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

Wednesday, October 18, was the Zoo InternQuest interns’ first time to visit the center for Conservation and Research for Endangered Species (CRES) at the Wild Animal Park in Escondido. There we met Jen Tobey and Caroline Pitt, who gave us an experience in their world. Both of these ladies are behavioral biologists.
Behaviorial biologists study the reproductive behavior and communication of animals, as well as examine hormone levels from bodily secretions. For example, Ms. Tobey collects and examines samples from the scent glands of male koalas. She gave us a chance to smell some of the samples, and I would never recommend that anyone smell male koalas up close! (Read Jen Tobey’s blog, Male Koalas Smell like Goats?!)

Ms. Pitt taught us how to record the behavior of animals. There are three major ways to do so. There is all-occurrence sampling in which every occurrence of a particular behavior is recorded. There is focal sampling, where only one animal is followed. At each time interval, the focal animal’s behavior is recorded. This is a very detailed way to collect data on one individual. There is also scan sampling. This is similar to the focal sampling, but instead of following only one animal, the consensus behavior of the whole herd is recorded. But you can’t just go out and study animals; you must first describe their behaviors in a detailed list called an ethogram. Constructing a detailed ethogram is very important; it helps future researchers to distinguish between similar behaviors such as walking and trotting.

For our first experience as a behavioral biologist, we constructed an ethogram. We visited the off-exhibit cheetah enclosure. We met four cheetah cubs and had the opportunity to study their behaviors. Cheetahs exhibit several different behaviors including pacing, chewing, jumping, and tail flicks. But the most interesting behavior to me was their purring. Those cheetahs can purr as loud as a truck motor! (Read Sagan Friant’s blog about her cheetah research, An Incredible Summer with CRES.)

We also visited the Geoffrey’s marmosets, little monkey-like creatures. We studied them and created an ethogram. These little marmosets are so much fun to watch. They are curious, cute, and they were as interested in us as we were in them. We conducted a marmoset bio-acoustic study. A bio-acoustic study documents animal communication through vocalization. It is used to study the different styles of “talking” that the animals have and variations in calls across seasons. Bio-acoustics is Ms. Tobey’s specialty, but right now she is using her skills to listen to koalas. She played for us some different calls that koalas make. Their vocalization consists of a loud inhaling and exhaling sound combined with a belch. I didn’t realize that koalas have a call, much less such an extraordinary one! (Read Jen’s blog, Motorcycles and Koalas.)

We found that studying animals can be very enjoyable. Ms. Pitt has a bachelor’s degree in biology and Ms. Tobey has a bachelor’s in biology and a master’s in psychology. They suggest that anyone interested in pursuing a career in behavioral biology engage in a lot of field research. Also, loving to be around animals, with all of their smells and sounds, is a must for this field!

-Ariel, Zoo InternQuest Zoo Careers Team

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