A Barbary sheep is relaxing in its comfortable and familiar environment.

Interns Leslie and Tawni becoming quite comfortable with the target practice pig.

Animal trainer Susan Patch handles a resident red-tailed hawk.

The graceful serval shows off its climbing skills and training

Zoo intern Clark attempts to undergo animal training, with little success.

It does take a lot of work and determination to reach the esteemed position of Wild Animal Park veterinary resident. Dr. Brenner, in particular, is in her third year of paid residency, which includes a rotation at the Wild Animal Park and SeaWorld in addition to work at the University of California, Davis in cooperation with the Sacramento Zoo and the San Diego Zoo. Other steps in her journey to become an exotic animal veterinarian included an internship at Purdue University and before that she worked at the Philadelphia Zoo. Dr. Brenner attended veterinary school at North Carolina State University, one of less than 25 veterinary schools in the U.S. Though this job is very involved and takes many years of schooling, the end reward pays off exponentially compared to the effort put forth.

As we entered Hunte Amphitheater at the San Diego Zoo, the center stage, surrounded by a small moat, was dotted with stands and scratching posts. Immediately, without having to look at our agenda, I knew where we were: the Behavior Operations Department. From a small building behind a row of conifers, Susan Patch walked toward us and sat on the rail before us. Beginning by describing her desire to be with and work with animals, she told us that her interest began at the age of 14, which started her on the path to be an exotic animal trainer. Before her broad education (2003 graduate of University of California, Davis, graduate of Moorpark College’s Exotic Animal Training and Management program) and exciting career path, Ms. Patch was a local high school student, just like us. Ms. Patch graduated from La Jolla High School in 1999 and had been part of the Zoo InternQuest program before she attended UC Davis. Attaining a bachelor’s degree in animal science with a focus in animal behavior, she learned about animal digestion, reproduction, body systems, and many other animal functions. Like Sunni Robertson, a Zoo educator and tour guide we met earlier in our internship, Ms. Patch attended Moorpark College where she was educated in animal training and management, basic vet care, and animal shows and presentations. “The programs at Moorpark were intensive,” Susan had stated, “but very rewarding.”

Here, at the San Diego Zoo, Susan Patch has been a part of the Behavior Operations Department for two years, and doesn’t intend on leaving any time soon. To our delight, she wanted to show us the skills she was telling us about, and she planned on bringing out a couple of showstoppers. With only a clicker and side-bag of food, Susan had a serval perform a series of “natural behaviors” such as sitting, post scratching, and jumping. And could this feline jump! Jumping at a height of about six feet at the sound of the clicker, the serval positioned itself on a stand, where it was rewarded with a small bit of food from its regular diet. Susan used a method of “variable schedule of reinforcement,” where the animal wouldn’t be fed for every behavior it demonstrated when she asked. This allows the animal to behave without having to expect a reward, and by doing so it becomes more natural.

Telling us about the tools of the trade of an animal trainer, “The target,” Susan says, “is the most useful, but the clicker makes it all possible.” To train an animal, the first step is to get their attention. By clicking or moving your hand in the animal’s field of vision, you help them realize that you will be giving them signals. Capturing a certain behavior, or vocalization, is the second step. If an animal does something the trainer wants the animal to achieve, the trainer will click and reward that behavior. Trainers will continue this until an action is performed correctly, and hopefully the animal will catch on.

Training is not reserved for just shows anymore, but it can be useful for the daily care of animals done by the keepers. Susan Patch recommends learning training techniques if you want to be a keeper. Training allows keepers to signal animals in situations that occur on a daily basis, so keepers can take better care of their animals. As examples, keepers need animals to transfer from their enclosures to off-exhibit areas so the keeper can go in to clean, or they would want animals to present a certain part of their bodies for examinations. To work with exotic animals in the Behavior Operations Department, a bachelor’s or associate’s degree is required. Susan Patch has had six years of education! The route to exotic animal training starts in animal science, and courses in psychology can help you understand behavior, but schooling alone will not get you the cool job that Susan has. As an insider’s hint, Susan said that Moorpark College is a good ticket!

Jake and Tawni, Animal Careers Team

As we observed the recovering lorikeet population at HVMC, Veterinary Resident Dr. Deena Brenner explained to us some of the many important jobs of a zoo veterinarian. A sort of “jack-of-all-trades,” a zoo veterinarian must have expertise in many areas of veterinary medicine. Animals at HVMC are there for a broad variety of reasons. They may be ill, injured, or have just arrived from another zoo and simply need to be observed in quarantine before they can call the main Park campus home. In the case of the lorikeets, the Park veterinarians first checked the birds for signs of West Nile Virus and other avian illnesses. After finding the animals healthy, the doctors were able to move to looking for harmful toxins in the lorikeet enclosure. Whatever the reason an animal needs to be hospitalized, the veterinarians are prepared to treat that animal and return it to a healthy state as soon as possible.

Aside from protecting the Wild Animal Park’s “Animal Ambassadors” that teach the public about species and habitat preservation, the veterinarians at the Park are also involved in several other aspects of conservation. Some veterinarians travel to far off destinations where they participate with the conservation of species in the wild (see blog, In Search of the Black-footed Cat). More commonly, however, an exotic animal veterinarian is involved in procedures such as artificial insemination and other methods of improving chances of fertilization for increasing the populations of endangered animals. The doctors will also oversee the transfer of animals between zoo facilities, and monitor animals during their pregnancies. Additionally, veterinarians work to prevent breeding between certain individuals of a species through the use of contraceptives. It is important to pay close attention to which individuals of an endangered species reproduce in order to maintain genetic variability. By aiding in the breeding process as well as working as advisors for Species Survival Plans (SSPs), zoo veterinarians are instrumental in the preservation of many endangered species.

Veronica - Conservation Team

Animal Trainers: Undercover Conservationists

So your housecat likes to scratch the furniture, jump onto tables, and occasionally sticks a paw in the fish tank, but did you know that African servals like to do similar things? However, with the longest legs and largest ears in proportion to body size of any feline, a serval doesn’t look like your average housecat. Although servals aren’t endangered, they are considered to be at risk, unlike the familiar family feline.

At the Hunte Amphitheater at the San Diego Zoo, the trainers who work at the animal shows have two goals: allowing the public to make connections with animals while also appreciating their wildness. Susan Patch of the Behavior Operations Department works with animals in front of an audience in addition to caring for them off stage. Some members of Hunte Amphitheater, such as clouded leopards and cheetahs, are highly endangered. By including individuals of these threatened species in the show, the San Diego Zoo gives guests the opportunity to learn about them on a more personal level.

Ms. Patch gave the Zoo InternQuest team our own private show, which included two African serval brothers that began their training as babies. The trainers at Hunte teach animals to demonstrate their natural behaviors, such as jumping and scratching, before an audience. While the audience enjoys the spectacle, they are also learning about an animal’s natural tendencies.

Ms. Patch explained that the animals seen at Hunte act as ambassadors for their species. If people can realize similarities between animals they love and animals that they would never see except at the Zoo, they will begin to understand the importance of protecting these unique animals. Ms. Patch herself was inspired to pursue her career after seeing an animal trainer at the Zoo. Perhaps, after seeing Ms. Patch’s show, guests will also be motivated to aid in conservation efforts.

Jane – Conservation Team

The animals housed at the Wild Animal Park are ambassadors of their species. Their presence serves to educate Park visitors about species, to create awareness about habitat destruction and extinction, and, most importantly, to make an impact on visitors by establishing an emotional connection that will cause the visitors to care about the animals and their habitats in the wild. The team of doctors, keepers, and vet techs at HVMC are what keep these animals healthy and happy, enabling them to be the best ambassadors possible.

Claire, Real World Team

Dancing Servals

At Hunte Amphitheater at the San Diego Zoo, we met animal trainer Susan Patch of the Behavior Operations Department. She graduated from University of California, Davis with a bachelor’s degree in animal sciences and then attended Moorpark College, where she was trained to work directly with zoo animals. By training the animals, animal keepers have easier jobs: they can safely direct a trained animal to go through nail trims, transfers, and blood withdrawals. For untrained animals, such activities would be impossible without the animal being under severe stress, or anesthesia.

To demonstrate some of the animal training techniques and the natural behaviors of a wild cat, Ms. Patch brought out adorable 4-year-old African serval twins for us to see on stage. Trained at an early age through positive reinforcement (rewards for correct behavior), they could perform numerous behaviors, ranging from standing still to jumping six feet high.

However, animal training techniques do not only apply to animals. In fact, Ms. Patch trained me with a clicker. Whenever I performed an action close to the one she wanted me to do, she would make a “click” with the clicker. Only when I finally performed exactly what she wanted would she tell me to stop. This experiment proved that humans could be trained just like our fellow animals. Ms. Patch’s demonstration of behavioral training showcases a basic tenet of psychology: behavioral enrichment. All intelligent beings require this nourishment in order to develop their minds.

Haoyu - Real World Team

Ms. Pitt got her job after receiving degrees in psychology and anthropology from the University of Georgia. She is going back to school to obtain a graduate degree. A graduate degree is almost vital to advancing in the research community. She has been working for CRES for two and a half years and worked with various species including monkeys and apes before applying her skills in studying the behavior of giraffes and other ungulates at the Wild Animal Park. She told us, and I would agree, that this job takes patience, as much of her time is spent observing stationary animals, but it is still a lot of fun. Who else has the chance to study and record the habits of exotic animals for a living? Even though it is frustrating at times to not receive enough funding for research, this job is still very rewarding, that is if you can squeeze into one of the very few job openings available.

-Jake- Animal Careers Team

Listen to an iZoofari Chat with Caroline Pitt.

The Career Path to Pathology

Pathology is so much more complex than I thought it would be. Starting the day off with an introduction by Patty Gaffney, D.V.M., our day would turn out to be one of discovery and learning. Dr. Gaffney, a graduate of University of California, Davis veterinary school, is a resident in pathology where she receives advanced training in pathology and different diseases. She is a veterinary pathologist, meaning that she has a four-year bachelor’s degree and a D.V.M. degree behind her, and at least a year of a residency ahead of her.

As she introduced herself, we entered a room full of numerous instruments and hooks and operating tables. A pathology technician was examining a dead duck, its body cut open and organs spread for display. Performing a necropsy, the tech was examining the duck for clues on the possible cause(s) of death. We moved on quickly because the smell was starting to irritate our noses.

After a thorough discussion on the subject by Dr. Gaffney, I discovered not only what zoo pathology really is (an informal subspecialty of veterinary pathology, it involves the diagnosis and investigation of disease(s) in nondomestic – or not commercially raised – animals) but also how rare it is for a zoo to have such a person on staff. Currently, there are 25 zoo pathologists in the U.S. at zoos. Zoo pathologists can be found at the Zoological Society of San Diego, Smithsonian National Zoological Park, and others around the country, including Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Having an important role in animal health, pathologists perform necropsies and surgical biopsies; they conduct research on new diseases, educate others, and collaborate to share their findings. They also perform gross examinations and some people in this field have backgrounds in human medicine. In the work of a pathologist, 85 percent involves clinical work, 10 percent involves conservation and research, and the other 5 percent involves the examination of necropsy samples.

It takes a lot of school and a lot of hard work to be a zoo pathologist: first, you have to attain a degree, second, you have to be a resident at a zoo or veterinary office for two years; third, you have to pass the board certification test; four, you can go to school for another 5 to 8 years to attain a doctorate. Even though the path to becoming a pathologist is a hard one, it is very rewarding and very important to the health of all the animals in the zoo.

Tawni - Animal Careers Team

Last week, behavior biologist Caroline Pitt of CRES gave us a taste of her job, which includes observing animals and systematically recording their behavior on a chart called an ethogram. Data on everything a group of animals does from ear twitching to running is recorded periodically, often for years. Eventually patterns emerge. These patterns can be studied and compared to other data to make generalizations about the behavior of the species. Armed with a simple ethogram, we observed the Wild Animal Park’s population of giraffes for twenty minutes. Collecting hard information as a group on these animals underscored how standardized these studies must be in order to obtain valid results.

Miss Pitt records more detailed information on a Sudanese species of antelope called the Nile lechwe. Before captive lechwes began to be studied, very little was known about their behavior because social circumstances in Sudan make observing the species in the wild difficult. In fact, even the approximate number of wild lechwes is unknown. Miss Pitt explained that in order to know how much of this animal’s habitat must be conserved for a sustainable population in the wild we must first understand their social and breeding systems. Factors like male territoriality and migration play a huge role in how much space animals need. Information obtained from studying captive animals can be applied to wild populations. Although animals can behave differently in captivity, San Diego’s mild climate and the Wild Animal Park’s uniquely large exhibits make many animals feel right at home.

Jane - Conservation Team

Pathology: The Study of the Dead to Help the Living

Even though we like to think it impossible, occasionally an animal does die at the zoo.

So what happens in the event of an animal death? Today, the interns headed over to the Wildlife Diseases Lab to find out. Dr. Patty Gaffney, a veterinary pathologist completing her residency at the San Diego Zoo, gave us a tour of the anatomical and clinical pathology labs and explained to us the responsibilities of a zoo pathologist.

The most important job of a pathologist at the San Diego Zoo is to avoid the spread of an infectious disease. When an animal, such as a wild duck, dies in the Zoo, pathologist do a necropsy, or exam, on that animal to determine the cause of death. As we watched a pathology technician complete a necropsy on the wild duck (eww!), Dr. Gaffney explained the process to us. If anything appears abnormal, tissue samples are sent to the lab for further research. In this way, diseases can be contained, keeping both wild and Zoo animals safe. With the threat of avian diseases such as bird flu and West Nile Virus, it is crucial to examine migratory birds in order to protect the Zoo’s collection of rare and endangered animals.

Clinical Lab Manager Laura Keener showed us a second side to pathology: the study of animal blood and serum that also can reveal various diseases. By studying blood samples taken from ill or hospitalized animals, pathologists are able to learn about what diseases may affect a species as well as how a species may respond to treatment. Dr. Keener’s lab has even discovered new parasites in some of the Zoo’s animals.

Dr. Keener has also been involved in several applications of pathology in the wild. When an iguana species of the Turks and Caicos Islands became endangered, many conservationists believed that the cause was human encroachment on the iguana environment by tourists and divers. However, some people felt that disease was the true cause of the iguana population decline. Pathologists, including Dr. Keener, traveled to the Caribbean islands to determine which factor was actually responsible for the iguana endangerment. By studying the iguanas from a pathological standpoint, the researchers found the iguanas to be healthy, thus proving humans guilty and helping the endangered species.

Veronica - Conservation Team