I was a little nervous about returning to the zoo this morning. I hadn't been to work in two weeks since I was out of town the past two weekends, so it had been a while since I had been to the zoo. A lot has changed in those two weeks - Jackie, the keeper who I usually work with in Africa left for a new job and the zoo was closed for 10 days to do renovations and routine maintenance. This new maintenance impacted Africa in that there were shade structures and new wiring built in the giraffe paddock.
Ben has replaced Jackie as the weekend keeper in Africa. I've worked with Ben several times before, and I really enjoy not only working with him, but also talking to him about zoos, conservation, and a variety of other subjects. He's very well informed on a variety of topics, so we always seem to have great, intellectual conversations. He also always has answers to my questions, and if he doesn't know, he looks it up for me!
We finished all of our cleaning in the morning, so in the afternoon we had some free time. We hung out with the giraffes, did a Kiko feeding session with some other staff, went down and looked at the trees that fell over the lagoon during the storm this week, and talked about his career and my future career. I also got to help with Kiko training again, which is always a treat! It was a great day, I had lots of animal interaction, lots of interesting conversation, and the weather was finally nice! The zoo environment is a constantly changing one, and I am excited to see where these new changes take me on my journey as the animal department intern!
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