Zoo InternQuest is a career exploration program for high school students. To read journals by other interns, see the Zoo InternQuest Journals. For more photos see the Zoo InternQuest Photo Journal. To meet the Interns, read the Intern Profiles.

Wednesday, October 18, was the Zoo InternQuest interns’ first time to visit the center for Conservation and Research for Endangered Species (CRES) at the Wild Animal Park in Escondido. There we met Jen Tobey and Caroline Pitt, who gave us an experience in their world. Both of these ladies are behavioral biologists.
Behaviorial biologists study the reproductive behavior and communication of animals, as well as examine hormone levels from bodily secretions. For example, Ms. Tobey collects and examines samples from the scent glands of male koalas. She gave us a chance to smell some of the samples, and I would never recommend that anyone smell male koalas up close! (Read Jen Tobey’s blog, Male Koalas Smell like Goats?!)

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As I carry out my daily routines as a visitor assistance office throughout the San Diego Zoo, some curious and wonderful moments often occur. We often call them Kodak® moments.

Recent Kodak moments follow:

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Akin Ali, our month old okapi calf, has been growing and maturing very quickly. (See Marcia’s previous blog, Okapi Joy at the Wild Animal Park.) His mom, Ayana, is a first-time dam and is doing a great job with Akin. He is now a strapping 90 pounds (41 kilograms), up from his birth weight of 48 pounds (22 kilograms). We have had to increase Ayana’s diet several times. It takes a lot of energy to produce milk for a growing youngster. We have been handling little Akin daily, and the sessions are going very well.

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Like humans, it is very important for elephants to exercise to stay in good health. So how do we keep our San Diego Zoo elephants in shape? Actually, we have been working hard on that for a couple of years and we are starting to see the pay off. We weigh our girls twice a year. The California Highway Patrol brings in their portable truck scales (pictured) and each elephant has been trained to stand on them. Their last weights were taken in July and all three lost weight. Tembo was down about 400 pounds (180 kilograms), Devi down 275 pounds (125 kilograms) and Smitty down 100 pounds (45 kilograms). That seems like a lot, but when they weigh in at 9,175, 7,625, and 9,075 pounds (4,162, 3,459, and 4,116 kilograms) respectively, it isn’t that much. Over the last year they have all lost almost twice those amounts.

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Zoo InternQuest is a career exploration program for high school students. For more information see the Zoo InternQuest Journals. For more photos see the Zoo InternQuest Photo Journal.

Meet the Fall 2006 interns in the Intern Profiles Section.

Zoo InternQuest is a career exploration program for high school students. For more photos see the Zoo InternQuest Photo Journal. To meet the Interns, read the Intern Profiles.

The friendly Sunni Robertson led us around the main exhibits and introduced us to what would be the beginning of many job opportunities in connection to animals and conservation. Ms. Robertson presented us to many interesting animals and talked about the Zoo’s efforts to conserve them in the wild. The first day on the job convinced me that the next six weeks would be exciting as well as helpful in my exploration of possible jobs for the future.

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Zoo InternQuest is a career exploration program for high school students. For more information see the Zoo InternQuest Journals. To meet the Interns, read the Intern Profiles.

Sunni Robertson, an educator, gave us an interesting lecture about the ” controlled environment” at the San Diego Zoo.

Zoo InternQuest is a career exploration program for high school students. For more photos see the Zoo InternQuest Photo Journal. To meet the Interns, read the Intern Profiles.

Even though I have been to the San Diego Zoo many times, this is the first time I have been on a guided tour. Sunni Robertson, our guide, told us things about the Zoo that many people do not know. It was a great way to get initiated into Zoo InternQuest.

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Zoo InternQuest is a career exploration program for high school students. For more photos see the Zoo InternQuest Photo Journal. To meet the Interns, read the Intern Profiles.

Listening to and learning from Todd Schmidt, senior reptile keeper, was both interesting and exciting. The passion he has for his job taught me that you are born to work a job like his. He emphasized that it’s not a career you should pursue if you do not like reptiles and amphibians. However, if you do like them, getting such a job takes a lot of schooling and hands-on experience. Obtaining a bachelor’s degree is a must for working with animals, because this type of career is extremely competitive. Mr. Schmidt recommends that anyone interested in working with animals take many science classes including life science, do a lot of volunteer work, and develop a relationship with their professors to get the hands-on training that most internships will not offer.
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Zoo InternQuest is a career exploration program for high school students. For more photos see the Zoo InternQuest Photo Journal. To meet the Interns, read the Intern Profiles.

Zoo keeper and herpetologist Todd Schmidt has a bachelor’s degree in zoology and botany and also has a neat tattoo of a turtle on his calf. The first thing we learned was that herpetology is the study of reptiles and amphibians. As we explored the interior of the Reptile House we found that it must be kept at regulated temperatures and humidities for the many snakes, lizards, frogs, and other animals kept there. The climate is adjusted to replicate the animals’ natural habitats. In the case of many of the reptiles, that means tropical rain forest and it really felt like one! Although in some of the rooms the temperature was only around 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Celsius) with the humidity, it still felt very hot.

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