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.

One might think that the hot, dry, windy weather conditions, combined with the hilly, brush-covered, terrain of the Wild Animal Park’s wilderness back roads would deter most people; but nothing was going to distract us from our mission. We were on a mission to find and document the myriad of creatures in the pit-fall traps in the Coastal Sage Scrub habitat adjacent to the Park.

But why were we going to so much trouble just to find a bunch of lizards? We were helping Senior Research Technician, J.P. Montagne, collect some data. Mr. Montagne has a Bachelor’s degree in Ecology and Behavioral Evolution. His job at the Wild Animal Park is to research the biodiversity of the Park’s coastal sage scrub populations. To collect his data, Mr. Montagne sets several pit-fall traps in the areas he is studying. These traps are capable of harmlessly capturing numerous small animal species, including the lizards and snakes that Mr. Montagne is trying to collect data for. Once these lizards are captured, Mr. Montagne takes note of each lizard’s species, age, gender and whether or not it has previously been captured. All of this helps in documenting the amount of biodiversity found in the open spaces adjacent to the Wild Animal Park, which is very important in understanding the health of the environment.

We got the chance to experience Mr. Montagne’s job, as we were divided into three groups and each group was instructed to check two traps on each of the four pit-fall arrays. Our first set of traps was empty, but our luck quickly changed. On the second, third, and fourth pit-fall arrays our traps held anywhere from two to four of some of the fastest and smallest lizards I had ever seen. All of the lizards turned out to be juvenile Orange-throated whiptails. We were all baffled by how fast these minuscule critters could run. By the end of the day, we all had the chance to examine, record, and release several lizards of varying species. The experience gave me a healthy picture of just how important and how fun Mr. Montagne’s study of biodiversity is. I’m sure we all acquired a great appreciation for the importance even a tiny lizard can have in an ecosystem.

Stephen, Careers Team

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