On the suggestion of a certain family member or two *ahemdadanduncledanahem*, I have changed the location of my blog about Senegal.
You can now find my thoughts and experiences at
www.ifamyransenegal.blogspot.com
and no, there are not meant to be any political implications from the title...
But don't worry, you haven't missed much, I am still in the country, at least for the next 22 hours or so................................................................................
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
All good things must come to an end
Dear Blog readers,
This will be my final post about the Zoo, for as of one week ago I am no longer an intern there. It was a sad departure from one of the best summers of my life. Let me see if I can succinctly summarize the final weeks of my experience.
I had my chance to teach my own class, and it went as smoothly as could be. For all eight kids that I had, we had a good time cleaning up the farm. One of the highlights of the week was seeing a litter of piglets being born. It's so great seeing third and fourth graders appreciate the miracle of birth as much or more than adults do. And of course one of their vocab words for the week was "umbilical cord"...They were all really good sports, putting up with me and my teaching, and did a great job of looking out for me. My boss was coming on Thursday to observe me, and I warned the kids ahead of time so they would know why this stranger was hanging out in the classroom. So on Wednesday I was talking with CJ and Sydney, and they informed me that I am very clumsy in class. I always drop things, they told me, and I almost ran into a chair. And their advice? "You better not do that when your boss comes!"
That week came to an end pretty smoothly, and then there was one left. My last week was filled with 20 crazy kids learning all about science and things. Once again they were third and fourth graders, 6 girls 14 boys. Aye aye aye aye aye. Let's just say they were so wild that my voice was hoarse by the end of the week. They were tons of fun, just obnoxious sometimes (obnoxious was one of their vocab words...). But this was the first week that I actually had to punish kids...And I never would have thought that what they did could actually happen.
Keep in mind that this story comes from the mouths of the culprits themselves:
One of the kids, Evan, who had a tendency to be the main troublemaker, found a hole punch one day. He started playing with it, asking other kids "if they wanted their ears pierced" (ouch!). So one of the other boys, Ronnie, responds, "no but you can punch a hole in my shirt!". What else was Evan supposed to do, but clamp the hole punch onto Ronnie's sleeve? Lucky for me, they both realized that what they had done was wrong, and they accepted my punishment graciously. Needless to say the list of Zoo Camp rules will be amended to add "No playing with office supplies that don't belong to you".
All in all it was a summer that I wouldn't trade for the world.
This will be my final post about the Zoo, for as of one week ago I am no longer an intern there. It was a sad departure from one of the best summers of my life. Let me see if I can succinctly summarize the final weeks of my experience.
I had my chance to teach my own class, and it went as smoothly as could be. For all eight kids that I had, we had a good time cleaning up the farm. One of the highlights of the week was seeing a litter of piglets being born. It's so great seeing third and fourth graders appreciate the miracle of birth as much or more than adults do. And of course one of their vocab words for the week was "umbilical cord"...They were all really good sports, putting up with me and my teaching, and did a great job of looking out for me. My boss was coming on Thursday to observe me, and I warned the kids ahead of time so they would know why this stranger was hanging out in the classroom. So on Wednesday I was talking with CJ and Sydney, and they informed me that I am very clumsy in class. I always drop things, they told me, and I almost ran into a chair. And their advice? "You better not do that when your boss comes!"
That week came to an end pretty smoothly, and then there was one left. My last week was filled with 20 crazy kids learning all about science and things. Once again they were third and fourth graders, 6 girls 14 boys. Aye aye aye aye aye. Let's just say they were so wild that my voice was hoarse by the end of the week. They were tons of fun, just obnoxious sometimes (obnoxious was one of their vocab words...). But this was the first week that I actually had to punish kids...And I never would have thought that what they did could actually happen.
Keep in mind that this story comes from the mouths of the culprits themselves:
One of the kids, Evan, who had a tendency to be the main troublemaker, found a hole punch one day. He started playing with it, asking other kids "if they wanted their ears pierced" (ouch!). So one of the other boys, Ronnie, responds, "no but you can punch a hole in my shirt!". What else was Evan supposed to do, but clamp the hole punch onto Ronnie's sleeve? Lucky for me, they both realized that what they had done was wrong, and they accepted my punishment graciously. Needless to say the list of Zoo Camp rules will be amended to add "No playing with office supplies that don't belong to you".
All in all it was a summer that I wouldn't trade for the world.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
the birds
I decided that since it's been a while since I've posted, I would post twice this evening (gasp!). The topic of this one will be about the birds (as the title suggests).
As an intern at the Zoo, I get the opportunity to shadow other jobs at the Zoo to get a mini taste of what it's like to do other things besides Education. So when it came time to pick, I was offered a list of departments which I could shadow. Northern Trail (Takins and tigers and moose, oh my), Tropics Trail (I could chill with the komodo for a day...), Behavior/Enrichment (working with a variety of animals), Marine Mammals (oooo dolphins...), and Bird Show (No way?! Bird Show I pick birdshow!). For those who are not familiar with this zoo, some of the things you can do in a visit are go to a dolphin show, a dive show, and/or the Bird Show. The Bird Show is my absolute favorite thing at the Zoo (besides Zoo Camp of course), so when the opportunity arose for me to spend an entire day with the Bird Show staff, I jumped on it.
So there I was, last Tuesday, arriving at work at seven in the morning to work with the birds. Now the Bird Show keeps tons of birds of a variety of shapes and sizes and purposes. There are hawks, owls, eagles, falcons, macaws, cockatoos, other varieties of parrots, a toucan, a crane, a vulture, pigeons, ducks, red jungle fowl, and I think that's it. They all live backstage of the amphitheater, and most are used for different things in the actual show. Now all of these birds need to be fed, have their cages cleaned, be weighed, etc. So most of the morning for the Bird show staff is spent cleaning and preparing the diets. And being an extra pair of hands, I was thrown right in to help. Let's just say bird poop is nothing compared to pig poop. So it was a cinch for me to clean out the crane enclosure and hose down the parrot rooms.
After that I got to help prepare the bird of prey diets. Now each bird has an individualized diet to make sure that they stay healthy and within their target weight. The diets use a variety of food in varying amounts depending on what they ate yesterday and the day before and last week. Therefore, a good portion in the morning is also spent preparing the specific diets for each bird. That day we were giving them rabbit and quail. Each type of food had to be cut up and divided between the birds. After watching Laurel do the rabbit and a quail, I was ready to give it a try. Now, unlike the chicken or turkey we buy at the store to eat, Zoo quail doesn't come all nicely prepared. It comes as a whole quail, feathers and all. And this is how you prepare it to be consumed by the raptors: Step 1: Cut off wings. Step 2: Cut off feet. Step 3: Defeather. Step 4: Cut open and gut. Step 5: Cut into appropriate chunks. For one who used to get queasy at the sight of the gizzards from a frozen Thanksgiving turkey, I thought I did pretty well getting quail guts all over me. You may be wondering (as I was) why go to all the trouble of gutting and defeathering if you're just feeding it to an owl or hawk. The answer is that it would be much more work to leave them on/in because the bird would, in process of eating, fling feathers and gizzards all over the place for the Keeper to clean up later. Good choice.
After all of the cleaning and stuff, it's time to get ready for the show. Whomever is the main presenter, gets to pick which birds will be in the show, what order they appear in, and which Keeper is responsible for releasing and catching the birds. This is all written on a board half an hour before the show. During that time, everyone runs around getting birds ready and memorizing what they have to do and when. Once the show begins, there is nothing but controlled chaos behind stage. The keepers are listening for vocal cues to know when to release a bird and others are running around with birds and it's insane. A really fun insane, but insane. I just sat in the corner taking it all in and marveling at the amazing coordination between all of the humans and all of the birds. Because once the birds are released onto stage they know just what to do. Sometimes it doesn't always work that way, but for the most part the bird does what it's supposed to and gets a treat for a reward. It's soooooo cool.
It was for sure an experience that I'll never forget, and would love to do again.
As an intern at the Zoo, I get the opportunity to shadow other jobs at the Zoo to get a mini taste of what it's like to do other things besides Education. So when it came time to pick, I was offered a list of departments which I could shadow. Northern Trail (Takins and tigers and moose, oh my), Tropics Trail (I could chill with the komodo for a day...), Behavior/Enrichment (working with a variety of animals), Marine Mammals (oooo dolphins...), and Bird Show (No way?! Bird Show I pick birdshow!). For those who are not familiar with this zoo, some of the things you can do in a visit are go to a dolphin show, a dive show, and/or the Bird Show. The Bird Show is my absolute favorite thing at the Zoo (besides Zoo Camp of course), so when the opportunity arose for me to spend an entire day with the Bird Show staff, I jumped on it.
So there I was, last Tuesday, arriving at work at seven in the morning to work with the birds. Now the Bird Show keeps tons of birds of a variety of shapes and sizes and purposes. There are hawks, owls, eagles, falcons, macaws, cockatoos, other varieties of parrots, a toucan, a crane, a vulture, pigeons, ducks, red jungle fowl, and I think that's it. They all live backstage of the amphitheater, and most are used for different things in the actual show. Now all of these birds need to be fed, have their cages cleaned, be weighed, etc. So most of the morning for the Bird show staff is spent cleaning and preparing the diets. And being an extra pair of hands, I was thrown right in to help. Let's just say bird poop is nothing compared to pig poop. So it was a cinch for me to clean out the crane enclosure and hose down the parrot rooms.
After that I got to help prepare the bird of prey diets. Now each bird has an individualized diet to make sure that they stay healthy and within their target weight. The diets use a variety of food in varying amounts depending on what they ate yesterday and the day before and last week. Therefore, a good portion in the morning is also spent preparing the specific diets for each bird. That day we were giving them rabbit and quail. Each type of food had to be cut up and divided between the birds. After watching Laurel do the rabbit and a quail, I was ready to give it a try. Now, unlike the chicken or turkey we buy at the store to eat, Zoo quail doesn't come all nicely prepared. It comes as a whole quail, feathers and all. And this is how you prepare it to be consumed by the raptors: Step 1: Cut off wings. Step 2: Cut off feet. Step 3: Defeather. Step 4: Cut open and gut. Step 5: Cut into appropriate chunks. For one who used to get queasy at the sight of the gizzards from a frozen Thanksgiving turkey, I thought I did pretty well getting quail guts all over me. You may be wondering (as I was) why go to all the trouble of gutting and defeathering if you're just feeding it to an owl or hawk. The answer is that it would be much more work to leave them on/in because the bird would, in process of eating, fling feathers and gizzards all over the place for the Keeper to clean up later. Good choice.
After all of the cleaning and stuff, it's time to get ready for the show. Whomever is the main presenter, gets to pick which birds will be in the show, what order they appear in, and which Keeper is responsible for releasing and catching the birds. This is all written on a board half an hour before the show. During that time, everyone runs around getting birds ready and memorizing what they have to do and when. Once the show begins, there is nothing but controlled chaos behind stage. The keepers are listening for vocal cues to know when to release a bird and others are running around with birds and it's insane. A really fun insane, but insane. I just sat in the corner taking it all in and marveling at the amazing coordination between all of the humans and all of the birds. Because once the birds are released onto stage they know just what to do. Sometimes it doesn't always work that way, but for the most part the bird does what it's supposed to and gets a treat for a reward. It's soooooo cool.
It was for sure an experience that I'll never forget, and would love to do again.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
all the girls and the boys and people making noise
So sorry for the delay in postings here, I do carry on quite a busy life. Because yes, there are other things that I do besides work at the Zoo. So to continue with the blog, my topic today will be the following:
Boys and girls and girls and boys...
So far, during my wonderful adventures, I have come into close contact with roughly 230 boys and girls. And this has provided the insane opportunity to learn lots and lots about how boys and girls work differently. The following is the compilation of my different observations...
*disclaimer: The following are merely descriptions of how MOST boys act and how MOST girls act. I have had students that completely shatter the stereotypes I'm about to share.*
Boys:
Boys are interesting creatures. I could probably just end it right there because everyone knows that. But I have had the privilege and opportunity to come into close contact with many boys this summer, and most of them have been around the 7, 8, 9 age range. And this is what I have learned from them:
Eight year old boys flirtatious. I'm still trying to decide if they do it on purpose or if they just are that way, but they are flirts. I have a hard time not laughing out loud when I see boys and girls of that age interacting. The boys try to engage the girls and make them laugh or whatever, and then the girls tease the boys, and it's just this whole dynamic that will continue as they grow up. I have also experienced this flirting my self, as boys will purposely walk by me when we're going somewhere and engage me in conversation. I'm not going to lie, it's really cute.
Eight year old boys are obnoxious. If there is one adjective to describe eight year old boys all around the world, it would be obnoxious. Beyond the flirting thing, they run and jump and yell and scream and push people and interrupt and tease each other and throw things and spill things and the list goes on. I had one boy who would unceasingly tap the table until we asked him to stop, only to start again five minutes later. Another would blurt out questions and answers and stories totally out of turn and normally while myself or the other teacher were talking. And there are many more examples I could give.
Eight year old boys are inquisitive. They like to ask questions and have minds made to wonder about the world. It is so cool to put a kid into a situation where they end up having more questions than they know what to do with because you get the opportunity to see the wheels in their little heads turn and see them learn something. It is even cooler to see this happen with an obnoxious eight year old boy. Some of the best conversations I've had, and best teaching moments have been while walking with one of the boys and answering questions that they have. Every class has it's "trouble maker" (which more often than not is one of the boys...), and they would have a tendency to walk near the back of the group near where I would be walking. During one of my classes I was walking with the trouble maker of the week as we were looking at the new exhibit. We were just leaving the leopards when he turned to me and said, "Are there really only thirty amur leopards left in the wild?" After recovering from being completely blown over, my reply was "Yeah, pretty sad, huh?" He says, "But how come? Can't they breed them at zoos and stuff?" What followed was an intense conversation about the difficulties of breeding and raising population numbers in the wild. I was shocked to say the least that I was having such an important conversation with an eight year old let alone the "trouble maker".
All in all I have to say that eight year old boys are pretty cool. They definitely keep you on your toes, but can be very intelligent when they want to be.
Girls
Alright, enough about boys, let's talk girls. Here is what I've learned about girls:
Eight year old girls are talkative. They talk to me, they talk to their friends, they talk talk talk. Some of it can be about the topic of the day in class, but most of it is probably stuff about other things in their lives. They also like to share what they know. I've had girls talk my ear off about their vacation last week, the fact that they get to go to the Mall of America after camp today, and how their little brothers annoy them. In class though, they are more likely to raise their hand and wait their turn to tell their story compared to boys who tend to interrupt more often.
Eight year old girls are precise. They are super careful with their crafts, taking their time, making sure it's perfect. They could spend all day on their crafts if we let them. They also take a lot of time to be more detailed in their coloring or painting or whatever. This can be a blessing and a curse, because their projects look fantastic, but if we're running short on time I must encourage them on to work faster.
Eight year old girls are articulate. Don't get me wrong, boys probably ask the same amount of questions and give a lot of answers like girls, but they have those obnoxious tendencies. Girls on the other hand are much more polite and well-timed. Example. We often get animal visitors in our classrooms who are brought in by volunteers who tell the kids about the animal and then answer questions. One day we had some Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches visiting. During question time, three of the girls had the volunteer swamped with questions about the animals and where they live and what their like when they're babies and do they live in groups and so on. I was amazed at their ability to think of so many appropriate questions that they genuinely wanted answers for. There's just something about boys that prevents them from asking questions in front of a group, because more often than not it would be the girls asking questions during class. On another occasion I had a girl give a most intelligent answer at just the right moment that it shocked another zoo visitor and made me very proud. It was a farm class, and on cow day we had been explaining to the campers that cows that are producing milk eat alfalfa hay (good for milk production) and the pregnant cows (not producing milk) eat grass hay (good for baby production). Later in the day, we were visiting the cows and one of my girl campers (Mattie) overheard an adult visitor question the type of hay the cows were eating. Mattie spoke up and explained the difference. I was just celebrating my proud moment in my head when the visitor turned to me, saw my name tag and asked me what the difference between the hays. I nodded toward Mattie and explained that she was indeed right. I don't know if I have been prouder of a Zoo Camper.
I have always known that boys and girls are different (who doesn't know that?), but I think that I've really started to appreciate how they speak, act, and respond to things in different ways. As adults sometimes it's hard to respect kids and how they think and act, because often times they act, well, childish. But I've been surprised over and over again by my kids and how intelligent they are that I have a new-found respect for kids, especially eight year olds. They will never cease to amaze me.
Boys and girls and girls and boys...
So far, during my wonderful adventures, I have come into close contact with roughly 230 boys and girls. And this has provided the insane opportunity to learn lots and lots about how boys and girls work differently. The following is the compilation of my different observations...
*disclaimer: The following are merely descriptions of how MOST boys act and how MOST girls act. I have had students that completely shatter the stereotypes I'm about to share.*
Boys:
Boys are interesting creatures. I could probably just end it right there because everyone knows that. But I have had the privilege and opportunity to come into close contact with many boys this summer, and most of them have been around the 7, 8, 9 age range. And this is what I have learned from them:
Eight year old boys flirtatious. I'm still trying to decide if they do it on purpose or if they just are that way, but they are flirts. I have a hard time not laughing out loud when I see boys and girls of that age interacting. The boys try to engage the girls and make them laugh or whatever, and then the girls tease the boys, and it's just this whole dynamic that will continue as they grow up. I have also experienced this flirting my self, as boys will purposely walk by me when we're going somewhere and engage me in conversation. I'm not going to lie, it's really cute.
Eight year old boys are obnoxious. If there is one adjective to describe eight year old boys all around the world, it would be obnoxious. Beyond the flirting thing, they run and jump and yell and scream and push people and interrupt and tease each other and throw things and spill things and the list goes on. I had one boy who would unceasingly tap the table until we asked him to stop, only to start again five minutes later. Another would blurt out questions and answers and stories totally out of turn and normally while myself or the other teacher were talking. And there are many more examples I could give.
Eight year old boys are inquisitive. They like to ask questions and have minds made to wonder about the world. It is so cool to put a kid into a situation where they end up having more questions than they know what to do with because you get the opportunity to see the wheels in their little heads turn and see them learn something. It is even cooler to see this happen with an obnoxious eight year old boy. Some of the best conversations I've had, and best teaching moments have been while walking with one of the boys and answering questions that they have. Every class has it's "trouble maker" (which more often than not is one of the boys...), and they would have a tendency to walk near the back of the group near where I would be walking. During one of my classes I was walking with the trouble maker of the week as we were looking at the new exhibit. We were just leaving the leopards when he turned to me and said, "Are there really only thirty amur leopards left in the wild?" After recovering from being completely blown over, my reply was "Yeah, pretty sad, huh?" He says, "But how come? Can't they breed them at zoos and stuff?" What followed was an intense conversation about the difficulties of breeding and raising population numbers in the wild. I was shocked to say the least that I was having such an important conversation with an eight year old let alone the "trouble maker".
All in all I have to say that eight year old boys are pretty cool. They definitely keep you on your toes, but can be very intelligent when they want to be.
Girls
Alright, enough about boys, let's talk girls. Here is what I've learned about girls:
Eight year old girls are talkative. They talk to me, they talk to their friends, they talk talk talk. Some of it can be about the topic of the day in class, but most of it is probably stuff about other things in their lives. They also like to share what they know. I've had girls talk my ear off about their vacation last week, the fact that they get to go to the Mall of America after camp today, and how their little brothers annoy them. In class though, they are more likely to raise their hand and wait their turn to tell their story compared to boys who tend to interrupt more often.
Eight year old girls are precise. They are super careful with their crafts, taking their time, making sure it's perfect. They could spend all day on their crafts if we let them. They also take a lot of time to be more detailed in their coloring or painting or whatever. This can be a blessing and a curse, because their projects look fantastic, but if we're running short on time I must encourage them on to work faster.
Eight year old girls are articulate. Don't get me wrong, boys probably ask the same amount of questions and give a lot of answers like girls, but they have those obnoxious tendencies. Girls on the other hand are much more polite and well-timed. Example. We often get animal visitors in our classrooms who are brought in by volunteers who tell the kids about the animal and then answer questions. One day we had some Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches visiting. During question time, three of the girls had the volunteer swamped with questions about the animals and where they live and what their like when they're babies and do they live in groups and so on. I was amazed at their ability to think of so many appropriate questions that they genuinely wanted answers for. There's just something about boys that prevents them from asking questions in front of a group, because more often than not it would be the girls asking questions during class. On another occasion I had a girl give a most intelligent answer at just the right moment that it shocked another zoo visitor and made me very proud. It was a farm class, and on cow day we had been explaining to the campers that cows that are producing milk eat alfalfa hay (good for milk production) and the pregnant cows (not producing milk) eat grass hay (good for baby production). Later in the day, we were visiting the cows and one of my girl campers (Mattie) overheard an adult visitor question the type of hay the cows were eating. Mattie spoke up and explained the difference. I was just celebrating my proud moment in my head when the visitor turned to me, saw my name tag and asked me what the difference between the hays. I nodded toward Mattie and explained that she was indeed right. I don't know if I have been prouder of a Zoo Camper.
I have always known that boys and girls are different (who doesn't know that?), but I think that I've really started to appreciate how they speak, act, and respond to things in different ways. As adults sometimes it's hard to respect kids and how they think and act, because often times they act, well, childish. But I've been surprised over and over again by my kids and how intelligent they are that I have a new-found respect for kids, especially eight year olds. They will never cease to amaze me.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
yes, i really do work at a zoo...
By popular request I finally have some pictures to post! I stole *ahem* borrowed my friend's camera this last week, to take pictures of the class I was teaching. Zoo Crew is a class for 7th-9th graders, intended to show them what it's like to work at a zoo. This means that we get to take them behind the scenes and show them awesomely cool stuff. I will try to narrate sufficiently enough for you to get some idea of what my average day is like...Let the games begin
On one of the days we got to meet a staff member who works for Zoo Mobile. Zoo Mobile is just what it sounds like, it's a zoo on wheels. They go to schools and hospitals and who knows where else with a van full of animals to bring the zoo to people who otherwise couldn't come. We got introduced to a couple of animals and found out what it is like to have to take care of them.
This is a bull snake...
...and this is a chinchilla...
One of the trails at the zoo is the Tropics Trail: in that enclosure right behind all those people are the lemurs.
FYI: Ring-tailed Lemurs live in female dominated social systems.
Part of the week was making some enrichment toys for the meerkats. We had the kids papier-mache some balloons, and when they were all dry...
...fill them with mealworms (mmm delicious!)
The meerkats could smell them from a mile away
One, two, three and over the fence
"I wonder what's in this weird looking ball thing...smells yummy!"
"munch munch munch. mmm it's a little dark in here..."
"Hey! let me in..."
Well hello Mr. Wolf. He is a Grey Wolf-native to MN.
Ok so, the Bird Show is my absolute favoritest show at the Zoo, I could seriously go everyday and enjoy it just as much as the last time. So in case you can't see, there is a flock of doves flying across the stage area.
Meet Coconut: a sulfur-breasted cockatoo. Yes, he is one of those birds who can imitate sounds. He can even say "Hi Coconut" and that's about it. He does know how to dance though.
This is a Red-tailed Hawk. But not your average hawk, this one just happens to be a partial albino. He is pretty cool looking up close.
Now, I know that you have always wondered where domestic chickens came from. Well, they came from this little fellow here. Meet Jack the Red Jungle Fowl.
This beautiful bird is called an African Crowned Crane, it has a wing span some where around 8 feet. It is amazing.
Meet Floyd the Rose-breasted Cockatoo. AKA Pink Floyd.
The namesakes of the new exhibit Russia's Grizzly Coast, are three Grizzly Bears who now call the MN Zoo home. This lump of cuddly goodness is Haines.
On the left is the female, Sadie, and on the right the other male, Kenai. Right now (at three years old), these bears weigh in somewhere around 300lbs each, and are around 6-7 ft tall. When they are full grown, they will be some where around 1000 lbs and 10 ft tall. Wowee Acha.
This is Melanie, the fearless leader of the week and one of my supervisors. She is busy filling their young minds with factoids about the Fishing Owl.
Et la piece de resistance: Leopards
These just happen to be the most endangered cats in the world. There are only 30 left in the wild.
And finally, this is my class.
:)
Why yes, I do wear that obnoxiously bright shirt to work EVERY day.
On one of the days we got to meet a staff member who works for Zoo Mobile. Zoo Mobile is just what it sounds like, it's a zoo on wheels. They go to schools and hospitals and who knows where else with a van full of animals to bring the zoo to people who otherwise couldn't come. We got introduced to a couple of animals and found out what it is like to have to take care of them.
This is a bull snake...
...and this is a chinchilla...
One of the trails at the zoo is the Tropics Trail: in that enclosure right behind all those people are the lemurs.
FYI: Ring-tailed Lemurs live in female dominated social systems.
Part of the week was making some enrichment toys for the meerkats. We had the kids papier-mache some balloons, and when they were all dry...
...fill them with mealworms (mmm delicious!)
The meerkats could smell them from a mile away
One, two, three and over the fence
"I wonder what's in this weird looking ball thing...smells yummy!"
"munch munch munch. mmm it's a little dark in here..."
"Hey! let me in..."
Well hello Mr. Wolf. He is a Grey Wolf-native to MN.
Ok so, the Bird Show is my absolute favoritest show at the Zoo, I could seriously go everyday and enjoy it just as much as the last time. So in case you can't see, there is a flock of doves flying across the stage area.
Meet Coconut: a sulfur-breasted cockatoo. Yes, he is one of those birds who can imitate sounds. He can even say "Hi Coconut" and that's about it. He does know how to dance though.
This is a Red-tailed Hawk. But not your average hawk, this one just happens to be a partial albino. He is pretty cool looking up close.
Now, I know that you have always wondered where domestic chickens came from. Well, they came from this little fellow here. Meet Jack the Red Jungle Fowl.
This beautiful bird is called an African Crowned Crane, it has a wing span some where around 8 feet. It is amazing.
Meet Floyd the Rose-breasted Cockatoo. AKA Pink Floyd.
The namesakes of the new exhibit Russia's Grizzly Coast, are three Grizzly Bears who now call the MN Zoo home. This lump of cuddly goodness is Haines.
On the left is the female, Sadie, and on the right the other male, Kenai. Right now (at three years old), these bears weigh in somewhere around 300lbs each, and are around 6-7 ft tall. When they are full grown, they will be some where around 1000 lbs and 10 ft tall. Wowee Acha.
This is Melanie, the fearless leader of the week and one of my supervisors. She is busy filling their young minds with factoids about the Fishing Owl.
Et la piece de resistance: Leopards
These just happen to be the most endangered cats in the world. There are only 30 left in the wild.
And finally, this is my class.
:)
Why yes, I do wear that obnoxiously bright shirt to work EVERY day.
Friday, July 18, 2008
walking two moons
So I have found that this job has given me several new perspectives on life. I realized that I had all of these preconceived ideas in my head about the world, that are being molded and changed as my summer goes on. The most significant probably has to do with life and death.
Now, as I have already described, I never used to be a snake person. In fact, I HATED snakes (with a passion). They were just too creepy and scary to be worth my time. But I am here now to say that I was being an intolerant, close-minded speciesist (def: speciesism: hatred or intolerance towards certain species, generally not your own.). I would like to admit my shortcomings, and confess publicly my wrong-doings. These (amazing) reptiles are another piece to God's awesome creation, another animal just trying to survive in a harsh world. And I have found that after having had close, very close, contact with the creatures, my prejudices are being undone. I actually think they are fascinating animals.
So where does the life and death part come in? Less than a year ago, if someone told me that I would be feeding live rats to a couple of snakes, I probably would have flipped out. Before working at a zoo, I would not be able to emotionally handle watching an animal kill another animal and consume it. Especially if there are cute fuzzy rats involved.
Well folks, I am a changed woman.
This week I assisted in the feeding of Sheena the Boa Constrictor and Big Charlie the Bull Snake. I was even the one to pull the rats out of their cage to be put in with the snakes. How could I do that? How could I, someone who's supposed to be taking care of animals, deliberately sacrifice the life of one to feed the other? That's were the life and death, circle of life thing comes in. See, I have come to terms with the bigger picture: the rat needed to die so the snake can live, someday that snake will die and decompose to make soil to grow plants that some rat will eat so that it can feed another snake. The cow needs to die so that I can live, so that eventually I will die and fertilize a pasture for a cow to graze in. I'm obviously simplifying the concept quite a bit, but the point is clear. Every living being is so intricately connected with every other living being that none of us can survive without the others, but at the same time we can't survive with all the others. Everything that lives must die, and everything that dies provides life for something else.
If nothing could die then nothing could live, and if nothing could live then nothing could die. And what would we have? Nothing.
This snake feeding frenzy was spectated by a class of 7th-9th graders. As far as the majority went, most were way excited to see the snakes eat (by the way the process looks something like this: 1. rat gets put in snake cage and door is shut 2. rat runs around confused of its new surroundings 3. rat meets snake 4. snake realizes it's feeding time 5. rat realizes it's going to be food 6. snake waits patiently to give rat false sense of security 7. snake strikes rat with head to confuse and/or knock unconscious 8. snake wraps body around rat and squeezes until life has left rat 9. snake unhinges jaw and swallows rat whole). There were a few girls who were too emotionally attached to the rats who protested the whole ordeal. Yay for teaching moments. Being a class where we talk about zoo careers, and what it takes to be a zoo keeper, we explained that this is just the circle of life. The snake is a carnivore who needs to eat meat. We are the keepers who need to take care of the snake, so that means having to see/touch/sacrifice animals to feed other animals.
In retrospect, I questioned whether or not I was becoming desensitized to death. I mean I watched a rat die, and enjoyed it, how much more desensitized could I be? But then I realized that I just have a greater appreciation for what death means in different contexts and what it means to have life. Seeing a rat die so that the snake can live is a very fascinating death. It is the converting of one life into a completely different one, and it is understanding how the natural world interacts with itself. The death of almost an entire species of animal because of poaching and habitat loss is disturbing because it is unnecessary and selfish. The death of a grandparent that lived a long life is emotionally hard to handle, but once again is the natural order, circle of life. The death of a child because it didn't have enough to eat is social injustice and not something to be taken lightly.
I guess I'm just starting to fully grasp what death means from a biological stance. The death of something means the life of something else. So yes, it's sad that the rat has to die for the snake to live, but isn't much more amazing how the life of the rat provides life for the snake?
Now, as I have already described, I never used to be a snake person. In fact, I HATED snakes (with a passion). They were just too creepy and scary to be worth my time. But I am here now to say that I was being an intolerant, close-minded speciesist (def: speciesism: hatred or intolerance towards certain species, generally not your own.). I would like to admit my shortcomings, and confess publicly my wrong-doings. These (amazing) reptiles are another piece to God's awesome creation, another animal just trying to survive in a harsh world. And I have found that after having had close, very close, contact with the creatures, my prejudices are being undone. I actually think they are fascinating animals.
So where does the life and death part come in? Less than a year ago, if someone told me that I would be feeding live rats to a couple of snakes, I probably would have flipped out. Before working at a zoo, I would not be able to emotionally handle watching an animal kill another animal and consume it. Especially if there are cute fuzzy rats involved.
Well folks, I am a changed woman.
This week I assisted in the feeding of Sheena the Boa Constrictor and Big Charlie the Bull Snake. I was even the one to pull the rats out of their cage to be put in with the snakes. How could I do that? How could I, someone who's supposed to be taking care of animals, deliberately sacrifice the life of one to feed the other? That's were the life and death, circle of life thing comes in. See, I have come to terms with the bigger picture: the rat needed to die so the snake can live, someday that snake will die and decompose to make soil to grow plants that some rat will eat so that it can feed another snake. The cow needs to die so that I can live, so that eventually I will die and fertilize a pasture for a cow to graze in. I'm obviously simplifying the concept quite a bit, but the point is clear. Every living being is so intricately connected with every other living being that none of us can survive without the others, but at the same time we can't survive with all the others. Everything that lives must die, and everything that dies provides life for something else.
If nothing could die then nothing could live, and if nothing could live then nothing could die. And what would we have? Nothing.
This snake feeding frenzy was spectated by a class of 7th-9th graders. As far as the majority went, most were way excited to see the snakes eat (by the way the process looks something like this: 1. rat gets put in snake cage and door is shut 2. rat runs around confused of its new surroundings 3. rat meets snake 4. snake realizes it's feeding time 5. rat realizes it's going to be food 6. snake waits patiently to give rat false sense of security 7. snake strikes rat with head to confuse and/or knock unconscious 8. snake wraps body around rat and squeezes until life has left rat 9. snake unhinges jaw and swallows rat whole). There were a few girls who were too emotionally attached to the rats who protested the whole ordeal. Yay for teaching moments. Being a class where we talk about zoo careers, and what it takes to be a zoo keeper, we explained that this is just the circle of life. The snake is a carnivore who needs to eat meat. We are the keepers who need to take care of the snake, so that means having to see/touch/sacrifice animals to feed other animals.
In retrospect, I questioned whether or not I was becoming desensitized to death. I mean I watched a rat die, and enjoyed it, how much more desensitized could I be? But then I realized that I just have a greater appreciation for what death means in different contexts and what it means to have life. Seeing a rat die so that the snake can live is a very fascinating death. It is the converting of one life into a completely different one, and it is understanding how the natural world interacts with itself. The death of almost an entire species of animal because of poaching and habitat loss is disturbing because it is unnecessary and selfish. The death of a grandparent that lived a long life is emotionally hard to handle, but once again is the natural order, circle of life. The death of a child because it didn't have enough to eat is social injustice and not something to be taken lightly.
I guess I'm just starting to fully grasp what death means from a biological stance. The death of something means the life of something else. So yes, it's sad that the rat has to die for the snake to live, but isn't much more amazing how the life of the rat provides life for the snake?
Monday, July 14, 2008
This week the trend Pt 2
Chicken Day
That's right folks, time to clean the chicken coops. There is a constant flow of eggs and chicks at the zoo: eggs being laid, incubated, hatched, and little fuzzy chicks running around. This is perfect for Zoo Camp, because the kids get to hold the chicks. It is an amazing means of motivation for cleaning the coops, promising the kids that they will be able to hold them as soon as everything is spic and span. But once everything was finally clean, there came the flood of "That little black one is my favorite! Pick him!" and "No! Pick that fluffy yellow one..." Of course me and Debbie both knew that we would only be picking the easiest to catch. Then comes the amazing learning opportunity--it is indescribable to explain to a child the process of the chick forming in the egg over a span of 21 days and then see the idea click once they have that chick in their hand. Faces light up and there's a real connection from little human to little animal. Honestly, you can show as many pictures and lecture as much as you want, but real understanding of animals and biology comes from real experience.
A day of innocent chicks and pop-up cards ended in somewhat of a disaster. I had left the zoo almost immediately after class that day to pick up some hours at a paying job, so the following story I recount in retrospect.
Some of the Campers at the Zoo are enrolled in both morning and afternoon classes (we affectionately call them Full Days). As there is about an hour between classes, these Full Days are shepherded to a classroom, and sat down in front of a TV to eat lunch. One of my Full Days was an eight-year-old by the name of Marla. Marla is a spunky little girl, and a Zoo Camp veteran-she's probably been to more camps over the years than I've taught so far.
At the end of lunch, all the kids were putting their stuff together and cleaning up to get to afternoon class. What happened next was described as Marla losing all sense of hearing and sight. "It was like she was struck blind and deaf simultaneously" said a Volunteer who was there. As the rest of the kids were leaving, Marla started wandering around bumping into chairs and tables, and that's when they knew something was wrong. One of the Education staff was called in from the adjacent office, and she started trying to talk to Marla but there was no response. Then came a series of radio calls to Health and Safety and a call to 911. Before Health and Safety had a chance to get there, Marla seized, lost all muscle control, and fell to the ground unconscious. Moments later, a nurse working at Zoomobile, responded to the radio calls and was able to take vitals and monitor her until the ambulance arrived. The ambulance didn't get there until a good 20 minutes after 911 was called, and Marla was still unconscious. She was immediately taken to the children's hospital where a long afternoon and night of medical tests. The good news is that we found out the next day that she is doing well, and they don't anticipate any permanent damage from this seizure. She will be on preventative seizure medicine for the next few years.
As Debbie recounted the incident to me, we couldn't help but wonder about the what-ifs. What if it had happened even an hour earlier? What if she seized when she was at the farm? Health and Safety wouldn't have gotten there soon enough, the ambulance could have been even longer. what if what if what if. It still shakes me up a bit to think about it. And even though I had only known her for three days, there is a certain connection there that wouldn't let me stop worrying about her. Marla, of course, was absent from the rest of the week of Farm Camp. When Patti talked to her dad on the phone, Marla was worried and sad about missing Cow day and Horse/Rabbit day. So we put together a packet of activities for her to do at home and had our kids make a Get Well Soon card for her.
Please keep Marla and her family in your prayers as she recovers from the seizure.
Cow Day
Cow Day did not involve any manure, but instead spreading straw, filling mangers with hay, and sweeping. We learned the difference between alfalfa hay and grass hay, which cows eat which and why. Godiva (Brown Swiss) and Charlotte (Dutch Belt) gave birth 3 and 2 months ago to Tolbie and Charlie (respectively), and are now producing large quantities of milk. The alfalfa hay is better for milk production and makes sure that these cows have enough umpf to make all that milk. (p.s. the milk produced at the MN Zoo is processed into cheese to be used at Pizza Hut and Taco Bell) The grass hay is fed to the other cows who are not producing milk seeing as they are all pregnant. Very pregnant. Lacey (Red and White Holstein) and Dixie (Black and White Holstein) are both due on August 19th, Fiona (Ayrshire) is due on August 31st(?), and Karol (Jersey) is due sometime in September. And let me tell you, cows in general are very large animals, but pregnant cows are amazingly huge. The other cows in the Dairy barn are: Libby (two year old daughter of Lacey), Belle (one year old daughter of Fiona), and Daphne (one year old daughter of Dixie). They are all considered heifers, seeing as they have not had any offspring, but rumor has it that Libby may be on the motherhood market soon.
I had a proud teacher moment that morning after the daily milking demo. My kids were mingling with the other visitors and cows, when I overheard my kid Mattie telling a woman about the difference between the hays that the cows were eating. The woman listened to Mattie's explanation and immediately turned, saw my official looking name tag, and asked me what the difference was. I gave the exact answer that Mattie had given (because she was spot on), and chuckled to myself as the woman had a revelation that this eight-year-old was smarter than she had anticipated.
Cow day was successful and fairly uneventful, though fantastically fun to show the kids how to make glue and butter from milk products.
It was later in the afternoon that the excitement kicked in...
I was in an indoor theater (with no windows) listening to a presentation by my boss, when we were abruptly interrupted by visitors being shuffled in by the buckets. Hearing the words "Thunderstorm and tornado warnings" we were no longer confused. Venturing into the hallway was like entering a different world. It was complete chaos, and beyond the chaos, a night-like sky spitting rain and wind with force enough to make trees hover horizontally. I haven't quite memorized the levels of evacuation at the zoo, but it's something like this: Severe thunderstorm: get everyone inside, Chance of tornado: to the tunnels! In other words, there were thousands of people crowding into a relatively small indoor/underground space. Amidst the chaos of the general public, there was another chaotic crisis coming to the surface in the Education Department. The storm had such great timing that it hit just as the afternoon campers had been dropped off, but were still outside. I don't know exactly what happened, but I do know that the next thing we knew we were missing teachers and students to the floods of water and dripping people. My supervisor, Melanie, had found 6 students by themselves with no teacher, as well as half a preschool class with teacher but not most of the students. While they took refuge in the theater, I set off in a grand search to find any and all Zoo campers that I could. I ran into a teacher doing the same, so we went together to the tunnels. (The tunnels circle under the Tropics trail, with different holding areas and kitchens around every corner) We immediately found 3 teachers and 6 students sopping wet and confused. The kids didn't know what was going on, and the teachers didn't know where most of their kids were. We brought them back to the theater and ventured off to find the rest of the crew. Now for those who are not aware, every Zoo Camp teacher and student wears a bright goldish-yellow t-shirt. These shirts were the center of much ridicule and mocking at the beginning of the summer, joking about how hard it would be to lose a Zoo Camper. Well after that day, we were eating our words. It took about five minutes for us to find the rest of the campers, wet, scared, but safe. They had been stranded with a teacher and two interns, and moved from space to space until we found them.
The storm itself, brought down trees all over Zoo property and caused more trouble than anyone had anticipated. A hole was found in the Bison enclosure's fence, which was reason enough to close the Northern trail for the rest of the day. Another tree fell into the Lynx enclosure, at just the right spot and angle to provide a bridge to freedom for the cat. Word has it that keepers could be seen guarding the new exit until Maintenance could get there to cut the tree away. All in all, no animals escaped and no one (animal or human) got hurt. But it was quite the exciting and scary day for all of the Zoo staff.
I will be taking a camera to work this week, so I promise there will be pictures soon to prove that I really truly do work at the zoo... :)
That's right folks, time to clean the chicken coops. There is a constant flow of eggs and chicks at the zoo: eggs being laid, incubated, hatched, and little fuzzy chicks running around. This is perfect for Zoo Camp, because the kids get to hold the chicks. It is an amazing means of motivation for cleaning the coops, promising the kids that they will be able to hold them as soon as everything is spic and span. But once everything was finally clean, there came the flood of "That little black one is my favorite! Pick him!" and "No! Pick that fluffy yellow one..." Of course me and Debbie both knew that we would only be picking the easiest to catch. Then comes the amazing learning opportunity--it is indescribable to explain to a child the process of the chick forming in the egg over a span of 21 days and then see the idea click once they have that chick in their hand. Faces light up and there's a real connection from little human to little animal. Honestly, you can show as many pictures and lecture as much as you want, but real understanding of animals and biology comes from real experience.
A day of innocent chicks and pop-up cards ended in somewhat of a disaster. I had left the zoo almost immediately after class that day to pick up some hours at a paying job, so the following story I recount in retrospect.
Some of the Campers at the Zoo are enrolled in both morning and afternoon classes (we affectionately call them Full Days). As there is about an hour between classes, these Full Days are shepherded to a classroom, and sat down in front of a TV to eat lunch. One of my Full Days was an eight-year-old by the name of Marla. Marla is a spunky little girl, and a Zoo Camp veteran-she's probably been to more camps over the years than I've taught so far.
At the end of lunch, all the kids were putting their stuff together and cleaning up to get to afternoon class. What happened next was described as Marla losing all sense of hearing and sight. "It was like she was struck blind and deaf simultaneously" said a Volunteer who was there. As the rest of the kids were leaving, Marla started wandering around bumping into chairs and tables, and that's when they knew something was wrong. One of the Education staff was called in from the adjacent office, and she started trying to talk to Marla but there was no response. Then came a series of radio calls to Health and Safety and a call to 911. Before Health and Safety had a chance to get there, Marla seized, lost all muscle control, and fell to the ground unconscious. Moments later, a nurse working at Zoomobile, responded to the radio calls and was able to take vitals and monitor her until the ambulance arrived. The ambulance didn't get there until a good 20 minutes after 911 was called, and Marla was still unconscious. She was immediately taken to the children's hospital where a long afternoon and night of medical tests. The good news is that we found out the next day that she is doing well, and they don't anticipate any permanent damage from this seizure. She will be on preventative seizure medicine for the next few years.
As Debbie recounted the incident to me, we couldn't help but wonder about the what-ifs. What if it had happened even an hour earlier? What if she seized when she was at the farm? Health and Safety wouldn't have gotten there soon enough, the ambulance could have been even longer. what if what if what if. It still shakes me up a bit to think about it. And even though I had only known her for three days, there is a certain connection there that wouldn't let me stop worrying about her. Marla, of course, was absent from the rest of the week of Farm Camp. When Patti talked to her dad on the phone, Marla was worried and sad about missing Cow day and Horse/Rabbit day. So we put together a packet of activities for her to do at home and had our kids make a Get Well Soon card for her.
Please keep Marla and her family in your prayers as she recovers from the seizure.
Cow Day
Cow Day did not involve any manure, but instead spreading straw, filling mangers with hay, and sweeping. We learned the difference between alfalfa hay and grass hay, which cows eat which and why. Godiva (Brown Swiss) and Charlotte (Dutch Belt) gave birth 3 and 2 months ago to Tolbie and Charlie (respectively), and are now producing large quantities of milk. The alfalfa hay is better for milk production and makes sure that these cows have enough umpf to make all that milk. (p.s. the milk produced at the MN Zoo is processed into cheese to be used at Pizza Hut and Taco Bell) The grass hay is fed to the other cows who are not producing milk seeing as they are all pregnant. Very pregnant. Lacey (Red and White Holstein) and Dixie (Black and White Holstein) are both due on August 19th, Fiona (Ayrshire) is due on August 31st(?), and Karol (Jersey) is due sometime in September. And let me tell you, cows in general are very large animals, but pregnant cows are amazingly huge. The other cows in the Dairy barn are: Libby (two year old daughter of Lacey), Belle (one year old daughter of Fiona), and Daphne (one year old daughter of Dixie). They are all considered heifers, seeing as they have not had any offspring, but rumor has it that Libby may be on the motherhood market soon.
I had a proud teacher moment that morning after the daily milking demo. My kids were mingling with the other visitors and cows, when I overheard my kid Mattie telling a woman about the difference between the hays that the cows were eating. The woman listened to Mattie's explanation and immediately turned, saw my official looking name tag, and asked me what the difference was. I gave the exact answer that Mattie had given (because she was spot on), and chuckled to myself as the woman had a revelation that this eight-year-old was smarter than she had anticipated.
Cow day was successful and fairly uneventful, though fantastically fun to show the kids how to make glue and butter from milk products.
It was later in the afternoon that the excitement kicked in...
I was in an indoor theater (with no windows) listening to a presentation by my boss, when we were abruptly interrupted by visitors being shuffled in by the buckets. Hearing the words "Thunderstorm and tornado warnings" we were no longer confused. Venturing into the hallway was like entering a different world. It was complete chaos, and beyond the chaos, a night-like sky spitting rain and wind with force enough to make trees hover horizontally. I haven't quite memorized the levels of evacuation at the zoo, but it's something like this: Severe thunderstorm: get everyone inside, Chance of tornado: to the tunnels! In other words, there were thousands of people crowding into a relatively small indoor/underground space. Amidst the chaos of the general public, there was another chaotic crisis coming to the surface in the Education Department. The storm had such great timing that it hit just as the afternoon campers had been dropped off, but were still outside. I don't know exactly what happened, but I do know that the next thing we knew we were missing teachers and students to the floods of water and dripping people. My supervisor, Melanie, had found 6 students by themselves with no teacher, as well as half a preschool class with teacher but not most of the students. While they took refuge in the theater, I set off in a grand search to find any and all Zoo campers that I could. I ran into a teacher doing the same, so we went together to the tunnels. (The tunnels circle under the Tropics trail, with different holding areas and kitchens around every corner) We immediately found 3 teachers and 6 students sopping wet and confused. The kids didn't know what was going on, and the teachers didn't know where most of their kids were. We brought them back to the theater and ventured off to find the rest of the crew. Now for those who are not aware, every Zoo Camp teacher and student wears a bright goldish-yellow t-shirt. These shirts were the center of much ridicule and mocking at the beginning of the summer, joking about how hard it would be to lose a Zoo Camper. Well after that day, we were eating our words. It took about five minutes for us to find the rest of the campers, wet, scared, but safe. They had been stranded with a teacher and two interns, and moved from space to space until we found them.
The storm itself, brought down trees all over Zoo property and caused more trouble than anyone had anticipated. A hole was found in the Bison enclosure's fence, which was reason enough to close the Northern trail for the rest of the day. Another tree fell into the Lynx enclosure, at just the right spot and angle to provide a bridge to freedom for the cat. Word has it that keepers could be seen guarding the new exit until Maintenance could get there to cut the tree away. All in all, no animals escaped and no one (animal or human) got hurt. But it was quite the exciting and scary day for all of the Zoo staff.
I will be taking a camera to work this week, so I promise there will be pictures soon to prove that I really truly do work at the zoo... :)
Friday, July 11, 2008
This week the trend
Welcome back to another episode of If Amy Ran the Zoo. Here once again is Amy, providing you with a play by play of this week at the Zoo.
This week the trend was to test the limits and patience of the education department with anything and everything possible. I think I speak for the entire department when I say thank goodness it's Friday.
Goat Day
It was just like any other Monday. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and there were a lot of kids arriving at the Zoo for another week of Zoo Camp. My morning was off to a rocky start, after driving back from Madison the previous night and finally crawling into my bed around 3 a.m. But there I was, pulling into the parking lot at 7:15 after a whopping 3 hours of sleep. Besides that, the first day of Farmyard Connection (Farm Zoo Camp for third and fourth graders) went smoothly. In this class, we teach the kids about all the things farm animals do for humans and give them hands on farm chore experience. That's right, every morning we would clean out a different barn and meet the animals (and their waste) face to face. After waving goodbye to the last camper, I headed for my car, the hope of an afternoon nap being my only source of strength. Having not been to the office all day, I figured I would stop by quickly to check for any messages that may be lingering for me. It was a good thing I did, because I found out that I was on SES Animal Care duty for the week...So long afternoon nap...
The School of Environmental Studies is a high school on zoo property, that has an overarching focus of environmental issues (as the name would suggest). This school has several unique characteristics, all of which I do not have the room or patience to explain, but one is very pertinent to my intern experience. There is a certain room in this school that is filled to the brim with animals, lots of them. These animals are used for teaching and such, but are rather lonely during the long summer days, when there are no high school students to take care of them. So who other than the Education interns were volunteered for the task. Here is the count of creatures at last inventory:
A parakeet, a dove, two cats, a rabbit, a painted turtle, a bull snake, a boa constrictor, a hognose snake, two mice, fifteen rats, three chinchillas, a gecko, and a tank of salt water fish.
All of whom need to be fed, watered, and cleaned up after.
Everything was going fine, I mean as fine as cleaning 18 cages/tanks can go, when my partner, Sonia, and I realized that Sheena the boa constrictor needed to be soaked again. Sheena has been having some health issues, and actually was rather sick during the months of April and May. One of the treatments has been to let her soak her whole body in a warm bath of water to help her skin rehydrate. To give you a perspective, Sheena measures in at around 8-9 feet long and about 100 lbs. I don't know if you have ever had to soak a rather large snake, but it is no easy feat. The following is a play by play of what happened that afternoon...
We soon realized that neither of us had ever held a boa before, and this was a very important step in the process of giving her a bath. So we went ahead and filled the kiddie pool, and dragged it as close to the boa cage as possible. After making sure all of the other animals were properly secured, we began mentally preparing ourselves for what would be our first boa handling experience. Now in case you ever have occasion to hold a snake, especially a poisonous or large snake, here is the snake holding theory: Hold it right behind the head and be sure to support its entire body (You always want to know where the head is and you don't want to damage its spine). With this theory in mind we approached Sheena, and Sonia (thankfully) volunteered to take care of the snake's head if I would help support the body. Sheena must have smelled our fear from the first moment we knew we had to take her out, because she happened to be coiled in a position where her head was at the very back, looking at us. Boas aren't poisonous, nor do they have damaging teeth (they constrict their prey and swallow it whole), but you probably wouldn't want to stick your hand straight at the snake's face to grab it by the neck either. After assessing the situation, Sonia and I regrouped and decided that I would pull the body out first and then she would grab the head. A couple of awkward movements and screams later, there we were, boa in hand, heading for the kiddie pool. We were so proud of ourselves, until moments after submerging her, there came a series of hisses from her mouth. Last time I checked, a hissing snake is not a happy snake. Sonia and I flipped out. We made the split second decision that we didn't want an angry snake out of her cage, so in a flash we had her back in her cage.
It was a traumatizing experience, that would only be continued on Tuesday....
Pig Day
Today was by far the messiest and stinkiest clean up adventure of the week at the farm. Yes, pigs are as messy and stinky and gross as rumor has it. But the kids were troopers, and we had all that poop scooped in less than an hour. But, no my day would not end with pig poop...in fact it was far from over.
Sonia and I arrived at SES, ready for another round. We decided that since the boa was supposed to be soaked for 15 minutes (cut severely short the previous day), we would get it over with first, before tackling the other animals. Oh and having been fed the week before (thank goodness!), Sheena had left a nice large mess in her cage for us. So we knew we had to get her out for sure today to clean it. More mental preparation and we had her out and in the pool.
You have no idea how unnerving it is to see this snake, that wraps around the kiddie pool almost one and a half times, just chillin without restraints. And thus ended day number two.
...to be continued...
This week the trend was to test the limits and patience of the education department with anything and everything possible. I think I speak for the entire department when I say thank goodness it's Friday.
Goat Day
It was just like any other Monday. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and there were a lot of kids arriving at the Zoo for another week of Zoo Camp. My morning was off to a rocky start, after driving back from Madison the previous night and finally crawling into my bed around 3 a.m. But there I was, pulling into the parking lot at 7:15 after a whopping 3 hours of sleep. Besides that, the first day of Farmyard Connection (Farm Zoo Camp for third and fourth graders) went smoothly. In this class, we teach the kids about all the things farm animals do for humans and give them hands on farm chore experience. That's right, every morning we would clean out a different barn and meet the animals (and their waste) face to face. After waving goodbye to the last camper, I headed for my car, the hope of an afternoon nap being my only source of strength. Having not been to the office all day, I figured I would stop by quickly to check for any messages that may be lingering for me. It was a good thing I did, because I found out that I was on SES Animal Care duty for the week...So long afternoon nap...
The School of Environmental Studies is a high school on zoo property, that has an overarching focus of environmental issues (as the name would suggest). This school has several unique characteristics, all of which I do not have the room or patience to explain, but one is very pertinent to my intern experience. There is a certain room in this school that is filled to the brim with animals, lots of them. These animals are used for teaching and such, but are rather lonely during the long summer days, when there are no high school students to take care of them. So who other than the Education interns were volunteered for the task. Here is the count of creatures at last inventory:
A parakeet, a dove, two cats, a rabbit, a painted turtle, a bull snake, a boa constrictor, a hognose snake, two mice, fifteen rats, three chinchillas, a gecko, and a tank of salt water fish.
All of whom need to be fed, watered, and cleaned up after.
Everything was going fine, I mean as fine as cleaning 18 cages/tanks can go, when my partner, Sonia, and I realized that Sheena the boa constrictor needed to be soaked again. Sheena has been having some health issues, and actually was rather sick during the months of April and May. One of the treatments has been to let her soak her whole body in a warm bath of water to help her skin rehydrate. To give you a perspective, Sheena measures in at around 8-9 feet long and about 100 lbs. I don't know if you have ever had to soak a rather large snake, but it is no easy feat. The following is a play by play of what happened that afternoon...
We soon realized that neither of us had ever held a boa before, and this was a very important step in the process of giving her a bath. So we went ahead and filled the kiddie pool, and dragged it as close to the boa cage as possible. After making sure all of the other animals were properly secured, we began mentally preparing ourselves for what would be our first boa handling experience. Now in case you ever have occasion to hold a snake, especially a poisonous or large snake, here is the snake holding theory: Hold it right behind the head and be sure to support its entire body (You always want to know where the head is and you don't want to damage its spine). With this theory in mind we approached Sheena, and Sonia (thankfully) volunteered to take care of the snake's head if I would help support the body. Sheena must have smelled our fear from the first moment we knew we had to take her out, because she happened to be coiled in a position where her head was at the very back, looking at us. Boas aren't poisonous, nor do they have damaging teeth (they constrict their prey and swallow it whole), but you probably wouldn't want to stick your hand straight at the snake's face to grab it by the neck either. After assessing the situation, Sonia and I regrouped and decided that I would pull the body out first and then she would grab the head. A couple of awkward movements and screams later, there we were, boa in hand, heading for the kiddie pool. We were so proud of ourselves, until moments after submerging her, there came a series of hisses from her mouth. Last time I checked, a hissing snake is not a happy snake. Sonia and I flipped out. We made the split second decision that we didn't want an angry snake out of her cage, so in a flash we had her back in her cage.
It was a traumatizing experience, that would only be continued on Tuesday....
Pig Day
Today was by far the messiest and stinkiest clean up adventure of the week at the farm. Yes, pigs are as messy and stinky and gross as rumor has it. But the kids were troopers, and we had all that poop scooped in less than an hour. But, no my day would not end with pig poop...in fact it was far from over.
Sonia and I arrived at SES, ready for another round. We decided that since the boa was supposed to be soaked for 15 minutes (cut severely short the previous day), we would get it over with first, before tackling the other animals. Oh and having been fed the week before (thank goodness!), Sheena had left a nice large mess in her cage for us. So we knew we had to get her out for sure today to clean it. More mental preparation and we had her out and in the pool.
You have no idea how unnerving it is to see this snake, that wraps around the kiddie pool almost one and a half times, just chillin without restraints. And thus ended day number two.
...to be continued...
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
oh baby
One of the Zoo's main purposes (and a huge strength) is breeding. A lot of it has to do with conservation efforts--trying to build and strengthen endangered animal populations. So something that we are rarely short of are babies babies babies. I am here to inform you of some of the exciting additions to the Zoo.
Wild Asian Horses (aka Przewalski Horses) have called the Minnesota Zoo "home" for about 21 years. I am pleased and excited to announce that the first ever Wild Asian foal was born at the Zoo on Monday June 30th. It was quite the pleasant surprise to take a preschool class about horses to see them and see the two-day old baby for the first time.
On June 24th, a new member of the Snow Monkey family was born. This is, I believe, the second baby to be born this year, the first was born near the end of April. Snow Monkeys are another one of those animals who are not so good looking when they are adults, but unbelievably cute as babies.
If you were to come to the Zoo, you would also have the chance to see other babies born within the last couple of months. These include: a 2 month old Takin, 2 young camels, 6 5-day-old piglets (on the farm), two calves barely two months old each, those 8 wild boars, and some baby fishing cat kittens. Come in August, and there will be 4 more calves, seeing as 4 of the dairy cows are very very pregnant right now :)
Animals they hope to breed include the Amur Leopards and Duchess, our female farm horse. Duchess has been sent away to Texas to meet a boy horse, and to hopefully do her business, so that she can come home and give birth. Of course, I'm not about to go around telling my preschoolers "Oh yeah, we sent Duchess away so that she could have sex and become pregnant." Instead, I tell them: "We do have a girl horse too, but she's on vacation right now". Normally, this statement satisfies their little curious minds, but once one of the girls asked me why she was on vacation...After being thoroughly blown over, I replied that Duchess went to make friends with a boy horse...
prairie dogs, pronghorns, and perplexed pigs
The good news is I have survived another week of preschool. Because there is no Zoo Camp on the 4th of July (woohoo!), it was four days of single day preschool classes this week. Everyday I got to work with a different group of kids learning about a different topic. So this week was Leaping Lizards!, Flutter-by, and Horsin' around (Thursday's class, Wooly Wonders, was canceled). Some highlights included seeing a bearded dragon in class (again), being attacked by 5 year olds pretending to be komodo dragons, seeing the kids' joy that a butterfly landed on them in the Butterfly Garden, and taking 10 kids into VERY crowded bathrooms for a bathroom break (don't worry, I didn't lose any). Oh and reading the Very Hungry Caterpillar out loud for the class, it is one of my all time favorite books. It was a good and fast week, moving from activity to activity to satisfy the short attention spans of the kids.
On Wednesday, I was once again on the Farm for Horsin' Around. Seeing as I had gotten to the Zoo early that day, I decided to walk the long way to the farm. This consisted of walking through the new exhibit Russia's Grizzly Coast and halfway through the Northern Trail, probably close to a mile in all. Neither the sea otters nor grizzlies were out yet, so I kept moving to see if the wild boars were out and about. Sure enough, not only were they out, but it was feeding time. Just so you know, when the Zoo first procured these wild pigs, there were two: a girl and a boy. Now, these wild ancestors of domesticated pigs reproduce at a rate extremely similar to rabbits, if not faster. So should you come to the Zoo these days, you will meet Mama wild boar, Papa boar, and 8 little tykes. Yes, 8 adorably fuzzy striped animals that will soon be as dreadfully ugly as their parents. Anyway, Mom and Dad wild boars are fairly good parents, so much so that they protect their little boarlets while they eat. Let's just say that had there not been a moat and wall between me and them, I may not have lived to tell the tale. Papa boar was ready to charge when he saw me, and followed me as I passed (rather quickly) passed the exhibit. Yeah, it was a little unnerving. Needless to say these were not the only animals with their eyes on me as I strolled through the Zoo that morning....
I happened upon the prairie dogs next, one of the more popular animals. There are are 3 things we know for sure about these cute creatures:
1. There is always one standing on a rock on its hind legs, head stuck in the air. This one would be the designated "guard dog", to keep watch for any kind of predator (owls, hawks, etc). Should he/she see something coming towards the colony, he/she will start squealing and every prairie dog will squeal too and then duck into the nearest tunnel. Obviously, there aren't that many predators to hunt them at the Zoo, but this is a natural behavior that they can't help but do in the Zoo too.
2. There is always at least one trying to escape. The enclosure is made of solid metal walls, which have had their paint scratched off in several places due to a prairie dog literally jumping up and down along it. I have yet to figure out if it's only one or two constantly trying to escape, or if they all take turns. A few years ago, Zoo staff found some tunnels that had been dug under the wall leading straight into the Bison exhibit. After that, new walls were installed to go 20 feet below the surface.
3. No one knows how many prairie dogs inhabit the exhibit. That's right, the prairie dogs are the one and only unknown animal population at the Zoo. The explanation is very simple actually: Lots of tunnels and lots of baby-making.
...As I continued on my journey, the Pronghorns watched me the entire way along their exhibit as well as the camels, who were all huddled right in the middle of their pond chewing their cud. I am absolutely convinced that the animals have just as much watching their human counterparts as we do watching them.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
(Parentheses)
(This is just an unconnected thought to any other post...)
I don't know if a lot of you know it, but I really like to name things...You know animate and inanimate objects of different sorts. (Ex: I live with my fish Ezekial Zephaniah, my computer George, my printer Georgina, and my houseplants Kurt the Third and Gus) So when I found out that the big Leopard Shark in the Tropics Trail wasn't named, I was appalled! I decided to name her Sheila. Sheila the Shark. But of course it wasn't good enough if I just called her Sheila; everyone needs to call her Sheila. My theory is that if I start telling all of my Zoo Campers that her name is Sheila and passing on the rumor, eventually everyone will call her Sheila and it will stick permanently. So far, I have at least 3 Zoo Camp teachers, the other interns, and myself telling everyone her name, so I have high hopes for making it stick... Honestly, what better way to make my mark than to name an animal at the Zoo?
During my first grade class, the kids decided to name a bunch of the animals as we walked through the Zoo. These names mostly consisted of adjectives (i.e. fluffy, sparkles, and rainbow) and Mr. Nelson. There are at least 15 animals who have now been christened Mr. Nelson. I'm still trying to figure that one out. Let's just say I'm very excited to be rubbing off on my kids....
I don't know if a lot of you know it, but I really like to name things...You know animate and inanimate objects of different sorts. (Ex: I live with my fish Ezekial Zephaniah, my computer George, my printer Georgina, and my houseplants Kurt the Third and Gus) So when I found out that the big Leopard Shark in the Tropics Trail wasn't named, I was appalled! I decided to name her Sheila. Sheila the Shark. But of course it wasn't good enough if I just called her Sheila; everyone needs to call her Sheila. My theory is that if I start telling all of my Zoo Campers that her name is Sheila and passing on the rumor, eventually everyone will call her Sheila and it will stick permanently. So far, I have at least 3 Zoo Camp teachers, the other interns, and myself telling everyone her name, so I have high hopes for making it stick... Honestly, what better way to make my mark than to name an animal at the Zoo?
During my first grade class, the kids decided to name a bunch of the animals as we walked through the Zoo. These names mostly consisted of adjectives (i.e. fluffy, sparkles, and rainbow) and Mr. Nelson. There are at least 15 animals who have now been christened Mr. Nelson. I'm still trying to figure that one out. Let's just say I'm very excited to be rubbing off on my kids....
Monday, June 30, 2008
Let's reverse it
My first full week of being an intern was occupied by 12 preschoolers and a farm.
When I first found out that I would be helping teach a class on the farm, my reaction was one of skepticism. "The farm?! Seriously? I've lived my whole life in cities...I'm not really the farm type of a girl." But, hey, I'm up for the challenge, right? So hooked up my overalls and trekked it out to the farm for the first day. Okay, there may not have been any overalls involved, but certainly some trekking. (The Zoo Farm is about a mile down the trail from the main zoo buildings, so I have for sure gotten plenty of exercise.) After meeting the kids and parents at the gate, we led our children like little ducklings through the farm to the classroom, singing all the way. The song ("Down on the Zoo Farm") gets stuck in my head to this day, which is not surprising considering we sang it everyday to and from the classroom.
Seeing as this was a morning class, we said good morning to all the animals every day, and thus I know all the animals by name (except for the goats, sheep, and pigs, for there are far to many to keep track of). I take it back, there are two goats of whom I know the names: Heidi and Fabio (aka Jumpin' Jack). Heidi is one of the larger dairy goats, who is very kind and especially patient. She hardly bats an eye when 12 five year olds attack her with grooming combs. Fabio is quite the chap, he is the only goat to hang out in the Dairy Cow barn. The popular question is "why, is this goat in the cow barn?", the answer is a simple one: Fabio is a little too friendly--especially with the girl goats. Oh yeah, I hear that he earned the title "Jumpin Jack" when he got so friendly he started jumping fences. My preschoolers still don't understand why I laugh every time I see him...
Here at the zoo, we like to give the Zoo Campers real hands-on experience. So whenever the opportunity arises to touch an animal, we make sure that they get it. It just so happens that the week of my farm class there were some 2 week old piglets on the farm. And because the teacher had a broken wrist, it was up to me to pick up a piglet or two to let the kids pet. Now, I don't know if you are familiar with baby pigs, but they are not as keen to be held as 2 week old human babies. In fact, they start to squeal at a pitch that that makes a screaming 2-year old sound like whimpering puppy. Being considerate of our preschoolers' feelings, we warned them that there would be some squealing. Obviously we didn't quite get the message across, because once the first pig opened it's lungs, all I had were 12 kids, hands over ears, with terrified looks on their faces standing a clear 6 feet away from me. 2 or 3 piglets later, we found one that at least staid quiet long enough to let some petting happen.
All in all, save for a couple of unfortunate bathroom incindences, it was a successful week!
When I first found out that I would be helping teach a class on the farm, my reaction was one of skepticism. "The farm?! Seriously? I've lived my whole life in cities...I'm not really the farm type of a girl." But, hey, I'm up for the challenge, right? So hooked up my overalls and trekked it out to the farm for the first day. Okay, there may not have been any overalls involved, but certainly some trekking. (The Zoo Farm is about a mile down the trail from the main zoo buildings, so I have for sure gotten plenty of exercise.) After meeting the kids and parents at the gate, we led our children like little ducklings through the farm to the classroom, singing all the way. The song ("Down on the Zoo Farm") gets stuck in my head to this day, which is not surprising considering we sang it everyday to and from the classroom.
Seeing as this was a morning class, we said good morning to all the animals every day, and thus I know all the animals by name (except for the goats, sheep, and pigs, for there are far to many to keep track of). I take it back, there are two goats of whom I know the names: Heidi and Fabio (aka Jumpin' Jack). Heidi is one of the larger dairy goats, who is very kind and especially patient. She hardly bats an eye when 12 five year olds attack her with grooming combs. Fabio is quite the chap, he is the only goat to hang out in the Dairy Cow barn. The popular question is "why, is this goat in the cow barn?", the answer is a simple one: Fabio is a little too friendly--especially with the girl goats. Oh yeah, I hear that he earned the title "Jumpin Jack" when he got so friendly he started jumping fences. My preschoolers still don't understand why I laugh every time I see him...
Here at the zoo, we like to give the Zoo Campers real hands-on experience. So whenever the opportunity arises to touch an animal, we make sure that they get it. It just so happens that the week of my farm class there were some 2 week old piglets on the farm. And because the teacher had a broken wrist, it was up to me to pick up a piglet or two to let the kids pet. Now, I don't know if you are familiar with baby pigs, but they are not as keen to be held as 2 week old human babies. In fact, they start to squeal at a pitch that that makes a screaming 2-year old sound like whimpering puppy. Being considerate of our preschoolers' feelings, we warned them that there would be some squealing. Obviously we didn't quite get the message across, because once the first pig opened it's lungs, all I had were 12 kids, hands over ears, with terrified looks on their faces standing a clear 6 feet away from me. 2 or 3 piglets later, we found one that at least staid quiet long enough to let some petting happen.
All in all, save for a couple of unfortunate bathroom incindences, it was a successful week!
Day 20
Greetings to the ever expanding world wide web,
This would be my first post on Blogger, and I am ecstatic to be here! Per request of Grandma Brown (Hi Gramma!), I am embarking on a mission to document my never-ending adventures of being an Intern at the Minnesota Zoo. Before you ask, I do not scoop poop, play with the monkeys, or swim with the dolphins. I do, however, hang out with kids from 4 years old all the way up through the wonderful world of preteens. I work for the Education Department, and more specifically: Zoo Camp.
What is Zoo Camp you ask? Zoo Camp is the extensive summer camp school type program that provides opportunities for kids (pre-school through high school) to come to the Zoo and learn about animals and stuff and basically have the run of the Zoo. I'm there to enrich their little minds and make sure the animals don't hurt them (or more likely, that they don't hurt the animals....).
I hope to post frequently, and believe you me there should be some interesting stories coming through here. I am learning more and more that kids really do say the darndest things.
Feel free to leave comments and such.........................................................................................
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