Last Day Before the Holidays

Today was the official end of my "internship" at the zoo, as the semester is coming to a close and I will be heading back to Pennsylvania after finals this week. However, as I previously mentioned, I'm staying on with the Greenville zoo team when I return in January, and will continue to volunteer with the animal department, and I could not be more excited about the opportunity to return.

For my last day of the semester, I worked in Africa (how fitting, my favorite). My day consisted of the typical duties, cleaning, feeding, and helping care for the animals. However, as with each week, I gained even more independence this week. I cleaned the entire giraffe barn by myself and prepared the afternoon diet for them, which is something I've never done completely by myself before. It's nice being in Africa and working with Jackie, because she completely trusts me to get all the work done. So basically, today I did most of the typical cleaning and feeding activities, while she worked on some special projects, like raking leaves out of the vulture exhibit.

I said goodbye to everyone until January. I spent some time with the lions, got to feed Autumn a special snack in the morning, and wished the keepers a happy holiday! I'm going to miss all the animals and the wonderful people who work at the zoo over break, but it's nice to know that I'll be back soon enough.

For those of you following along on this journey, thank you so much for taking time to follow my adventures as a zoo intern. This has by far been one of the biggest adventures of my life, and the amount of knowledge and experience I have gained is truly invaluable. I'm so looking forward to continue to grow as an intern with the zoo and to learn more about the animals there and the future of the zoo. I want to point out some special links to check out if you want more information on the Greenville Zoo or zoos in general. I also took some pictures of the animals I've been working with from online so you can "put a face to the name!"

Greenville Zoo --> The Greenville Zoo's Official Website
Association of Zoos & Aquarium --> Check out the AZA website for more information about zoos and aquariums and the requirements to become AZA certified
Information for People Interested in Zookeeping --> I've found this document helpful in exploring zookeeping as a career

Thanks for following along with my "tails," and stay tuned for more coming soon! I hope everyone has a happy holiday season and a wonderful start to the new year!

Chuma:

http://www.greenvillezoo.com/assets/img/Lion-Hunt.png

Bubba:

http://www.rentalcarmomma.com/images/greenville/greenville.jpg

Autumn & Kiko:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicuprqtO7ljCI_7ap3i7xtRbAi3DE0Fz7Adh4RFdr0CF7ty2wQG0eqDgQamch_MQa5xYO3pnFozJWN2ymnKVa1rdKlwgnKmCsAog18VCveWih4cD0RlG7qkmi9rzNDt887_Ks_ASBovO9R/s1600/5-27-10+(3).JPG

Bob:

https://scontent-a-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/t31.0-8/s960x960/1780004_10152824458045295_6765161730496381834_o.jpg

Hope:

https://scontent-a-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10429378_10152763944275295_6669478360266824078_n.jpg?oh=329fa2b5706bbe4c9492b4e7257947bb&oe=55031B89

Selma:

http://www.greenvillesc.gov/gis/images/Zoo/spider-monkey.jpg