First day in Asia

This week was an especially great week at the Greenville Zoo. First, I got to start off my morning in Africa, which if you haven't guessed by now, is my favorite area of the zoo to work in. I'm currently doing the tortoises all by myself and doing the entire lions enclosure alone too. I have so much autonomy in Africa and I feel confident that I can do the jobs asked of me. I also got to help with Kiko's training session again, as well as help weigh the other two giraffes. Additionally, I got to watch another lion training session, which was really fun!

After my morning in Africa I got to go to Asia for the first time! I was excited to go to a new place in the zoo and learn about different animals and their care. I started off by cleaning the orangutan den, and then went in to help clean the red panda enclosure. Asia is really cool, because not only are there orangutans, leopards, red pandas, horn bills, Prevost squirrels, and gibbons, but you can actually go into the enclosure with the squirrels, horn bills, and red pandas! I loved getting up close and personal with the animals. I fed the hornbills grapes right from my hand and when I was putting the squirrel's diet in their enclosure, the one jumped on top of me! In my afternoon at Asia, I got to watch an orangutan training session (they're super smart) and learn about many different species from the keeper, Ben, I was working with. We talked about the leopards and how fast and aggressive they are, and about how the male orangs don't develop their cheekpads until after they are the only dominant male in the area (thus, Bob, the youngest orang in the family, won't develop his cheekpads and grow in size until he is put in another zoo where he can be the dominant male). It was a really interesting afternoon and I especially enjoyed my conversations with Ben and learning more about the animals.

This afternoon was also the last weekend of Boo in the Zoo, so for the majority of my afternoon, I helped by setting up candy stations, assisting volunteers, and watching hundreds of little kids walk around the zoo in costume. The keepers and I played a game of who could spot the most Elsa dresses from the movie Frozen, which was a particularly amusing way to pass the time. I feel like each week I get closer to the keepers and I'm enjoying my conversations and time with them. It's great to feel more connected now, and I'm looking forward to further building these connections.

All in all, it was another great day at the zoo. I've been learning so much and having a great time in the process, so really, I can't ask for anything more than that! Stay tuned for more tails from a zoo intern next week!