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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 adventure here on the Zoo’s website!
On Thursday, interns met with Ms. Deborah Lowe, the Supervisor of Nutritional Services, and Dr. Katie Kerr, an Associate Nutritionist at the San Diego Zoo. They plan and prepare meals for the Zoo’s animals, and only these two women could make teenagers eat worms.
Do you have any routines that you follow? Maybe you walk the dog every morning or go to yoga every Saturday. Similarly, nutrition staff at the San Diego Zoo follow routines, too! They set up the produce for meals on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday and the meat on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. This lowers the risk of the two accidentally touching or mixing together. They also make the meals 2 days ahead of time.
We need to eat certain amounts of certain food groups (wave goodbye to dessert for every meal), and just like us, the Zoo’s animals also have meal guidelines. These guidelines are established by the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums. In addition to these set diets, sick animals may need to be given medicine. It’s often hard to hide it in normal food because, as we all know, medicine can taste awful. So, the nutritionists trick the animal by hiding it in a special treat. Have you ever hidden your dog’s pill in peanut butter? The nutritionists have done the same thing with some of the animals at the Zoo!
After hearing the presentation, we moved into the refrigerator where the produce is kept. It was like my entire living room had been chilled and filled with produce! I had a short sleeve t-shirt on, so I definitely felt the cold air. In addition to the normal produce, there was special organic produce for the Zoo’s bugs. This is to ensure that no pesticides harm the bugs.
With arms covered in goose bumps, we walked to the room where the food for the birds is prepared. I noticed that there was a scale on one of the counters. Prompted by a question from an intern, Ms. Lowe explained that they weigh all of the food for accuracy. If they just counted by individual items (i.e. three papayas), then the animals may get more food one day than another.
After having learned about the scale, we went to the thawing room. Any cook or food lover will know that food straight from the freezer will often need to defrost before being cooked or eaten. Here, they had rows of carts that were labeled by days of the week. Each cart had tubs on it, each corresponding to a specific animal. Ms. Lowe even showed us a tub with dead rabbits and mice in it (fur and all) for the wolves!
After receiving more goose bumps (from both the cold temperature and being scared by a dead rabbit, we took a peak into the meat freezer and the fish freezer. The meat freezer is kept at zero degrees, and the fish freezer is kept at negative ten degrees. As a San Diego native, I can barely handle when the temperature drops below 60. Thank goodness we didn’t have to go into those freezers!
Remember the special treats that I mentioned earlier? Those are kept in the enrichment closet. If you have ever gone on a diet, you have probably tracked your calories. To keep track of the calories in each of the treats in the enrichment closet, the nutritionists assign them point values. For example, an apple would be worth fewer points than peanut butter. There were also vitamin supplements and Gatorade, which can be used as another tool to hide medicine or replenish electrolytes in animals, inside of the closet.
Moving away from the treats and supplements, we went to the giant room where all of the grains are stored. Since the grains do not perish quickly, they are often bought in bulk. Organized bags of food where stacked all over the room. To give you a better sense of my experience, I can tell you that there was a pungent scent, similar to dog food.
Do you know what had an even more distinct scent? The answer is our next destination, the bug closet! Before the contents were even announced, I heard the chirping of crickets. Given that the Zoo goes through just under a million of them a year, the loud noise was understandable. Two brave interns even ate wax worms. Thankfully, I arrived with a very full stomach that day and passed on the insect snack.
Ms. Lowe and Dr. Kerr showed us how they plan and prepare meals for the Zoo’s animals. You can do the same in your own home! If you have any pets, make sure that they are eating the right types of food and getting all the nutrients they need. I have pit-bull at home, and that type of dog tends to be sensitive to grains. You can also check and see if you are feeding your pet the right amount of food for their weight. In this way, you can keep your pets healthy and happy!
Dana, Real World Team
Week Four, Fall Session 2017
On Thursday, interns met with Ms. Deborah Lowe, the Supervisor of Nutritional Services, and Dr. Katie Kerr, an Associate Nutritionist at the San Diego Zoo. They plan and prepare meals for the Zoo’s animals, and only these two women could make teenagers eat worms.
Do you have any routines that you follow? Maybe you walk the dog every morning or go to yoga every Saturday. Similarly, nutrition staff at the San Diego Zoo follow routines, too! They set up the produce for meals on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday and the meat on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. This lowers the risk of the two accidentally touching or mixing together. They also make the meals 2 days ahead of time.
We need to eat certain amounts of certain food groups (wave goodbye to dessert for every meal), and just like us, the Zoo’s animals also have meal guidelines. These guidelines are established by the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums. In addition to these set diets, sick animals may need to be given medicine. It’s often hard to hide it in normal food because, as we all know, medicine can taste awful. So, the nutritionists trick the animal by hiding it in a special treat. Have you ever hidden your dog’s pill in peanut butter? The nutritionists have done the same thing with some of the animals at the Zoo!
After hearing the presentation, we moved into the refrigerator where the produce is kept. It was like my entire living room had been chilled and filled with produce! I had a short sleeve t-shirt on, so I definitely felt the cold air. In addition to the normal produce, there was special organic produce for the Zoo’s bugs. This is to ensure that no pesticides harm the bugs.
With arms covered in goose bumps, we walked to the room where the food for the birds is prepared. I noticed that there was a scale on one of the counters. Prompted by a question from an intern, Ms. Lowe explained that they weigh all of the food for accuracy. If they just counted by individual items (i.e. three papayas), then the animals may get more food one day than another.
After having learned about the scale, we went to the thawing room. Any cook or food lover will know that food straight from the freezer will often need to defrost before being cooked or eaten. Here, they had rows of carts that were labeled by days of the week. Each cart had tubs on it, each corresponding to a specific animal. Ms. Lowe even showed us a tub with dead rabbits and mice in it (fur and all) for the wolves!
After receiving more goose bumps (from both the cold temperature and being scared by a dead rabbit, we took a peak into the meat freezer and the fish freezer. The meat freezer is kept at zero degrees, and the fish freezer is kept at negative ten degrees. As a San Diego native, I can barely handle when the temperature drops below 60. Thank goodness we didn’t have to go into those freezers!
Remember the special treats that I mentioned earlier? Those are kept in the enrichment closet. If you have ever gone on a diet, you have probably tracked your calories. To keep track of the calories in each of the treats in the enrichment closet, the nutritionists assign them point values. For example, an apple would be worth fewer points than peanut butter. There were also vitamin supplements and Gatorade, which can be used as another tool to hide medicine or replenish electrolytes in animals, inside of the closet.
Moving away from the treats and supplements, we went to the giant room where all of the grains are stored. Since the grains do not perish quickly, they are often bought in bulk. Organized bags of food where stacked all over the room. To give you a better sense of my experience, I can tell you that there was a pungent scent, similar to dog food.
Do you know what had an even more distinct scent? The answer is our next destination, the bug closet! Before the contents were even announced, I heard the chirping of crickets. Given that the Zoo goes through just under a million of them a year, the loud noise was understandable. Two brave interns even ate wax worms. Thankfully, I arrived with a very full stomach that day and passed on the insect snack.
Ms. Lowe and Dr. Kerr showed us how they plan and prepare meals for the Zoo’s animals. You can do the same in your own home! If you have any pets, make sure that they are eating the right types of food and getting all the nutrients they need. I have pit-bull at home, and that type of dog tends to be sensitive to grains. You can also check and see if you are feeding your pet the right amount of food for their weight. In this way, you can keep your pets healthy and happy!
Dana, Real World Team
Week Four, Fall Session 2017
