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.

Becky Sproul, Alan Fetter, and Matt Milnes (left to right), members of the Reproductive Physiology Division at CRES, help animals by analyzing their hormones.

Hormones can be extracted from animal feces and urine. Collecting these samples makes it possible to track the hormones of animals in the wild. Also, it is not necessary to take blood samples from many animals now.

But how do you get the hormones out of there? First you pulverize the “raw material.” Then you dilute the sample with water and the hormones are released into the solution. Intern Megan then uses that to test for hormones.

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