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Another week, another completely different zoo experience...I'm really starting to like this semester
Today, I helped with the other half of South America plus Tiger. So we started off with tiger, it was nice to see Baheem again. Then went over and did the flight connection, gibbons, caiman, otters, and jaguars. Pretty sweet to see the Jags up close in the night house. And the birds in the flight connection are way better than the other aviary and the bird run. The otters were as funny as you would imagine, so spastic, but so eager to get their food and be able to go out into the yard when we were done cleaning it. The best part was that none of the animals seem to poop that much, so there wasn't too much rake and shovel action today.
We also got to witness some random guy hop the construction fence of the new elephant exhibit just so he could use the bathroom because "there are no other ones in the park"....except that there's another one like 50 yards away, and not behind a giant fence. That was pretty entertaining to watch one of the other keepers go out there and start yelling at him for hopping the fence. Definitely one of the weirder things that's happened while I've been there.
Into your eyes, hopeless and taken, we stole our new lives, through blood and pain in defense of our dreams
Showing posts with label exciting experiences. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exciting experiences. Show all posts
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Shattered
So, this week at the zoo was totally different than ever before, so that's a nice change of pace. Especially since I have to miss next Saturday because of section leader tryouts, so luckily I'll have a good taste in my mouth for a while.
TUESDAY
There was some kind of giraffe keeper conference thing in Arizona, so a bunch of giraffe people were coming to Tucson that afternoon. So everything had to get done fast because all the keepers had to join them on the tour at 2. So I did tortoise, bird and dry feed stuff. And three school groups came in during the morning, so it was a very busy morning.
SATURDAY
No hoofstock, but carnivore area this time. I was a little bit surprised, but hey, I'm down for seeing new stuff. Getting all the food prepped is kind of ridiculous because there's way more to do, and there's a lot of birds, so there's a lot more bowls and stuff, so it's slightly out of control, and I would definitely have a hard time remembering all the different things that we had to take out there.
The first stop was the bird run, where we fed everything but the parrots. The bird run is a little short, so I have to kind of hunch over just to walk in it at all, which is sort of annoying. And there's a lot of birds, which isn't really that great. The cockatoos can talk, so I had a really long conversation with them by just saying "Hi" and "How are you?". So bird run, not very exciting.
Next we went over to the muntjac. It's kind of like a deer the size of Kingston, just to give you an idea about how small this thing is. It was really funny though, it likes it when people scratch its neck for it because it can't reach it with its short little legs. There's some turtles in there too, but we just have to count them. Then we went over to tiger, which was really cool. Got right up next to it and I got some whisker and nose from it through the chain link fence. He was funny though, he has a cool noise when he's happy, and he's happy when he's eating his big plate of meat. While he was eating, we went in and cleaned, I cleaned the windows, and then sprayed cologne and some other scent everywhere, and rearranged his toys so he would have some new and exciting stuff to do.
Next up was Warty pigs and Sun Bear. The sun bear is really funny. She comes up to the fence and hangs on while you feed her. She doesn't like to go outside because she's old and is blind in her right eye, so that's kind of sad. The warty pigs are kind of weird. They have this huge complex social system, and there's only three of them haha. We fed all these guys and cleaned up their exhibit. There was a dead bird in the warty pig pool, so that was kind of interesting. After letting everyone out, we went over to elephants.
Elephants was just as cool this time as it was the first time, except I didn't touch its foot this time because it wasn't Cassie in charge of elephants. They're so big! It's really ridiculous to stand there next to them. After the two elephants were out we went back to the bird run to change out the water and feed the rest and hose down the floors. Once again, bird run is not my favorite part.
When we were done with the bird run for the day, we went back to warty pig/sun bear to clean up the back area, feed the sun bear its lunch, and do some warty pig training. But before training we went back to elephant where we put palm and bamboo on the fence for them and then watched them go around and pluck it all of after we were done putting it up.
The last thing of the day was to give the tiger a bone and clean out its back area, so we brought him inside, put the bone out on exhibit, and let him back out. That was interesting because it was in a giant trash can, so he tackled the trash can, go the bone, ran across his little stream and went to town on his bone. Then we cleaned out the back area, which took like 30 seconds because it was already pretty clean, and that was it for the day.
Only kitchen next week, but then the week after I go four times in a week, so that should be fun.
How many times can I break til I shatter?
TUESDAY
There was some kind of giraffe keeper conference thing in Arizona, so a bunch of giraffe people were coming to Tucson that afternoon. So everything had to get done fast because all the keepers had to join them on the tour at 2. So I did tortoise, bird and dry feed stuff. And three school groups came in during the morning, so it was a very busy morning.
SATURDAY
No hoofstock, but carnivore area this time. I was a little bit surprised, but hey, I'm down for seeing new stuff. Getting all the food prepped is kind of ridiculous because there's way more to do, and there's a lot of birds, so there's a lot more bowls and stuff, so it's slightly out of control, and I would definitely have a hard time remembering all the different things that we had to take out there.
The first stop was the bird run, where we fed everything but the parrots. The bird run is a little short, so I have to kind of hunch over just to walk in it at all, which is sort of annoying. And there's a lot of birds, which isn't really that great. The cockatoos can talk, so I had a really long conversation with them by just saying "Hi" and "How are you?". So bird run, not very exciting.
Next we went over to the muntjac. It's kind of like a deer the size of Kingston, just to give you an idea about how small this thing is. It was really funny though, it likes it when people scratch its neck for it because it can't reach it with its short little legs. There's some turtles in there too, but we just have to count them. Then we went over to tiger, which was really cool. Got right up next to it and I got some whisker and nose from it through the chain link fence. He was funny though, he has a cool noise when he's happy, and he's happy when he's eating his big plate of meat. While he was eating, we went in and cleaned, I cleaned the windows, and then sprayed cologne and some other scent everywhere, and rearranged his toys so he would have some new and exciting stuff to do.
Next up was Warty pigs and Sun Bear. The sun bear is really funny. She comes up to the fence and hangs on while you feed her. She doesn't like to go outside because she's old and is blind in her right eye, so that's kind of sad. The warty pigs are kind of weird. They have this huge complex social system, and there's only three of them haha. We fed all these guys and cleaned up their exhibit. There was a dead bird in the warty pig pool, so that was kind of interesting. After letting everyone out, we went over to elephants.
Elephants was just as cool this time as it was the first time, except I didn't touch its foot this time because it wasn't Cassie in charge of elephants. They're so big! It's really ridiculous to stand there next to them. After the two elephants were out we went back to the bird run to change out the water and feed the rest and hose down the floors. Once again, bird run is not my favorite part.
When we were done with the bird run for the day, we went back to warty pig/sun bear to clean up the back area, feed the sun bear its lunch, and do some warty pig training. But before training we went back to elephant where we put palm and bamboo on the fence for them and then watched them go around and pluck it all of after we were done putting it up.
The last thing of the day was to give the tiger a bone and clean out its back area, so we brought him inside, put the bone out on exhibit, and let him back out. That was interesting because it was in a giant trash can, so he tackled the trash can, go the bone, ran across his little stream and went to town on his bone. Then we cleaned out the back area, which took like 30 seconds because it was already pretty clean, and that was it for the day.
Only kitchen next week, but then the week after I go four times in a week, so that should be fun.
How many times can I break til I shatter?
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Mysterious Ways
So, originally I decided I wasn't going to do Tuesdays on here by themselves, but this Tuesday was so much fun I thought I would go ahead and post it, all be it two days late (physio and ochem raped me this week)
When I showed up in the morning, no one was in the keeper's quarters, so I just signed in and went straight to the kitchen, where there was tons of action and lots of stuff going on, but nothing for me to do. So we went back to the other room for the meeting, where I learned the baby zebra almost died over the weekend :( but he was starting to pull through Tuesday so hopefully there is still a baby there when I show up Saturday morning.
So once morning rush was over, I got to help do monthly inventory instead of make diets. It was interesting to see how little of each different food the zoo uses, and it was freezing cold having to stand in the freezer for like ten minutes counting mice and rats and all kinds of weird stuff.
When we finished inventory we did worms and crickets, which is always exciting. But after that, we got to go work giraffe feed. Climbed over the fence into the zoo and stood there in the giraffe feeding area, fed some giraffes, and gave biscuits to little kids that threw their's so they could actually feed the giraffe two biscuits. About halfway through feeding time, the male zebra started following close behind one of the females, and then we realized what was happening. Let's just say he was up and at em. He never actually jumped up to mount her (which I think would have been awesome to see), but he did do enough to disgust me, and I'll just leave it at that haha.
On our way back, Cassie, the keeper that I see the most that I don't actually work with, needed help moving the giant ball that I saw in the elephant yard on Saturday across the zoo from tiger to lion. So we rode over to tiger with her, picked up the ball, and drove over to lion. I didn't see lions, but that's ok. Then she drove us back to the kitchen, where I helped do capybara and tapir diets before I had to leave. Overall, much better than normal, especially because I got to feed some giraffes :)
It's alright, it's alright, alright. She moves, in mysterious ways
When I showed up in the morning, no one was in the keeper's quarters, so I just signed in and went straight to the kitchen, where there was tons of action and lots of stuff going on, but nothing for me to do. So we went back to the other room for the meeting, where I learned the baby zebra almost died over the weekend :( but he was starting to pull through Tuesday so hopefully there is still a baby there when I show up Saturday morning.
So once morning rush was over, I got to help do monthly inventory instead of make diets. It was interesting to see how little of each different food the zoo uses, and it was freezing cold having to stand in the freezer for like ten minutes counting mice and rats and all kinds of weird stuff.
When we finished inventory we did worms and crickets, which is always exciting. But after that, we got to go work giraffe feed. Climbed over the fence into the zoo and stood there in the giraffe feeding area, fed some giraffes, and gave biscuits to little kids that threw their's so they could actually feed the giraffe two biscuits. About halfway through feeding time, the male zebra started following close behind one of the females, and then we realized what was happening. Let's just say he was up and at em. He never actually jumped up to mount her (which I think would have been awesome to see), but he did do enough to disgust me, and I'll just leave it at that haha.
On our way back, Cassie, the keeper that I see the most that I don't actually work with, needed help moving the giant ball that I saw in the elephant yard on Saturday across the zoo from tiger to lion. So we rode over to tiger with her, picked up the ball, and drove over to lion. I didn't see lions, but that's ok. Then she drove us back to the kitchen, where I helped do capybara and tapir diets before I had to leave. Overall, much better than normal, especially because I got to feed some giraffes :)
It's alright, it's alright, alright. She moves, in mysterious ways
Saturday, January 30, 2010
(S)he will be loved
It's a boy!
Last night, a baby zebra was birthed at the zoo! So this morning, I was surprised when I wasn't there before Susie, and she left the keeper's quarters just as I got there, and then a minute later she was on the radio screaming there's a baby, there's a baby. So a few of us went out there, but I didn't get to look then. I went back and put together the rhino and zebra food dishes while Susie did a bunch of stuff. When I was done with this we went out there, and she dropped me off in the zebra yard to clean up while she started feeding everyone so we would have more time to move zebras around since there was a baby now. While I was cleaning the exhibit I caught my first glimpse at the new little boy. He was soo cute. When I was done cleaning we let the ostriches out so it would be easier to start moving zebras around and cleaned out their barn so we could move the mother and newborn into that area.
After we did that, we cleaned out the rhino yard really fast and got the rhinos and gazelle out before we started messing with zebras. Then we cleaned out their back areas and went back to the zebras. We put the male one out like normal, but kept the older female separate from the mom and baby. When we got everything sorted out Susie started calling everyone that was off that needed to know there was a baby, and slowly all of them started showing up in the next half hour or so. We just sort of watched the baby for a little while to make sure he started functioning properly and then we left to go do some tortoise and rhino stuff before more zebra time.
Cleaned out the tortoise areas and put out the new food, and then brought them out of their houses. While we were up in that area, Susie tried feeding the crane again because he didn't eat very much early in the morning, but he didn't eat much again this time either. It was kind of fun talking to the zoo visitors and being able to actually answer their questions. I felt kind of important.
So we went back to the zebra area to start cleaning that out, one little pen at a time. But right when we started there was a call over the radio saying something about the elephants, and Susie wanted to make sure that they told us when they started what they were going to do. So we cleaned for about ten minutes and then went out into the zoo and went to the elephant exhibit. The zoo had just bought a giant ball, and some of the keepers put it in the exhibit this morning, so we all gathered around to see if the elephants would play with it. The Asian wanted no part of it, but the African played with it for a little bit before going to find food. It was kind of cool to see them see a new toy for the first time.
When we went back to the zebras to finish cleaning there were a couple other keepers sitting and making observations minute by minute of the baby while I finished cleaning out the different zebra areas. I got to see the placenta up close and personal, that was really cool but kind of gross at the same time. That was pretty much it for the day. Very zebra heavy, but totally worth while. The baby was having problems nursing and stiff rear legs, so hopefully he's feeling better before I go back Tuesday.
Tap on my window, knock on my door I, want to make you feel beautiful.
Last night, a baby zebra was birthed at the zoo! So this morning, I was surprised when I wasn't there before Susie, and she left the keeper's quarters just as I got there, and then a minute later she was on the radio screaming there's a baby, there's a baby. So a few of us went out there, but I didn't get to look then. I went back and put together the rhino and zebra food dishes while Susie did a bunch of stuff. When I was done with this we went out there, and she dropped me off in the zebra yard to clean up while she started feeding everyone so we would have more time to move zebras around since there was a baby now. While I was cleaning the exhibit I caught my first glimpse at the new little boy. He was soo cute. When I was done cleaning we let the ostriches out so it would be easier to start moving zebras around and cleaned out their barn so we could move the mother and newborn into that area.
After we did that, we cleaned out the rhino yard really fast and got the rhinos and gazelle out before we started messing with zebras. Then we cleaned out their back areas and went back to the zebras. We put the male one out like normal, but kept the older female separate from the mom and baby. When we got everything sorted out Susie started calling everyone that was off that needed to know there was a baby, and slowly all of them started showing up in the next half hour or so. We just sort of watched the baby for a little while to make sure he started functioning properly and then we left to go do some tortoise and rhino stuff before more zebra time.
Cleaned out the tortoise areas and put out the new food, and then brought them out of their houses. While we were up in that area, Susie tried feeding the crane again because he didn't eat very much early in the morning, but he didn't eat much again this time either. It was kind of fun talking to the zoo visitors and being able to actually answer their questions. I felt kind of important.
So we went back to the zebra area to start cleaning that out, one little pen at a time. But right when we started there was a call over the radio saying something about the elephants, and Susie wanted to make sure that they told us when they started what they were going to do. So we cleaned for about ten minutes and then went out into the zoo and went to the elephant exhibit. The zoo had just bought a giant ball, and some of the keepers put it in the exhibit this morning, so we all gathered around to see if the elephants would play with it. The Asian wanted no part of it, but the African played with it for a little bit before going to find food. It was kind of cool to see them see a new toy for the first time.
When we went back to the zebras to finish cleaning there were a couple other keepers sitting and making observations minute by minute of the baby while I finished cleaning out the different zebra areas. I got to see the placenta up close and personal, that was really cool but kind of gross at the same time. That was pretty much it for the day. Very zebra heavy, but totally worth while. The baby was having problems nursing and stiff rear legs, so hopefully he's feeling better before I go back Tuesday.
Tap on my window, knock on my door I, want to make you feel beautiful.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Orientation Day
On January 10, 2010, I officially became a zoo intern here in Tucson. The first day was not very exciting in itself, but I am the most excited I have ever been for a semester.
When I got there, two other girls were there, Sarah and Jessica. They were just standing there, and looking kind of confused. Later on I found out that the zookeepers had been walking by laughing at them because we weren't allowed to go inside until all 5 of us were there. So we stood there for about another 15 minutes waiting for the other two, Catherine and Adrienne. Apparently Adrienne's been working at the zoo for a while in the education department, so she already knows all the keepers and where everything is, so that's sort of an unfair advantage.
When we did finally go in, we went over policies and safety and those kinds of things, and then got a quick tour of the back area, like the keeper's lounge, kitchen, vet area and other things like that. Then we were assigned our first team activity. A scavenger hunt around the zoo. It was fun because I ended up with Sarah (who I had ecology with this past semester) and Catherine, and they're both really nice. The other two are already kind of friends and they seem like they're going to exclude us 3, but that's alright.
So the hunt took as all around the zoo, and showed us the special gates to get to the perimeter road that we'll have to use a lot probably. The zoo's not very big, and it's separated by geographical regions, so getting lost will probably not be too big of an issue the first couple of days there.
After we finished up the scavenger hunt, we were done for the day, but while we were walking on the perimeter road we got to see a tiger up close, along with a vulture, heron and a zebra. We got our sweet volunteer shirts, and were officially done. Those last encounters definitely got me even more excited than I already was. After this semester is over, hopefully I know exactly what I want to be doing, and that being working in a zoo full time.
I will follow you into the dark
When I got there, two other girls were there, Sarah and Jessica. They were just standing there, and looking kind of confused. Later on I found out that the zookeepers had been walking by laughing at them because we weren't allowed to go inside until all 5 of us were there. So we stood there for about another 15 minutes waiting for the other two, Catherine and Adrienne. Apparently Adrienne's been working at the zoo for a while in the education department, so she already knows all the keepers and where everything is, so that's sort of an unfair advantage.
When we did finally go in, we went over policies and safety and those kinds of things, and then got a quick tour of the back area, like the keeper's lounge, kitchen, vet area and other things like that. Then we were assigned our first team activity. A scavenger hunt around the zoo. It was fun because I ended up with Sarah (who I had ecology with this past semester) and Catherine, and they're both really nice. The other two are already kind of friends and they seem like they're going to exclude us 3, but that's alright.
So the hunt took as all around the zoo, and showed us the special gates to get to the perimeter road that we'll have to use a lot probably. The zoo's not very big, and it's separated by geographical regions, so getting lost will probably not be too big of an issue the first couple of days there.
After we finished up the scavenger hunt, we were done for the day, but while we were walking on the perimeter road we got to see a tiger up close, along with a vulture, heron and a zebra. We got our sweet volunteer shirts, and were officially done. Those last encounters definitely got me even more excited than I already was. After this semester is over, hopefully I know exactly what I want to be doing, and that being working in a zoo full time.
I will follow you into the dark
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