My Last 5 weeks at the Dallas Zoo

Delaney Lyons

2020

Powell, Ohio

Records/Nutrition Intern

The Dallas Zoo

In my last five weeks in Dallas, TX I was in the nutrition department. During my time in the nutrition department I got to do so many fun things! My main job was to prepare diets for all of the animals in the Dallas zoo and the aquarium in Fairpark. Another part of my job included making cakes for special events for the animals. While I was there we made a cake shaped like a bunny out of powdered milk, food coloring, and water for our cheetah and his Labrador retriever companion. We also made a cake for, Twelve, a Galapagos tortoise that I got to work with in the hospital. This healthy tortoise was returned to his herd after a long hospital stay. His cake was made out of carrots, melons, kale, water, and food coloring. 

One of my favorite things that the zoo recently started was allow the public to feed the Galapagos tortoises. Personally this was a very memorable experience for me and I am glad I was able to share this experience with guests. After I finished feeding the tortoise a little boy who was also feeding them turned to his dad and said “I cannot wait to tell mommy what I got to feed today!”

One my favorite parts about working in the nutrition center was talking to the nutritionist Kerri Slifka. The Dallas Zoo is one of 14 zoos in the U. S. that have a full-time nutritionist on staff. Kerri is responsible for formulating diets for all of the animals in the zoo and the aquarium. In addition to formulating diets she is also responsible for body condition scoring all of the animals at the zoo.  Since I was Kerri’s intern I was able to go and body condition score elephants, tigers, cheetahs, lions, tamanduas, kunekune pigs, goats, sheep, and penguins with her. She made it her priority to explain everything.  She gave us helpful handouts so we could accurately identify and give individual animals a body condition score.
 

One thing that I found very helpful was that the Dallas Zoo’s internship program offered professional development classes to help interns learn about zoo jobs and general things about the zoo. I attended classes on ZIMS, animal behavior, zoo history, exhibit design, research, veterinary care, national parks, and animal training. A lot of this information I could take and use in my internship. For example, I went to a class on animal training and the next day I got to see this training in action on the hippos. Keepers were able to call both of the hippos up to the glass, open their mouths, and touch the glass. I was very proud of how dedicated the Dallas Zoo keepers were in training these animals.

 

While in the nutrition department I was very privalged to oversee other departments. We were able to get behind the scenes tours of the reptile, big cat, elephants, wild encounter stage, and the childrens zoo. In addition to these tours I also got to spend a day as a primate keeper intern. During this day I cleaned the gorilla enclosure, observed training sessions, and got to toss fruit to the mandrills and gorillas. While I was the primate keeper intern I learned what it was like to be a keeper and all of their responsibilities.

 

Outside of the zoo I got to have very memorable experiences. I was able to share these experiences with the other wonderful interns who I became friends with at the zoo. Some of these experiences included going to the Fort Worth Zoo, going to a drive-through safari wildlife center, going to a farmers market, and watching a movie at the Alamo. In addition, I went to a fundraiser called Bowling for Rhinos that the AZK - Dallas Chapter put together. We were able to bowl, play mini golf, and rock climb all while giving back to conservation.

I am finally back in Ohio and reflecting back on my internship. I had a great time! I got to meet so many individals and make life long connections. Although it is bitter sweet coming back to Ohio, I am so excited to start my junior year of college.

Last Weeks at the Reid Park Zoo

Name:  Allison Gould

Class Year:  2021 

Hometown:  Pittsburgh, PA

Internship:  Elephant and Conservation Learning Center Intern

Location:  Reid Park Zoo in Tucson, AZ

Since my last post I have completed my internship at the Reid Park Zoo and have had many more exciting experiences. In the last few weeks of my internship, we entered monsoon season. There were multiple days in a row when the zookeepers had to prepare the habitats, and the animals, for the torrential downpours of the monsoons.

As mentioned in my last post, I worked quite frequently with Nimbus the Great Horned Owl, getting him comfortable with being around new people and on a glove. In the last few weeks of my internship I was able to present him to the zoo camps. This included boxing and transporting Nimbus, having him on glove while talking to kids about owls and their conservation, and transporting him back to the Bird Run. Through these presentations I received tips from Katie about presentation techniques, especially while holding an animal, and about the best ways to communicate with different ages of children. Presenting Nimbus allowed me to work on my always-improving public speaking skills. For the zoo camps, I also went with Katie as she presented the juvenile American Alligators. I did not myself speak about the alligators, but I was able to handle them and walk around the room to let kids touch the animals. At the time, the alligators were only around seven months old, so a big part of my and Katie’s job was handling the alligators often to get them used to people for them to be ambassador animals. Over the short few weeks that we handled the alligators, I could see great improvement in their comfort with humans. In the beginning stages, they would wiggle around and chirp when picked up. By the end of my internship, they were readily picked up and were calm in hand.

With Nimbus after a presentation to zoo camp.

Handling a young alligator Cypress to improve her ambassador animal skills.

 One of the most memorable experiences of my internship was being able to help with the Reid Park Zoo’s Watermelon Wednesday events throughout the month of July. During these days, different animals around the zoo were given watermelon-based enrichment, from whole watermelons to frozen slices of watermelon to paper watermelon decorations, and were featured to zoo visitors during keeper talks. For the first Watermelon Wednesday on July 4^th, I helped in the kitchen to prepare ten watermelons as enrichment for species including elephants, grizzly bears, otters, and meerkats. For the rest of the Watermelon Wednesdays, I was with the elephant team. During these days I had the chance to set-up enrichment in the elephant yards, including whole watermelons, watermelon-bran paste, and giant watermelon popsicles. The fun part was being able to watch the elephants as they were moved out to the yards and found their special enrichments. Each elephant had their own way of eating the watermelons: some would eat them whole, some would break them apart with their feet before picking them up with their trunks, others would wait to steal the remains of another elephant’s watermelon.  

Right after this, Nandi the elephant tore apart the Watermelon Wednesday banner. A watermelon popsicle is seen in the background.

            Aside from the daily cleaning and husbandry tasks that I completed in the elephant barn, another great task came into our almost daily routine. Every few days we did ERD (elephant restraining device) desensitizing sessions with one of the female elephants Lungile. These sessions were to help get Lungile used to being in the ERD with lots of strange people around so that she would be comfortable in the space during her eventual eye exam. For these sessions, four or five keepers and interns would walk up to Lungile and look around her eye. They would then take a step back and repeat walking up to look at and touch around her eye on the trainer’s command. Being a part of these sessions allowed me to have a better understanding of and to get a closer look at the health-husbandry practices in which the elephants voluntarily participate.

Elephant team lead Savannah and I doing a “stranger danger” session with an elephant.

            Throughout the internship, I learned the importance of teamwork and communication as they are applied in real work experiences. These are lessons I never could have learned from a textbook; they come with practice and application. In a zoo environment especially, I learned that communication at every level is needed to keep both humans and animals safe. One of the most special parts of my internship at the Reid Park Zoo was getting to work beside two Otterbein Zoo and Conservation Science alumni, Mara Eisenbarth and Matt Vieth. Both Mara and Matt are members of the elephant team. It was truly inspiring to see two people that have been in my shoes at Otterbein being able to do what they love because of the education they received. Talking with and learning from them allowed me to expand my knowledge not only about a career in the zoo field, but also my understanding of myself.

I feel Alive!

Emma Kimberly
Class of 2020
Zanesville, Ohio
Research Assistant
Gamboa, Panamá

Hi everyone! My first blog covered the experiences I had during my first two weeks in Panama, and this blog will summarize the last three! (And let me tell you, Gamboa saved the best time for last).

Here you see the plastic container that holds water, a
metabolic chamber holder, and the metabolic chamber itself. An oxygen
probe is aligned with the O2 sensor on the chamber. The temperature
probe is placed in the water. The green mesh keeps tadpoles calm
during tests by making it darker while preventing mosquitoes from
laying eggs at night. Notice that it is impossible to keep the table
dry!

Week three struck a little trouble for my experiment. We realized my tadpoles were not growing fast enough, even with exactly replicated set-up and treatment from previous experiments. Due to this, my tadpoles small size would mean it would take forever to run their metabolic rates as well as be very difficult to dissect, especially because their organs would be developmentally behind from what we desired them to be. If I had 5 or even 4 more weeks instead of 3 more, my tadpoles would have been fine.

However, because we only had 3 more, Dr. Bouchard, Gwen and I had to come up with an alternative plan. Luckily for me, the treatments in my experiment, high and low density, were also tested within Gwen's experiment. Because Gwen only needed 2 tadpoles from each treatment, that meant that she had enough leftover for me to run her tadpoles in my experiment. Additionally, we added another layer to my experiment that consisted of not only running metabolic rates for low and high density treatments, but low predator and high predator treatments as well, which was very exciting. See, there's a bright side to everything. Thank you Gwen!!!

Panama Canal, Miraflores

   

Despite the hiccup in the beginning of the week, the rest of week three was awesome! My parents actually came all the way from Ohio to visit for 5 days, I was so excited to see them. Although I had limited time to spend with them because our experiment started to pick up in pace, Gwen and I did manage to have time to go to the Miraflores locks with them! It was amazing to see a boat pass through. The one we saw was named Jackie B!

My biggest supporters!

Before my parents left, I took them on a night walk. Here are some of the critters we saw!

Capybara-
the world's largest rodent!!

Gladiator frog-
large tree frogs whose call sounds
like a low-pitched croak

 
                                                               Light green-yellow frog that 
                                                                           we couldn't ID in our field guide

                                                  

Throughout week four, I ran metabolic rates for low density treatment tadpoles, which took significantly less time than we had anticipated (about 30min per tadpole). Out of the 42 low density treatment tadpoles, I euthanized 14 of them to be dissected. Dissecting them will allow us to determine whether our treatments were affecting the growth and development of the tadpoles.

During week five, I ran metabolic rates for high density tadpole treatments. We hoped that we would see a difference in the metabolic rates between low and high density treatments, and we certainly did! This was especially profound for me because in the previous days with low density treatments, I could run 14 tadpoles in 7 hours. Imagine my surprise when it took 14 hours to run 14 tadpoles from the high density tadpoles (1hr per tadpole) - which I had to do all in one day because I had prepped 14 the night before. I only took on a max of 10 tadpoles in the following ~3 days.

With Gwen's help, I was able to knock out my dissections in 3 days. The dissections had to be done through the microscope because the tadpoles were so small. I loved dissecting. It was amazing to see how complex and detailed organisms as tiny as a tadpole were! I dissected out the brain, the gut, the liver, the pancreas, and the fat body to be weighed on an analytical balance. Additionally, the brains were photographed to be photo-analyzed at a later date. This entire process had really helped strengthen my understanding of growth and development as well as boosted my confidence with dissections!

After the dissections were completed, Gwen and I wrapped up our experiment sites and packed up our things! But before I go, here are a few of the highlights of my last 3 weeks in Gamboa, Panama.

Patacones that we made from
plantains we found on our
walk home - tasted like crispy
potato slices!

Empanadas de la Ciudad
del Saber ... deliciosa!

1). Making memories with Gwen! From our daily walk-talks, trying new foods, watching toucans do head dances in the mornings, sweating our butts off,
getting caught in full on rainforest




thunderstorms, meeting new friends, traveling to BCI for a lightning talk, laughing at agouti, lifting each other up when the other got discouraged, and growing together as individuals and as scientists, having Gwen with me throughout these wild five weeks made the experience that much more
                                                                                    amazing & memorable.

Amigos nuevos- Javier & Rosalinda

 

Who knew I loved salsa music??? 

 2). Going salsa dancing at a discoteca in Panama City! I went with a group of PhD and graduate students that knew the city well and went out often, so I wasn't as nervous about traveling an hour into the city. We took a Saca bus, a metro, and a taxi to get there and Ubered back to Gamboa. Despite the fact that I knew nothing about salsa dancing before that night, the people I went with were more than happy to teach me the basics and I had a great night with great new friends. I wish salsa dancing nights were common in Ohio!

3). Receiving a visit from Mr. Caiman in experimental pond!!! He came near the end of our trip, and I was in shock when I first saw him. He reminded me of a dinosaur - scaly, rigid, poised, and not one bit fazed by human presence.

Me (naturally) getting as close as (safely) possible to the Caiman.

And last but not least...

4). Biking to El Charco trail and going for a hike on my last !

 

 Closing thoughts: 

 The sign says it all. 

My experience in Gamboa, Panama was incredible and left me feeling so alive. Alive in my growth as a strong and determined individual, alive in my development as a young scientist, alive in the richness of experiencing another culture, and alive from being immersed in the simplistic, rainforest way of life for five weeks. I cannot thank the Otterbein Earth & Science Department, Dr. Bouchard, STRI facilities and faculty, and my parents enough for making this 

experience possible for me. 

Now, with a rejuvenated and energized spirit, I return to school ready to tackle anything junior year has to throw at me! Stay curious.