Image
Image
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 more about their jobs, and then blog about their experience online. Follow their adventures here on the Zoo’s website!
On our first week of Internquest, my fellow interns and I were honored to meet with a San Diego Zoo Educator Guide, as well as a Nutritionist and the Supervisor of Nutritional Services. All three of these careers play important roles in both educating the public about the Zoo’s mission and vision. This incredible experience included meeting with two of the Zoo’s resident animals and learning all about how the Zoo’s many outreach programs that encourage the public to support local and international conservation efforts. We also got a firsthand look into the process of food delivery and diet assembly for the 4,000 animals that call the San Diego Zoo home.
On Wednesday, we met with one of the San Diego Zoo’s Educator Guides, Ms. Maya O’Connor who has been working at the Zoo for nine years, and one of her favorite feathered friends Rio. Ms. O’Connor received a degree in animal science from University of California Davis and earned a masters in education and her teaching credential after finishing graduate school. Ms. O’Connor enjoys meeting with people of all ages and teaching them about ways to support conservation, and how they can get involved in the numerous outreach programs offered by the San Diego Zoo.
Rio is a double yellow-headed amazon parrot hatched in 1991, and one of Ms. O’Connor’s favorite animals to work with at the Zoo. Ms. O’Connor has been working with Rio for about a year and has enjoyed every second they have spent together. During a training session, Ms. O’Connor showcased Rio’s talents of talking and moving on command by rewarding him through positive reinforcement with sunflower seeds and peanuts. Ms. O’Connor, as well as other Zoo Educator Guides, help some of the Zoo’s animals learn abilities that will make their lives easier and more comfortable when being around people or the Zoo’s veterinarians.
After meeting Rio, we also got the chance to meet with Max who is a three year old tenrec at the Zoo. Native to the African island country of Madagascar, tenrecs are insectivores and are vital to pest control on the island. However, due to the increased use of pesticides globally, the tenrec is threatened due to the accidental consumption of these hazardous chemicals. Another interesting fact about Max is that he is one of the Zoo’s many animal ambassadors and represents his species because of his good behavior and calm nature. Ms. O’Connor and other Zoo Educator Guides work with these animal ambassadors while discussing the importance of conservation and the preservation of these amazing species.
One of Ms. O’Connor’s many responsibilities as a zoo educator is helping to manage and implement the many outreach programs that the San Diego Zoo has to offer. One of Maya’s favorite programs is the School in the Park program that is available for third through eighth graders. These students have the incredible opportunity to learn about how to classify animals, habitats, and food webs in hands-on activities that last for an entire week. Ms. O’Connor loves this program because it teaches kids that they can do something to help save the thousands of amazing animals at the Zoo in the wild.
One of Ms. O’Connor’s favorite parts about being a zoo educator is being able to introduce elementary school students to the process of conservation and maybe even inspire them to pursue a future career in the field. Ms. O’Connor travels to various elementary schools around San Diego County, and gets the students involved in numerous activities to promote conservation. One of these activities is using a telemetry device. In the field, researchers will use telemetry to track animals as well as their habitats or, in this case, to help students track and find a stuffed barn owl with a backpack!
On Thursday my fellow interns and I were honored to meet with Dr. Katie Kerr and Mrs. Debbie Lowe who work together on the Nutrition and Forage team at the Zoo. Dr. Kerr and Ms. Lowe work tirelessly to ensure that the thousands of animals at the Zoo are healthy and are meeting their nutritional requirements to lead a productive and happy life.
Dr. Katie Kerr has been a Nutritionist at the Zoo for about three and a half years and loves everything about her job. As the “executive chef” for the animals at the Zoo, Dr. Kerr plans and creates diets for the animals and ensures that each animal is receiving their unique nutritional needs. Dr. Katie was an undergraduate at Colorado State University, earning a degree in biology and later earned her PhD in nutrition at the University of Illinois.
Ms. Debbie Lowe has been working at the Zoo for 33 years and has been the Supervisor of Nutritional Services for 20 years. Ms. Lowe works alongside Dr. Kerr as well as a team of seven in order to ensure that each diet gets to the correct animal at a designated time. Ms. Lowe earned a bachelor's degree in general biology at the University of California San Diego, and she even participated in the Internquest program when she was in high school!
The Forage Warehouse receives shipments of food four times a week to ensure that the warehouse is always fully stocked to meet the needs of the animals at the Zoo. The Forage Warehouse spends around 8,000 to 9,000 dollars on produce each month, goes through 240 pounds of fruit daily, and roughly 580 heads of lettuce each week!
We also got to tour the grain warehouse that contains high and low fiber food, pellets high in copper and other beneficial elements, different fruit blends, supplements, and ingredients for some of the animals’ very specific diets. These bagged food blends help the Zoo’s nutritionists ensure that the animals’ diets all contain the necessary amounts of vitamins and minerals.
Another vital part of the Nutritional Service’s system is the hay warehouse. This warehouse is packed with hundreds of bales of hay that each weigh about 100 to 150 pounds. This hay is often used as feed as well as bedding for many of the animals at the Zoo.
One of the most interesting stops of our day was our visit to the bug room! This room contains thousands of bugs and insects that supply animals like birds with minerals and calcium. The picture above shows a case filled with thousands of mealworms that are measured out in very specific amounts and fed to animals around the Zoo.
Also in the bug room, were dozens of containers filled with crickets. Each of these containers has about 6,000 crickets in it and the Zoo uses about two of these containers each day. The crickets are aged in weeks and are chosen based off of the nutritional needs of the animal they are being fed to.
My fellow interns and I were honored to meet with such amazing professionals, and to get the opportunity to learn about all they do for animal care and conservation. Please continue to read our blogs in the upcoming weeks to experience this amazing journey with us!
Cole, Photo Team
Week One, Winter Session 2019
