Today was my first time venturing away from Africa and working in a different area of the zoo, more specifically, Primate Row. There are three types of primates on primate row, colobus monkeys, black and white ruffed lemurs, and black headed spider monkeys. The colobus's are a family of 5, while there are 4 lemurs and 3 spider monkeys. It was interesting for me to venture out and begin caring for different types of animals and to see how they all differ from one another.
One major difference about taking care of the animals on primate row is that I needed to suit up before I began my cleaning for the day. By "suit up" I mean I had to wear boot covers, glasses, rubber gloves, and a face mask before I could enter an exhibit and clean. This is because humans and primates are so closely related that we can transmit diseases back and forth to one another. I had never considered this before, but after reading about infections that can be passed between humans and primates during my lunch break (required reading to work there), I was shocked to know how much we can transmit and how careful we have to be when working around primates.
While cleaning, I was definitely "on display" to the general public. I had so many people walk by me during my cleaning and stop and watch me clean or make jokes about how "I was a funny looking monkey" or how it was "the zookeeper exhibit." Some parents took the more informational approach and told their kids that "I was cleaning the monkeys room just like they cleaned their rooms." Either way, it was a strange and different experience, because all of my cleaning in Africa was done behind the scenes. One thing I will say is that if you think you have a clever comment about someone cleaning an exhibit, just remember that you're probably not the only one to say something that day!
Another thing that was different about today was that I didn't have as much animal contact. I did a lot of cleaning (as usual), but the animals weren't really around while I was cleaning their enclosures or dens. I did find the spider monkeys amusing though because they kept reaching through their fencing and trying to grab onto me whenever I walked by. They were so cute! The keeper I was working with today, Dindy, talked to me about how even though the primates are cute and small, they can bite, scratch, and really hurt you so it's always important to stay alert and never be in the enclosure with them.
After all my cleaning was finished in the morning, I started working with a bunch of the keepers on a different kind of project. We are currently rebuilding the colobus exhibit from scratch, so I got to help with that this afternoon! The keepers had already cut down trees and put them up in the exhibit, so today we were doing more finalizing things. We worked on hanging a net and rope in the exhibit to stimulate the monkeys and keep them entertained. I even got up on the ladder and nailed some of the netting into place! It's pretty cool that I can now say that I helped to build part of the new colobus monkey exhibit at the Greenville Zoo!
The keeper of primate row is also responsible for taking care of the animals in the education building. While I didn't get to do much with these animals today, I'm hoping to get more experience with them another week! I did get to help close up the building and give the primates their morning and afternoon meals! I also helped close the zoo today, meaning that we basically have to do a walk-through to make sure that no one else is in the zoo before we close.
At the end of the day I was filthy and tired, but I would definitely say it was another day well-spent. I've really been enjoying my time at the zoo and I feel incredibly lucky to have this opportunity to get such great experience during a college internship.
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