!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now I shall continue on with my day! Science Track Year 1 went on two tours today! First we went to seven seas and pinniped point. These are our locations in the zoo featuring the dolphins and seals. I learned that working as a dolphin trainer, communication is important. Communication is important because you need to know the daily routines and if anything switches. You also need to pay attention to any changes within animal behavior and social environmental changes. If you actually are looking into being a dolphin trainer you will need a batchelors degree in biology, zoology or something of the like. You also need to be scuba certified and a strong swimmer and speaker. Experience is most important when getting a job so be sure you get involved in some internship programs. Psychology is also encouraged when looking into dolphin training. I thought it was amazing when I learned all these things because I never knew it took so much knowledge to become a trainer. Its because animals are always learning. We were listening to our keeper give some speeches about dolphins while that was happening I had my hands up against the glass and the dolphin was touching his nose to my hands. It was a really memorable experience knowing I could see her and she could see me. Moments like that make working at the zoo be worth it. After being with the dolphins we went to see the Seals and Sealions. We have Grey Seals, California Sea Lions, and Harbor Seals. I got to watch some trainings. It was really cute to watch them do tricks like waving and spinning around in the water. Each animal is trained using target training. That is where they have to touch their nose or paw to a target and they get rewarded(it teaches them tricks and they have positive and negative reinforcement). After my tours of the dolphins and seals/sealions I had a tour of 31st street. This is the street with Bison, Zebra, Camel, and Addax. I was able to feed the animals carrots(minus the Addax), it was loads of fun. I would hold the carrot to the gate and the camels would be moving their lips all funny trying to get a hold of the delicious snack. When we moved down the street to the bison and our keeper in charge Bill said we could feed Ron (he is our big male) I was flabbergasted because he is such a huge beast. His big purple tongue slurped up my carrot. He is very friendly and sweet for such a huge animal. We moved along and fed Patches our last Grants zebra. He was great for picture taking. I learned lots of male zebras become aggressive with age and I found that very interesting. Next Bill brought us to the Aardvark house. We got to go in with the aardvark and pet her. Her skin is really coarse. I learned that people are actually allergic to aardvarks( but I am not allergic to anything as I know of so I was alright). We went and saw some peafowl that will be released into the park next year and we saw Abby the ostridge up close and the warthogs Michelle and Siri. Bill told us that the worst way to die would be by poop. If he was cleaning the Camel exhibit and the animal decided to step on him or knock into him it would be a bad way to die. It would be pretty humiliating to read the obituary or grave stone and see, "Here lies Bill, He was just an ordinary keeper picking up poop when it happened." So yeah those of you going into the Zoo keeping world that is your lesson of the day. It made me laugh. He was a great keeper and cool mentor. Maybe if I do science track year 2 he will be my mentor. We will see, I'm crossing my fingers to work in the Australia House. Well that is all for today! ~Wildlife Katie
P.S: For those of you interested in getting some hands on experience with some animals and with Zoo Keepers at Brookfield Zoo- check out our Wild Encounters
http://www.czs.org/czs/Bro
Or become a Science Track Member after completing a year of Youth Volunteering
http://www.czs.org:80/czs/
No comments:
Post a Comment