First Official Week (and then some)

Hello faithful readers! This entry will be jam packed with information so hang in there! Here are the highlights:

"Area:" This is what we call opening and closing the zoo. Half of our class, including my roommates and me, are responsible for Area Sundays through Wednesdays. The other half is responsible for Wednesday through Saturday.  Up until yesterday, my side of the week had been shadowing different Areas, or sections of the zoo, learning what is involved in working in each one. This morning we had our Area quiz on all the things to remember about day to day life in the zoo. Which animals are possessive of their enclosures, which are trainer responsibility only, which require heaters plugged in and at what temperatures, how to go about checking locks in Primates vs the other areas, and the list goes on and on and on. It is quite a lot to remember.

After taking our quiz this morning (at 6:30 a.m. I might add...) we dispersed into the zoo to join our second years for our first official day on Area! Each week we are assigned somewhere new. Today and all of next week, I am assigned to Primates. This morning we cleaned the Capuchin Troop's enclosure! I stay on Primates Sunday through Wednesday next week, then I have the rest of the week off of Area before starting in Nutrition the following Sunday, prepping diets for the animals.

"Daywatch:" As part of our Zoo Skills class, which doesn't actually have a meeting time, we have to do something called Daywatch. This refers to a two hour chunk of time every week that we are assigned to come to the Zoo and do chores and projects. I am assigned to the Tuesday 2-4 shift. Last week I spent half the time manning the phones and the other half doing a Round. Rounds occur every hour, and they involve doing a thorough walkabout of the zoo and checking each animal for the four L's: Life, Lock, Liquid, and Looks. At each enclosure we must assure that the lock is secure, that the animal is alive and present, that the enclosure is in order and nothing is out of place or potentially harmful, and that the animal has adequate water. Rounds also involves filling water dishes if necessary, checking and recording temperatures, misting some of the reptiles, and putting ice bottles in with some of the smaller mammals if it is too hot. My friend Ashley and I attempted a Round for the first time yesterday without a second year to supervise. We didn't make it all the way through the zoo, but it felt pretty awesome to be out helping the zoo run by ourselves!

Classes: Classes this semester include -
Care and Handling Lab (this is where Area happens in the mornings and afternoons, and where we learn things like how to tie a falconry knot and how to walk the emus or Nick the mini-horse)
Care and Handling Lecture
Animal Diversity Lab and Lecture (notorious for requiring students to memorize the latin classification of over 30 species per week - Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species. I am proud to say that I now know that a Salmon Crested Cockatoo is Phylum Chordata, Class Aves, Order Psittaciformes, Family Cacatuidae, scientific name cacatua moluccensis. I can also do that with 31 other species so far!)
Health and Safety (where we learn about proper zoo safety guidelines and zoonotic diseases)
Conservation
Wildlife Education and Lab (where we learn about how to do shows in the zoo and practice our public speaking skills)
Anatomy and Physiology of Mammals.

So far I really like all my classes. It's a LOT of information to absorb very quickly - we had three tests so far this week and we've only had a few classes so far - but I feel like I am learning so much.

Cool things I did this week:

~ Learned how to walk Nick the mini-pony and got to clean his hooves.
~ Went to the LA zoo with a bunch of our friends:

At the entrance to the Zoo

~Adopted a new two year old corn snake named Pandora!

And the most exciting part of my week, yesterday I was tested on the falconry knot and got to handle the birds of prey for the first time!! Check out the awesome pics:

That's all the updates I have for today.


One more note: Sometime in the next couple of weeks I would like to dedicate a blog post to answering any questions that readers may have about the program, my life out here, or anything about animals or me in general! Leave your questions in the comments and I will do my best to answer them.  


Thanks for reading!

Love and bellyrubs,

Christy