Shelby will study wild polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, through the Science Leadership Camp for teens, sponsored by Polar Bears International (PBI). Read her previous blog, Arctic Ambassador Prepares for Adventure.

Good day!

Yesterday was very bizzare. I woke up in my own bed at 3 a.m. with my cat sleeping by my side in good ol’ California, but I fell asleep in the most perfect bed in Winnipeg. Traveling across two time zones, and arriving in Winnipeg at 11 a.m. Pacific time seemed crazy to me!
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Sept 29, 2006

I don’t really know if Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada is halfway between San Diego and the Hudson Bay of Canada, but I am going to say that we have arrived at our halfway point anyway. At any rate, it is the gathering place and the launching pad for the 2006 Polar Bear Science Leadership Camp. Shelby S. was chosen from the multiples of applicants to represent the San Diego Zoo. (Read Shelby’s blog, Arctic Ambassador Prepares for Adventure.) Shelby and I will be blogging as often as possible to report in on this trip to somewhere very far from home. I am coming along with her as a chaperone but also as a teacher for the camp.
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Shelby will study wild polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, through the Science Leadership Camp for teens, sponsored by Polar Bears International (PBI).

Hi, everyone!
My passion for animals and conservation has led me to spend a lot of time volunteering at the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park. For three years I participated in a program at the Zoo called Zoo Corps, where teens ages 13 to 17 have the opportunity to teach the public about animals and the environment. I have learned so much through this program, which in turn has helped my confidence and public speaking skills.
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Bill Toone helped implement a teacher training program in Kenya. In blogs, he shares his experience as he works with Dan Rubenstein, a Princeton University scientist, and Louise Bradshaw, the St. Louis Zoo’s education director, to inspire the next generation of Kenyans to work for wildlife conservation. Read Bill’s previous blog, Kenya: Elephant Encounter.

The nightly cacophony of sounds in the camp probably does not change that much each night, but as we learn more about what is making the noise, we get a clearer picture of the nightly goings on: hippo sounds as opposed to elephant sounds, frogs as opposed to birds or insects, zebras as opposed to impalas.
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Thursday, September 21, was an eventful date at the Wild Animal Park. This was the long-awaited day when Izu, our male lion, joined his mate Oshana and their 4-month-old offspring for the first time on exhibit at Lion Camp (read Lion Cubs Meet Dad).
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What’s not to love about giraffes? It has become a Girls In Science (GIS) annual tradition to visit the Zoo’s giraffe herd at the beginning of a semester. They are a lovely way to introduce new GIS participants to the program’s logistics and to some very important aspects of animal care. (Read Fall Is Here!)
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We have two Asian elephants at the San Diego Zoo and I would like to introduce to you Devi. She is a 29-year-old female who came to us in 1977 from an elephant orphanage in Sri Lanka. Devi weighs 7,825 pounds (3,550 kilograms) and is easy to recognize because of her very short tail. Like all Asian elephants, she has smaller ears than the African, two humps on the top of her head, and a rounded back.
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Bill Toone, a conservation program specialist for CRES, helped implement a teacher training program in Kenya. In blogs, he shares his experience as he works with Dan Rubenstein, a Princeton University scientist, and Louise Bradshaw, the St. Louis Zoo’s education director, to inspire the next generation of Kenyans to work for wildlife conservation. Read Bill’s previous blog, Kenya: Wild Dogs.

I have become the driver for one of the vehicles ferrying teachers back and forth from camp to the Mpala Research Center. No big deal, really, except that the vehicles are all right-hand drive, hard to shift, and have nonworking windows, nonworking windshield wipers, broken doors, and are basically missing anything else essential to smooth, safe driving!
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The days are cooler and shorter. The fog rolls in off the sea. And the voices of teenagers playing basketball reverberate over the fence that separates the San Diego Zoo from Roosevelt Middle School. The school year has started and with it, another season of the Zoo’s Girl In Science program!

Summer is a long time for me to be away from these girls that I have grown to know and adore, and I always look forward to the first day back as a time to touch base, share hugs, and hear about what the girls spent their summers doing. This year was no different, and as we wrapped up the second of our two afternoons, I found myself thrilled to be back in the swing of things!
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I have been pretty lucky throughout my years working at the San Diego Zoo. For over 10 years, I have been able to work with a variety of animals, such as hippos, meerkats, antelope, and great apes. When a position for a hospital keeper opened, I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn about more of the animals in the Zoo’s collection. Boy, was I right! For the last three months I have been learning all kinds of things about the many mammals, birds, and reptiles we have.
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