Zoo InternQuest

For example, birds always clean their plates. The birds at the San Diego Zoo have learned that the keepers will only throw them more food if the previously thrown food has been devoured. Ms. Bruce showed this to us as we threw crickets to the red-crowned cranes. One of the crickets started to float away and as the crane looked to us for more, Ms. Bruce pointed the crane in the right direction , “Keep looking, there’s still one cricket there. I still see one.” And the crane understood, grabbing up the last morsel. Only then was a shower of more thrown to her by the amazed interns.

I was also astonished by the birds that turned and hopped away after we had thrown them several small fish (their favorite!). Ms. Bruce explained that we weren’t being snubbed; the birds were merely saying that they were full and didn’t want anymore. This surprised me; I thought all animals ate as much as was available in order to always have extra stores of energy. I know that I have certainly eaten more even after I was full, especially if it is one of my favorite foods! But most birds have a keen ability to know when they have eaten their fill and will ignore any extra food that is thrown to them. During the feeding, I noticed several behaviors: certain birds such as the white-breasted cormorant just waddled away, while others turned their backs as we threw food but stayed around out of curiosity.

There is one quality that the birds and I have in common—we like the foods that are most unhealthy! Most birds have broad ranging diets from insects to fruit, but the favorite foods of some birds are also very unhealthy for them! Sound familiar? Mynahs, toucans, and birds of paradise are very sensitive to iron-rich foods. Although french fries and candy aren’t the problem here like they are with me, these birds require specialized diets and can’t be housed in the open aviaries with the other birds. When the keepers put out foods with iron, there is no way to prevent the iron-sensitive birds from consuming them. In order to limit their diet, the birds are kept in separate enclosures so that they aren’t tempted to sneak a taste!

Birds show a lot of common sense in their behaviors, and even in their love for junk food, they are a lot like us humans. So next time you hear the chirping and twittering in the trees, listen up!

Ronit, The Real World Team

As a keeper, it is Ms. Bruce’s job to cater to each bird’s attitude so that they can showcase their personalities to the public. Inside one of the Asian aviaries, we gloved up to take on the task of feeding one of the bird species. After taking a pinch of delicious-looking mealworms, our only instructions were to “throw them one at a time into the air.” Doubtfully, I tossed one unlucky mealworm into the empty air. Just as it was about to fall back to Earth, five birds swooped down to pluck the worm from its descent! Kristi Bruce and other avian keepers let the birds exhibit natural behaviors such as this so that visitors to the San Diego Zoo can be amazed by and enamored with what these feathered animals can do. More than this, keepers maintain the mental and physical health of the birds in this free-flight environment.

While we were feeding the birds, Ms. Bruce answered the questions of any inquisitive guest passing by, connecting them on a more personal level with the birds that need our help to survive in the wild. With one-on-one talks backed by a colorful chorus of birds, Ms. Bruce does wonders for the conservation of animals in the wild from within the Zoo’s aviaries.

Lauren, Conservation Team

Bouncing on bales of hay in the back of a keeper truck, our first destination was the Central Asian plains to see the Indian rhinos. There have been nearly 70 Indian rhinos born at the Park. This includes baby Jontu, who is about a month old. Rhinos are one of the fastest growing animals, gaining about 100 pounds every month for their first year. But even with all this success at different zoos and parks, Indian rhinos are still endangered with only about 2,400 individuals left on the planet. This is due largely to habitat loss, but it is also due to poaching.

Currently, there is an effort to gather copious amounts of information about rhinos and to have all of it available in one location. Jane Kennedy, a 25-year veteran animal keeper at the Wild Animal Park and resident rhino expert, will soon be flying to London to aid this effort. Several efforts are underway to understand and protect these incredible creatures, but what really helps is when people make the conscious effort to protect the environment and be aware of how they are affecting the planet.

Amelia, Conservation Team

Any degree associated with animals is sufficient in becoming a keeper. But be prepared for plenty of poop! In fact, while on our excursion, Ms. Kennedy collected a rhino fecal sample for a research project tracking ovulation cycles. Studies are being conducted worldwide to learn more about rhino reproductive physiology.

Keepers generally work five days per week from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Department crews meet in the morning to arrange their day’s agenda. Feeding is the first morning task along with counting the number of animals in each enclosure. Keepers then escort veterinarians into the exhibit if necessary medical procedures are scheduled for that day. No matter how good your schedule looks on paper, a keeper’s day depends heavily on their vehicle. “Not to worry,” Ms. Gaffney minded us, as the parking brake on the truck we were riding in the back of started to give. Keepers are accustomed to unexpected situations and are well trained to think on their toes. They learn early on to not get too far from the safety of their trucks, as they might have to hop in if an animal who is feeling territorial comes at them. Keeper logs are kept of daily occurrences in a report sent to the curators and veterinarians at the end of the day.

One thing is for sure: Ms. Gaffney and Ms. Kennedy are masters of maneuvering around animals of all sizes. No animal is too large to receive their excellent care, as animal keeping is their lifelong passion.

Lindsay, Careers Team

The interns thought all of the burnt cacti had died. Mr. Montagne showed them, however, that many of these San Diegan plant species are very resilient and can regrow after a tragedy!

Although the interns didn’t find any animals in the buckets that day, they did manage to observe a red diamondback rattlesnake warming itself on a hot rock.

Paige Howorth fascinates the Zoo InternQuest Interns with a leaf insect, a creature that is mimicking a green leaf.

Don’t get antsy in front of these leaf-cutter ants! These critters are hard at work, cutting and moving pieces of leaves.

Holding up a stick insect, Kelli Walker explains how not all bugs are dangerous but can be friendly.

At the Petting Paddock, the Zoo InternQuest Interns watch as Bob Cisneros trains and interacts with TJ, the goat.

Paige Howorth, an animal care supervisor of arthropods, and Kelli Walker, an invertebrate keeper in the Insect House in the Children’s Zoo, showed us around the San Diego Zoo’s Insect House, affectionately called Spineless Marvels. According to Ms. Howorth, insects are “the last frontier” of animal biology. No one really knows how many insect species exist: at least one million species are identified and more are discovered each year. Meanwhile, many are lost every year due to habitat destruction. There may be millions more that we will never meet. And for both Ms. Howorth and Ms. Walker, the infinite possibility is exhilarating.

From leafcutter ants to rhinoceros beetles, the Zoo is home to around 40 different species of arthropods, a phylum that includes both arachnids and insects. But this variety and the population numbers constantly change as the species reproduce and the Zoo exchanges individuals with other zoos and museums nationwide.

But what is so special about the Zoo’s exhibit is the opportunity for visitors to get so close to these amazing arthropods. Many of the critters are rarely seen in nature because they would likely be underground or in hiding. The Zoo provides visitors with the chance to see a variety of invertebrates in displays that are specifically designed to encourage natural behaviors of the inverts and WOW! expressions from the humans.

When you visit the Spineless Marvels, you can see the bugs that make the world go round. From decomposers to carnivores, the behaviors of arthropods serve critical functions in an ecosystem. Although termites may seem an annoyance when they are chewing up the wood of a house, they are just doing their job: breaking down dead wood and recycling the nutrients into the soil for another organism to use. And although the huge spiders may scare you, their consumption of other insects helps keep pest populations such as flies and mosquitoes from flying out of control. Even if they scare your pants off, you can’t live without them.

Ronit, The Real World Team

Ms. Walker’s bug fascination started in Washington D.C. when she held her first hissing cockroach. She knew she wanted to work with animals, so she spent a few years volunteering in D.C. (where she held the cockroach), then moved to California for a job at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles (recognized for its incredible Insect Zoo) then finally to the San Diego Zoo. Ms. Howorth was stung by her bug fascination as a pre-med college student, starting with a course in zoology at the University of Kansas, then changing her path that eventually sent her off to the University of Costa Rica to be really close to some of the most amazing insects in the world. What an education!

For a vertebrate, Ms. Howorth has deep respect for the invertebrates that occupy this planet. Maybe we should too, given the fact that only .04% of the identified species on Earth are mammals like us. The rest of the creatures are all invertebrates like spiders, slugs, millipedes, scorpions, crustaceans, beetles, and the millions of others I can’t even begin to list.

Dana, Careers Team

Mr. Jean-Pierre Montagne of the San Diego Zoo’s Applied Animal Ecology Division works in the field of the 900 wild acres at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park, essentially counting animals. (Please see the Careers Journal written by Lindsay and the Conservation Journal by Amelia for more details on how to do that.)

Quantitative population data like these are the basis for calculating the status of a species: stable, vulnerable, threatened, or endangered. The work of field biologists like Mr. Montagne is the link between the state of the environment and public awareness. It would be difficult to know what species to help conserve if we didn’t have an accurate idea of how they are surviving on their own. Especially here in San Diego, in a biodiversity hotspot, we need all the help we can get to attune public awareness in order to preserve the wonderfully varying types of animals and habitats of San Diego.

Natalie, The Real World Team

When our knowledgeable arthropod keepers took us to the new bug exhibit in the Children’s Zoo, I was amazed at the beautiful exhibits and even more impressed at the sight of some wild-looking bugs. Giant spiders rested in webs spun in a mini bamboo forest, hissing cockroaches coated a moss-covered wall, and colossal walking sticks rested among leaves. The beautiful bugs certainly amazed me, which is part of this exhibit’s main purpose. In order to protect arthropods, people have to replace their fear of them with respect and admiration. Without arthropods, we would be up to our noses in trash and waste, for they play a crucial role in the food chain. A decomposer’s idea of a delectable meal is something rotten beyond distinction, something we certainly do not want to deal with.

The real highlight of the day was when we went behind the scenes at the exhibit to where the Zoo’s arthropods are bred. When people hear the word “endangered,” they usually think of mammals such as tigers or pandas. But bugs can be threatened, too, which is why Paige Howorth and Kelli Walker work toward sustainable arthropod reproduction. Although some of these invertebrates can be tiny (though species like six inch-long walking sticks are anything but small!), the breeding center requires a lot of room to work. Some species need to be individually housed because of a hot temper, while others have unique temperature requirements. Whichever the reason, we saw tanks of diving beetles and crabs, and enclosures for stick insects, grasshoppers, whip scorpions, leafcutter ants, and other insects adorned with mesmerizing patterns. Whatever they are and however many legs they have, they have inspired me to appreciate arthropods.

Lauren Zeidler, Conservation Team

San Diego is home to a plethora of habitats, the most prevalent being that of endangered coastal sage scrub. The undeveloped land that surrounds the Wild Animal Park presents a prime example of this ecosystem type and is precisely where our most recent adventure began. Mr. Montagne first began volunteering at the Park eleven years ago after receiving his bachelor’s degree in ecology and evolution from the Univerisity of California, San Diego. His volunteer position as a rhino observer soon progressed into his current paid position. When he’s not in the field, he works in the Clinical Pathology Lab where various types of animal samples are analyzed. However, for five sequential days a month he works on San Diego County’s Multiple Species Conservation Plan (MSCP)where he monitors arrays of humane pit fall traps. The MSCP monitors biodiversity and works to preserve a network of habitats and open space in the county. The San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park, in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey, is home to 140 bucket traps. During the collection period, Mr. Montagne and two others check the traps daily. Volunteers are welcome to join the group.

On a beautifully sunny day, we trekked to the trap locations. Each bucket catch contains two pieces of PVC pipe that serves as a refuge for the animals that fall in. Inside the bucket is also a small damp sponge that provides water for the animals. On our outing we found mostly beetles and millipedes. Next to each array lies a snake trap. Wood lies over the cylindrical trap to provide shelter for the temporarily delayed snake.

Variation always captures a child’s eye, especially while driving across country. My children are bound to ask repetitive questions on road trips, just as I did. One thing is for sure: I may not know whether or not we’re there yet, but, thanks to Mr. Montagne, I will certainly know why San Diego is known for its biodiversity.

Lindsay, Careers Team