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! For our first week of InternQuest, we spent the afternoon talking to Ms. Colleen Bowman, an Educator at the San Diego Zoo. Prior to meeting us, Ms. Bowman had just come back from a trip to Uzbekistan. While in Uzbekistan, Ms. Bowman worked with teachers all over Central Asia teaching them all about effective ways to teach about conservation. After her interesting presentation, we went into the Zoo to meet some of the animals Ms. Bowman gets to work with on a daily basis. [caption id="attachment_123360" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Meet Ms. Colleen Bowman! She is a currently an Educator Guide at the San Diego Zoo. Growing up, Ms. Bowman grew up always knowing she wanted to work with animals. While she originally wanted to work in marine science training marine mammals, she realized her passion was more educating and teaching the public about conserving endangered species and our planet. More specifically, her job includes giving tours to either school groups, Zoo guests and donors, outreach programs to both schools and hospitals, and teaming up with organizations to help spread knowledge about conservation around the world.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_123353" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] A recent project Ms. Bowman has played an instrumental role in is that of working alongside teachers and conservation groups in Uzbekistan. Ms. Bowman flew to Uzbekistan and helped lead a teacher workshop. The teacher workshop focused on teaching local teachers all about the saiga antelope and the need to conserve this critically endangered species. In total, 32 educators and translators participated in the week-long intensive workshop. It is Mr. Bowman’s hope that the teachers who attended the workshop will be able to share the knowledge they gained while in attendance with their colleagues back home. Pictured above are just some of the resources Ms. Bowman has created for this project- some of which have even been translated into Russian![/caption] [caption id="attachment_123354" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Along with teaching the teachers in Uzbekistan, Ms. Bowman was able to visit a local school called Progress. While Ms. Bowman was there, the older students and staff created a Saiga puppet show for all the little kids to watch. Ms. Bowman went into detail of how talented everyone was at theater and art, and how it is such an integral component of Uzbekistan’s culture. The picture above features a saiga book that was created in Uzbekistan for school children.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_123356" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Once we finished Ms. Bowman’s presentation, we met a couple animals in the Zoo. Pictured above is Cocoa, a three-banded armadillo. We all sat in a circle as Cocoa sniffed around, looking for a nice snack of bugs to eat.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_123357" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Cocoa seemed very eager to meet our group of twelve but that might have not been the case. Armadillos don’t have the best eyesight so they must rely on their sense of smell. In order for armadillos to find their food, they must smell the bug’s scent to find it. Cocoa could have been intrigued from a smell coming from under the ground or an odor from someone in the group. Armadillos also have a unique feature of being able to roll into a ball to protect themselves from predators. The three-banded armadillo is the only species of armadillo that can roll into a complete ball; most can only do it partially. Their armor like skin can protect them from most anything, except the powerful jaws of a jaguar.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_123355" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Armadillos may look as if they are walking on high heels, but that is simply just their shovel-like claws. To dig into the tough ground, Armadillos use their large claws to go as deep as they need to get nourishment. Cocoa must have smelled food for her to start digging.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_123358" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] The second animal Ms. Bowman brought out was an African gray parrot named Kizzy. Kizzy was brought to the Zoo by her former owners after they realized they could not take care of her. Parrots need constant attention and are very intellectual, needing lots of enrichment, think toys and puzzles, to entertain themselves. If you are considering owning a parrot, make sure to do your research! Parrots require a lot of care and attention, and some species can even live to be 60 years old![/caption] [caption id="attachment_123362" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] As you can tell from the picture above, Kizzy has not only grey feathers, but also red feathers on her chest and tail. This is to help her camouflage into her environment. In the wild, Kizzy and other African gray parrots would be found soaring the skies in tropical forests of Africa with the rest of her flock.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_123359" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Kizzy along with other parrot species, may develop bad habits if they are bored. As you can see in the picture, Kizzy’s chest looks a little pink and bare showing spots of where she has plucked her feathers out. Prior to coming to the Zoo, Kizzy unfortunately developed the habit of feather plucking. With parrots, feather plucking can be a result of boredom, so Kizzy’s keepers have to do an excellent job of keeping her busy, challenged and entertained.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_123361" align="aligncenter" width="768"] As a conclusion to our time with Ms. Bowman, she showed us how bright Kizzy is by having her mimic words. Kizzy knows how to mimic many different sounds including hello, a whistle-like sound, and even a prairie dog sound! In the picture above Ms. Bowman gave Kizzy the cue to lift her wings as a goodbye to the interns.[/caption] This afternoon, we had a remarkable time learning about conservation and getting to meet two adorable animals. Tara, Picture team Week One, Fall Session 2017