First of all, we have made it through our first week of second semester classes! Here's the rundown:
Wildlife Eduction II: The majority of this class is dedicated to honing our show skills and preparing for Spring Spectacular. This is a HUGE event for the zoo and requires months of hard work to make it happen. I am on the set design committee, which means I will be spending many hours every week drawing designs, ordering paint and supplies, whitewashing the stage, setting the sketch, and painting, painting, painting. As soon as the set is all ready and painted I will become part of the props team, attending multiple four-hour-long rehearsals every week to practice moving set pieces on and off stage at the correct times. This committee is going to be an enormous amount of work and I'm a little intimidated, but I'm also incredibly excited to see it all come together.
Animal Behavior: This class is like Diversity Part II, but more theory-based. It is taught by the same scary professor and, while not responsible for QUITE as many failures as Diversity last year, still has a reputation for causing some people to lose their spot in the program. I'm not at all frightened, though. This class is going to be amazing. For the lab portion, we have to complete 30 hours of observation on one or more animals in the zoo and present a paper on our findings. I'm already coming up with ideas! I would love to do a paper on the behavior of animals that are geriatric or have lots of medical issues. How do they spend their time? This is also the class in which we must train a rat to run an obstacle course. I have such high hopes for my babies! I can't wait to get started.
Animal Nutrition: This class will tie heavily into Anatomy from last semester. It's all about understanding the dietary needs of animals, but also learning how to guess what kind of nutrition an animal needs based on its anatomy. When certain species were first brought into captivity there was a lot of guesswork as to what to feed them, as there hadn't been much known about their diet in the wild. A solid understanding of anatomy can help decipher what kind of diet the animal is built for.
Care and Handling II: I am SO EXCITED about this class, particularly because of one of the projects we have to do! At some point during the semester we have to write a research paper on the husbandry and care of a particular species in captivity. This will involve actually going to the Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, or San Diego Zoo to go behind the scenes with a keeper to observe their practices!! I have my heart set on learning about Jaguars. They are one of my absolute favorite animals, and because of their incredible strength and powerful aggression, they can be difficult to keep in captivity. Going to the San Diego Zoo to observe their jaguar collection would be my DREAM, but I would of course need someone to carpool with. Oh the unfortunate downsides of the scooter life :)
Avian and Herptile Care: This class is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. We will learn in depth about the specific needs of birds, amphibians, and reptiles in captivity and how those needs may differ from those of mammals. These are all animals with far more sensitive anatomies that need very specific sorts of care. This semester we'll be learning how to properly provide that care.
That's all this semester, aside from Zoo Skills! A slightly lighter class load in terms of credits, but the work required outside of class far makes up for the missing credits. And on top of that, this is the semester we get to pick our.....
ANIMAL ASSIGNMENTS!!!
I can't believe the amount of pressure I have been feeling over something so simple! I know I will love and care for any animal I end up with, but stick a piece of paper in front of me and say "Pick 6" and of course I will freak out and second-triple-mega-quadruple guess myself. Towards the end of the month we have to submit notecards with our top six choices in four categories: Carnivore, Bird, Herbivore, and Primate.
The only thing I have known for SURE from the very beginning is that my #1 carn choice is Mowgli the ocelot. I love him to death, and he has officially been changed to a year-long animal this year. If I don't get him this semester, I don't get to work with him at all. The rest of my choices don't really matter to me at this point (though Kiara the lion is #2). With my 8 out of 8 points I feel very good about my chances, but the idea of not being assigned to Mowgli is still heartbreaking and enough to make me very nervous.
My top two primates are both free-contact capuchins, but I can't for the life of me decide which one I prefer. Scooter is more independent and doesn't form as close a bond with her trainers, but she also is easier to train and is able to come out on walks much more quickly. Michele is more timid, and it is harder to win her trust, but once you do she forms very strong relationship with her trainers. Both would be a challenge, but in two very different ways. I am planning to sit down with Cindy, our "primate whisperer," to talk about the choices a little more and see if she has any input into which would be a better match.
I dithered on the subject of birds for a while, but Cain eventually came out on top! I love that little guy so much and I think working with him for the next year will be an incredibly rewarding experience.
As far as herbivores go, I'm not as worried. Almost all of them are semester-long animals, so I will in theory have the opportunity to train three of them before I leave. Right now my top choice is James, a cuddly donkey with some medical issues that require a little extra care.
We also get to pick our manager positions this semester. Each of us will be responsible for managing a section of the zoo. These include things like BE Manager (behavioral enrichment), Adoptions Manager, Tools Manager, Euthanasia Manager, Medical Manager, Nutrition Manager, Reptile Manager... the list goes on. At first I wanted medical manager, but I figured out that I can get more practical experience by working with animals that have higher medical needs. I'm not quite as interested in the inventory/ordering prescriptions side of medicine. I want to be the one administering it, the one seeing the difference I am making for the animal. I will do more of that as a trainer. So right now, my number one choice is Graphics Manager. There are so many graphics around the zoo that I always notice as needing a touch-up. Paint is peeling, glass is missing, interactive graphics are falling apart... I would absolutely love to tackle those projects and make our zoo shine again!
Thanks for sticking with me through all the new info! I will of course be posting again when the verdict is in regarding manager positions and animal assignments. Wish me luck!!
Love and bellyrubs,
Christy
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