Zoo InternQuest is a career exploration program for high school students. For more photos see the Zoo InternQuest Photo Journal. To meet the Interns, read the Intern Profiles.

On Wednesday, our first official day as Zoo InternQuest interns at the San Diego Zoo, we toured the Zoo with a professional tour guide. Sunni Robertson guided us as we paid a visit to Graham the rhino and gave him a snack of yams and apples. The giraffes also benefited from our visit with a feast of acacia leaves. We strolled along the Cat Walk and rode up the moving stairway. In two hours, we barely saw a fraction of the Zoo. The entire park sits on over 100 acres (40 hectares) of land.

Ms. Robertson showed us that a tour guide here at the Zoo must know about every inner working in the Zoo. She was knowledgeable as a zoo keeper and an animal behaviorist, to name a few. Being taken around the Zoo by a professional tour guide was a different experience than walking around the Zoo alone. As we visited each animal, we learned new things each time. Did you know that Indian rhinos eat one wheelbarrow full of browse, or leafy branches, twice a day? At least the rhino at the San Diego Zoo does.

Our tour guide was a wealth of information. To gain this knowledge she had to attend college first. She received her bachelor’s degree in biology, then attended Moorpark Community College’s Exotic Animal Training and Management program. Moorpark has a small zoo on campus that the students run.

Ms. Robertson also talked to us about the enrichment items in each of the enclosures. Here in the Zoo, the keepers have to recreate the animal’s natural habit and stimulus. To do this, keepers provide what is called enrichment, or activities to heighten mental or physical activity. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has guidelines that the keepers must follow concerning enrichment for some of the animals. Ms. Robertson informed us that the San Diego Zoo often exceeds the USDA guidelines for both exhibit size and enrichment. Enrichment can be many things. When we stopped to greet Orson, the black jaguar, we learned he often receives carcasses that hang from the top of his enclosure (here’s a profile about Orson). This provides the stimulus his brain needs and the physical activity of pouncing upon his “prey.” And it is enriching for Zoo visitors to watch, too!

Two hours was not enough to learn everything about the Zoo, the animals, and being a Zoo tour guide. I did learn that comfortable shoes and the ability to walk backwards are a must.

-Ariel, Zoo InternQuest Careers Team

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Scroll to the end to leave a comment. Pinging is not allowed.