On to the Next One

After a 10.5 hour drive (with the help if Justin), I made it to Fossil Rim this week! I will be here from now until mid May sometime interning primarily with their black rhinos, but often helping out with their other hoofstock as well. I'll write a more detailed blog post later this week with everything I've done so far. Just thought I'd let you all know what I'm doing!

Rhinos Rhinos Rhinos!!

Finally got to work in the rhino barn this week! Yaay!! It was exactly what I was hoping for. Working in there affirmed for me what I already knew, I truly belong in the work force as a keeper for this majestic species.

It was pretty much the same routine there as it is in the main barn, but something about creating a clean environment for the rhinos made my day go by so much faster and I was having a great time (even while scooping poop for two hours straight).

By far my favorite part was getting to give them all little treats of apples and sweet potatoes. Having a personal connection with the animals, no matter how brief, is always an amazing and rewarding experience.

I will say, their poo is HEAVY and they get it everywhere. But I'd choose cleaning up rhino poo over a desk job any day :)

A Part of Zoo History

  Today while helping one of the keepers work on building a new enrichment toy for the giraffe we found our way to the maintenance building to get some tools. When we got over there we saw that their building was build behind a debilitated wall. We asked one of the maintenance guys what it was from and he told us it was an old building from the zoo's original blue print. Only part of the building was torn down so he took us into the section that was still standing. Within the building we were able to see it almost exactly as it had been -- no one had taken anything down or altered anything within this building since it stopped being used. Immediately upon entering you could see that all the walls were lined with built in "cages" (hate that word, but truly that's how they looked) that were all about 10x10 feet, if that. The maintenance worker told us that various primates, big cats (tigers, jaguars, etc) were housed in this spaces.

   It was after seeing this space I realized why so many people have negative perceptions of zoos. Opinions are hard to change and it's sad to see that this is how zoos used to operate, even if it was purely through ignorance of what animals need to thrive in captivity. I hope that through time the general public continues to increase the number who support zoos and vanquish the numbers that oppose.

   In order to give you a more literal picture of the building, think about pictures you've seen of old zoos, and then insert it onto a Walking Dead scene set. I am thankful that I was able to go into that building, as I'm sure most people don't get the opportunity to see that type of zoo history, and I'm thankful for how far zoos have come in terms of animal welfare.

Why is it So Cold?

This past week was SO cold. Okay, not soooo cold, but it was cold. Unusually cold for Atlanta this time of year I learned. However, I still managed to get to do fun things!

First of all, since it was so cold, the bongos had to stay inside. Which means I got to help out with their training of Becson, the juvenile. The keepers are currently working with him to get him target and "hold" trained, This means that he puts his noise to the target and then stays for as long as the keeper decides before they click the clicker and he knows he's done a good job. I mostly observed, though I did get to be the incentive giver (carrots!).

We also got a new shipment of hay in, which means I got to climb up into the hay loft inside our barn and be the end of our human conveyor belt, stacking all of the hay bails. This was a good experience to have because after stacking about 30 bails your arms are TIRED. But the animals need the hay, so you keep stacking the other 70 without complaints/too many breaks. Here's hoping my arms strength begins to build with all this!

The last unique and fun thing I got to do this week was help one of the keepers with an enrichment project he recently began. He is building a new feeder for the giraffes which requires them to use cognitive skills in order to move obstacles and retrieve the food. I got to use hand held and power tools to saw, drill, and shape different aspects of the project. It isn't done yet, but if it gets completed before I leave I'll take a picture! I learned a lot of useful information about some power tools I feel will be essential to know about in my future zoo keeping days.

To Atlanta I go (again)!

This week was my first week back in Atlanta, this time at the Zoo! I will be working as a hoofstock intern with 3 black rhinos, 4 giraffe, 2 lesser kudu, 2 plains zebra, 3 eastern bongo, 2 yellow-backed duikers, and 2 ostrich.

Since it was my first week they decided to train me in the larger barn first, meaning I haven't worked with the rhinos directly yet (though I did get to say hi a few times!). The daily routine in the larger barn is pretty standard from what I've seen in other facilities. The morning starts off with a live check and feeding out morning grain. Then the outdoor exhibits are cleaned and the food that is to be on exhibit that day is put out. Once that is done, weather permitting, the animals are sent out onto exhibit and the indoor holding is cleaned and prepped for the night. If weather does not permit (as it hasn't the last week, temperatures in the 30s! brrrr) then the animals are shifted among the holding stalls while we clean. Once the cleaning is done dishes need to be washed. By the time that is all done its around lunch. After lunch afternoon diets are prepared and set up in the stalls. If there is time after that extra tasks and training sessions are done.

That paragraph gives you a general gist of what is typical for every day life in the big barn. However, I want to let you guys in on some of the exciting things I have gotten to do so far (though they may be standard, they are new to me and therefore exciting!).

First of all, I got to feed the giraffe! While all this means is shove hay into their feeders, it is more exciting than it sounds (at least on a cold day when they are stuck inside). While I'm filling the feeders, the nosey boys were putting their faces right up next to mine trying to snatch the hay out of my hands. It is quite the experience to be on top of a giant ladder and only then being at eye level with such a majestic creature.

I also got to help weigh the kudu and duikers. This means I would tempt one of them onto the scale by feeding them carrots and petting their faces, giving them all the attention they want, while the keeper is watching the scale and recording their weight. This was fun and easy for all of them except one of the kudu, Sherlock, as he doesn't particularly like being near people. However, he loves to be near his brother, Watson, so we just got Watson to hang out with us which brought the curious Sherlock over to the scale.

All in all, this internship is proving to be another awesome experience, I'll update you with more fun things as they happen, as well as pictures once I get around to taking some!

Clipping Lady's Nails

Today several fun things happened, which is exciting since everything has been pretty routine lately.

For one I got to help with the trimming of our hawk, Lady's, claws. As a chick she was improperly cared for which included being fed a diet of hamburger meat. Due to lack of proper nutrition her talons formed weird and she is unable to unclench them now. Because of this we routinely have to trim her claws so that they do not dig into the pad of her feet. In order to do this it requires two people. We go into her enclosure and throw a towel over her, losing her sight calms her considerably and makes it easier to get her without harm. I then held her on her back in my lap while the keeper trimmed each of her claws.

After we trimmed Lady's claws we worked on the Virginia Rails new enclosure. She has been very nervous since we began introducing her to the outside so we decided to put up barriers on all of her walls in order to give her privacy. As she gets less nervous we will begin to remove barriers slowly until there are no longer any up. I also got to do more bird handling training. Today I got to take Blue, one of our burrowing owls, out on a walk around the grounds introducing her to people and posing her for pictures with guests. We were out for about a half hour and everything went smoothly.

Lastly, we went into all of the enclosures and removed old perch grass (turf) and cut/attached new pieces to the perches. This was especially gratifying in Pico, the greater horned owl's, enclosure because he generally does not move at all during the day (he's nocturnal), yet once we finished and left his enclosure he immediately flew over to his new perch and walked up and down it while making his happy cooing noises.

Handling a burrowing owl and American kestrel

Today was my first day on bird handling training. I got to work with Mariah, our American kestrel, by getting her on my hand and bringing her into her indoor enclosure, which is where we keep her at night since she is small and could be pestered by wild animals that come into the center at night. I also worked with a burrowing owl named Blue. With her I brought her around to the public, talked to people about her story, species facts, and conservation information. I walked around the entire center and had her on my arm for about 30 minutes which is a good amount of time to have them out that isn't too long, therefore preventing them from getting stressed.