife in Gamboa. From waking up to parrot calls all the way to falling asleep to the cicadas lullaby. It is never quiet in Panama. Everyday you never know what you will see. One day I saw multiple toucans, three coati,  and two capybara!

Now some in-site on my experiments. THINGS ARE HAPPENING. One half of my experiment is officially complete! Now to the fun part. Image cutting into a large apple. Now shrink it down to about an inch. Now give it super fragile skin and organs that tear extremely easily. Now you are dissecting a tadpole. After doing a few dissections, I am gaining confidence and my goal is to not break the intestines (practically impossible). You never truly appreciate the time you learn to dissect things during labs at school until you have to do it for your own experiements. I think performing the tadpole dissections is the most fun part about my experiment because of the results that follow. I cannot wait till I have everything analyzed and I am able to see if my hypothesis was correct! My second half is taking a little longer than expected to wrap up, but that just means more time to enjoy my stay as we wait "patiently".





As time is running short, we are making the most of our time here. From Emma and I's movie nights, ice cream hang outs, and sunrise canopy tower attempts. I have really enjoyed my weeks here in Gamboa and I will be very sad to leave this peaceful place next weeks. Though I will not miss the mosquitoes and the humidity, I will miss the people I have gotten to know and the tropical wonderland that is Panama. I hope you guys enjoyed my blog! Here is some pretty great pictures with one of my best friends who I am so glad I got to go on this crazy adventure with, and who's awesome parents took me to see the Mira Flores Locks.

   

Log of the Frogs

Name: Gwendolyn Broderick
Class Year: 2020
Hometown: Oregonia, Ohio
Research Assistant
Gamboa, Panama

Who wouldn't take a selfie with this cutie?

Hey guys! My name is Gwen Broderick and I am currently in beautiful Gamboa, Panama! I am conducting research on Red-Eyed Tree Frogs with Dr. Bouchard and Emma at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (I know super cool). It has been a little over two weeks since we have arrived here in Gamboa. After having a smooth arrival on day one, the next few days turned into unexpected challenges. I am by far not the most fluent Spanish speaker, so it is very beneficial to have Emma along for the ride with me. Thanks to Emma's super Spanish skills, she was able to make me a doctors appointment when I came down with strep on day three. Thankfully everything worked out fine and most importantly, both experiments got set up on time! I am so thankful to be working with Dr. Bouchard and Emma who, without asking or questioning, stepped up to make sure everything would be done in time while I had to take a sick day.

Smithsonian style housing

I did not really know what to expect going into this experience. I had only traveled out of the country once before and never for this long. As the days go on, I am so glad I decided to come. It is amazing how many different people that I have met that all share this amazing passion about animals (especially frogs) here in Gamboa. Since we are at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, you can imagine there is tons of research students. Which is true, and it is so great to hear all about their work and how they love to hear about mine! Oh ya, my research! I can't wait to tell you guys all about it.

The first couple of days consisted of rinsing, scrubbing, filling, collecting leaf litter, stuffing bags of leaf litter, creating predator cages, cutting the netting, and securing the netting (for cages and tanks). This doesn't sound like much, but when you have 28 small tanks, and 16 large, along with very low water pressure, it turns into a multiple day process. All while happening it is 90+ degrees with over 95% humidity. But it is so worth it when you look at your little tadpole babies every morning you go out.

Counting out hundreds of tadpoles

Counting out tadpoles was a fun way to start out our experiments. My experiment requirement 280 tadpoles while Emma needed 400, so you can imagine the amount of counting required. We discovered that the pros of the frog industry, cut the tips off of small pipettes and use that to suck them up and place in their designated areas. We found it easiest to do them in groups of 5 and then combine them when done. Tadpoles are very slippery and fragile, so you had to make sure to be gently while transporting them. According to my mom, "they look like pop-its" (yes those ones you through at the ground at 4th of July).

Belostomatid in his cage

Now to the viscous predators. This little guy is a Belostomatid, or toe bitter. They are a large aquatic beetle that feeds on tadpoles by piercing them with their proboscis and injecting a toxic that causes the insides to turn to mush. This is something Emma was not aware of when she was collecting them for me from Quarry pond. The role of the predators in my experiment is to cause "stress" on half of my tanks. Fourteen of my twenty-eight tanks contain one of these bad boys. Each Belo is fed everyday. We feed them feeder Red-Eyed Tree Frog tadpoles (I know so sad). When the Belo eats the tadpoles, those tadpole release a chemical into the water that warns all the tadpoles in the area. My goal is to see if the presence of a predator has an effect on the growth and development of the Red-Eyed Tree Frog tadpoles in my experiment. I also have high and low densities, so essentially I have 4 treatments with 7 replicates.




I really appreciate you guys taking the time to read my post and learn about the amazing research experience I am having. Be sure to check-in for my next post! I will leave you with some pictures of the cutest frog around.