Visitors to the Zoo!

Today was probably one of the highlights of my time at the zoo. I finally got to show my family and friends what it is I do at the zoo and tell them all about the animals that I love to work with.

I started working in Africa in the morning with Ben. We had a normal morning where I cleaned the giraffe barn, helped with training, checked on tortoises, you know, all that fun usual stuff. However, once it hit lunchtime, the day was far from ordinary!

I met my mom and my three friends, Allie, Alli, and Kaitlyn, at the zoo entrance around 12:00. I then gave them a tour of the zoo and told them about all of the animals! I showed them primate row and pointed out my favorites (the spider monkeys) and then we walked through Africa and said hello to Chuma and Saied, watched Kiko drink Kesi's pee (ew), and saw Bubba being his typical tortoise self. We then went up through Asia and saw the siamings and the red pandas as well as Jade and Clover, the leopards. At 1:00, Ben said that we could meet him in the keeper room and we could have a giraffe feeding session!

I loved being able to have my friends and my mom get to spend some quality time with the giraffes. They are the animals I get to spend the most time with and work with the most, and I'm so happy that others could see how truly awesome they are. My friends and mom all said that it was one of the coolest things they've done in their lives. Hodari was being extra obnoxious and trying to steal all the food, and Kesi and Kiko spent a lot of time trying to win over our attention. I took a lot of pictures of my friends and mom feeding the giraffes, and Ben even took some time to talk to us about giraffes and conservation issues in general. We spent over an hour up with the giraffes, and it was so much fun!

After our giraffe feeding, we did a quick walkthrough of the rest of the zoo and I showed them South America, including the lagoon, and the Farmyard. I left with them around 2:30 because I had to drive my friends back to the airport since they were visiting from other states.

I am so thankful for the opportunity to share what I love with some people that I love. I know that the keepers trust me and like me, which is why they have given me so many incredible opportunities. I can't wait to see what the next few weeks have in store at the Greenville Zoo!