Zoo InternQuest is a seven-week career exploration program for San Diego County high school juniors and seniors. Students have the unique opportunity to meet professionals working for the San Diego Zoo, Safari Park, and Institute for Conservation Research, learn about their jobs, and then blog about their experience online. Follow their adventures here on the Zoo’s website! This week for InternQuest, the interns got to meet the San Diego Zoo’s Supervisor of Enrichment, Jessica Sheftel. Mrs. Sheftel’s job includes making sure each inhabitant of the Zoo has a proper enclosure with enrichment that brings out natural behaviors. Enrichment is the promotion of animal welfare in the San Diego Zoo, which will keep the animals happy and healthy. Enrichment is an everyday task for Ms Sheftel who asks: “What things do we have to give them today?” and “What behaviors do I have to promote?” Making the animals’ enclosures as natural as possible, allows for the animals to behave how they would in their natural environment. [caption id="attachment_115862" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Via a well-developed Prezi, Mrs. Shaftel shared with the interns the ins and outs of her job. Mrs. Sheftel’s job includes providing enrichment and monitoring welfare for most of the animals at the Zoo. There are five kinds of enrichment for the animals: sensory, manipulanda, foraging, social/behavioral, and structural. Sensory enrichment works with the animals senses such as olfactory, auditory, and visual senses.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_115863" align="aligncenter" width="284"] The enrichment department works with most of the animals at the Zoo on a day-to-day basis. For example due to their high level of intelligence, gorillas are given challenging enrichment items on a daily basis. For instance, the gorillas are given all of their nesting material scattered around, and even though the skylight, to bring out their natural behavior of foraging and nesting.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_115864" align="aligncenter" width="339"] The interns got to work hands on to create a model exhibit for the animal of their choosing. They were given shoeboxes, colored paper, branches, glue, and glitter to make their exhibit appropriate for their critter. The interns were encouraged to think of the species’ habitat, what do they eat and the husbandry logistics of the exhibit.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_115865" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Due to her responsibilities as a supervisor, Mrs. Sheftel, works more with the larger scale projects than with hands on animal husbandry and care. Part of Mrs. Sheftel’s job includes being a consultant on building habitats for new animals that come into the Zoo, or redesigning habitats when an animal is relocated within the Zoo. The projects that the interns got to work on lets the interns get a feel of what one of Mrs. Sheftel’s larger projects would feel like.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_115866" align="aligncenter" width="378"] For this project, the interns where broken up into groups of two. As shown in the picture above, this first group designed a habitat for a tiger. Patrick and I incorporated lots of vegetation and a river to encourage the tiger’s natural behavior of fishing and stalking their prey. The second group designed a habitat for the Arctic fox. The third group designed a co-habitat for otters and monkeys. A co-habitat is common for zoos because it can benefit both animals. The third group designed a Savanah plain, much like the San Diego Safari Park. Their habitat housed zebras, giraffes, and camels.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_115867" align="aligncenter" width="377"] After our nifty project, we all took a walk down to the squirrel monkeys. The enclosure was not originally constructed for squirrel monkeys, so the enrichment department had to remodel the design quite a bit. For example, the team had to remove all of the loose dirt from the ground, which was necessary for sanitation purposes.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_115868" align="aligncenter" width="271"] One part of the enrichment program for the squirrel monkeys is in these little brown bags. These brown bags each hold either peanut butter, leaves, or tissue paper. The brown bags are hung on the branches which brings out the monkeys natural foraging instinct. Mrs. Sheftel explains that this mimics their natural behavior of tearing bark off of trees for insects.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_115869" align="aligncenter" width="450"] All the interns had a great time meeting Mrs. Sheftel, and are so grateful for such a wonderful two hours! Each animal plays such an important role at the Zoo, and that is why it is so important that the Zoo makes the animals’ environment as natural and as comfortable as possible. These animals are able to live happier, longer lives than they naturally would be able to in the wild thanks to the enrichment team and every Zoo employee who takes time to care for them.[/caption] Bailey, Photo Team Week Four, Winter Session 2016