Zoo InternQuest is a seven-week career exploration program for San Diego County high school juniors and seniors. Students have the unique opportunity to meet professionals working for the San Diego Zoo, Safari Park, and Institute for Conservation Research, learn about their jobs, and then blog about their experience online. Follow their adventures here on the Zoo’s website!
Plants may be overlooked by visitors at the San Diego Zoo, but once you take a step back, you can capture the full effect of your surroundings. Beauty abounds in all corners of the Zoo, and today we realized that while taking a tour with Horticulture Collections Manager Mike Letzring and Senior Horticulturist Judy Bell.
Walking through a bamboo-covered path, we learned this rapid growing grass not only adds to the ambiance but is used to feed some of the animals, like the giant panda.
Southern pitcher plants are carnivorous plants getting most or all of their nutrients from digesting animals and insects. Unsuspecting victims crawl into the tubes and never come out.
The interns dined on a feast of fruit fit for a king. These two fruits, the dragon fruit and banana apple, are grown on Zoo grounds. They were something that I, and probably some of the other interns, have never tried before. They appear unusual on the outside but were delicious.
This is what a bird would see if it were flying over a cycad. These ancient plants have been around since the age of dinosaurs . The orange center is the cone, which makes it more closely related to conifers than palms. The Zoo is home to one of the largest collections of cycads in the world.
Teghan is smelling one of the ginger flowers that are growing at the Zoo. The animals aren’t the only things to look at—take time to smell the roses.
This isn’t the usual picture most of us get when we think of bananas. These are apple bananas that are grown here at the Zoo. This is what real, natural bananas look like. The ones at the store have been hybridized so they are more appealing to consumers.
Natural beauties are in abundance at the Zoo. There is something at every corner waiting to be discovered; it’s the little things you find that can make your day complete.
