The Paperwork Side of Zookeeping

Many of the zookeepers often warn me that you can't be afraid to do paperwork if you go into the zookeeping field. Today, I got a first hand experience at some of the kinds of paperwork you do at the zoo, and it definitely is a lot to handle!

My morning started off in Asia, where I helped clean some exhibits and do morning diet prep. Since the weather has finally fully changed to fall weather, there were some unusual things that had to happen since some of the animals can't be let outside if the weather is too cold. For example, we had to delay letting out the hornbills and orangutans because the temperature wasn't going up fast enough to let them into their exhibits. Fun fact: a lot of the animals at the zoo hate the cold! I watched so many of them huddle into sunny spots in their exhibits to soak up the warmth. I guess that's the problem with living in South Carolina; it's really hot in the summer and really cold in the winter!

After Asia, I went to Primate Row to help finish the cleaning. Because it's fall, there are so many leaves in all of the exhibits, so it takes at least an additional 30 minutes to clean the exhibits because there are so many leaves to get out. I cleaned the spider monkey exhibit, put out their food, and then cleaned some dens until it was lunch time.

After lunch, Dindy, the primate row keeper asked me to help her with some typing and paperwork type things on the computer. I typed up a diet sheet to save for future use, and then began working on enrichment sheets for the education building animals. Basically, I had to go through and make calendars for each month of 2015 and put the different types of enrichment each animal should get for each day. The cool part was that I got to decide which enrichment activities went on which day! That made the work a little less tedious and a little more fun. I did the paperwork for the rest of the afternoon, until it was time to leave. To give you an idea of how long it is, I only got through 2 months (after the diet sheet), and I'm a fast typer! However, it was a nice change of pace for me to do the enrichment calendars, and I especially didn't mind since it was so cold outside! I'm actually very pleased that I got to do some paperwork, because I really want to get the full "zookeeper experience" while I'm interning at the Zoo, and I know that paperwork is a big part of it!

I'm going back to the zoo tomorrow morning because it's my fall break, so I don't have classes! I'm excited because I have never been to the zoo on any other day than Sunday, so I will get to meet some new keepers and have some new experiences tomorrow.