Last Week

This was my final week of my internship here at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo. This week I worked Saturday through Tuesday because I could not work Wednesday as I was flying back to college then. This week was again mostly routine, more of the afternoons were routine as well. In the morning I cleaned either ruffed or ringtail exhibit and holding area, cleaned another holding area or two, fed the rats and the aye-aye, and sometimes did herps or prepare diets. In the afternoon I fed the islands ringtail and ruffed lemurs, fed rats, bats, and aye-aye. Did lemur enrichment and helped medicate the ruffed lemurs.

On Saturday the whole day was pretty much routine, so there wasn’t anything different that I did.

On Sunday in the afternoon I helped pull vines off the front fence of the fossa exhibit.

Monday was a very fun day as in the afternoon I got to do target training with the red ruffed lemurs. I also went to pick up mulch to add to the tortoise area of the ringtail exhibit.

Tuesday was my very last day. In the morning I went to go get the new crickets, then cleaned the cricket tanks and unpacked the new crickets, I watched collared lemur training, fed the collared lemurs their fruit, and then fell in the lagoon because I had to say goodbye to Howie, one of the red ruffed lemurs.

Sadly that is the end of my internship. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot. I will greatly miss everyone here especially the lemurs.

Massive Storm

The mornings this week were mostly routine again, cleaning either ruffed or ringtail exhibit or cleaning windows, as well as cleaning a couple back holding areas. Then preparing rat and aye-aye enrichment and sometimes doing herps or preparing diets. In the afternoons the bats, rats, and aye-aye are fed, lemur enrichment is done, and sometimes I get to feed the collared lemurs their fruit. On Tuesday and Wednesday the ruffed lemurs outside were starting their new medication so I got to watch the keepers giving the meds to the lemurs. This is done either just squirting it into their mouth or putting it in a piece of banana.

Collared Lemur

Diabetic Ringtail Lemur Rhea

On Sunday the only different things that I did were feeding the islands, both ringtail and ruffed, and watching fossa training.

Monday was a bit of an interesting day as there was a very massive storm the night before. There was a sinkhole washed out in the corner of the black and white ruffed exhibit which caused the exhibit to be unsafe for them so they had to stay in the holding for a few days. The road in front of our building had a lot of mulch washed out onto it so I spend post of the afternoon sweeping that up and putting it back where it belonged. Also today was the first day the new mongoose lemur pair was put back on the exhibit after the switch of pairs.

Damage to black and white ruffed lemur exhibit from storm

Mongoose Lemurs, Edwardo and Selena

Tuesday was a very interesting day. After cleaning the windows and the downstairs mongoose lemur and vasa parrot holding area, the vet came down to get blood from Rhea, our diabetic ringtail lemur. Rhea was in the back holding area by herself and the keepers went in and netted her then held her on top of the barrel for the vet to come in and take blood. After that, Ted, a black and white ruffed lemur had to go up to the vets office and get checked due to problems with his hip. I went too, so that I could watch the procedure. He was put under and then examined. He had a normal check up and the vet was moving around both his hips, and the rest of his rear legs to see if there was something wrong, then several x-rays were taken, blood was also taken. Nothing was found to be wrong with him, though they would have to wait for the blood work results to see if that showed anything, but he was put on some medication for pain. In the afternoon there was an attempt to train the fossa, but they would not come back into their holding area. I then went to rake some on ringtail island, because the island had been flooded and most of it had been underwater from the storm and was now covered in the duckweed that covers the lagoon. Today when I was watching the keepers med the ruffed lemurs, one of the black and whites escaped from its holding area and was loose in the lagoon holding building. After a few minutes of it running back and forth from one end of the building to the other it was caught and put back in its holding area.

On Wednesday the only thing I did that was different was in the afternoon I stripped the rats burrow.

USDA

This was a bit of an interesting week because the USDA inspection wound up happening this week. Sunday through Tuesday the mornings were normal and routine, I cleaned the ruffed exhibit and holding area all three days, cleaned windows, then cleaned another holding area or two. Also in the morning, the aye-aye and giant jumping rat enrichment is given, I do not think I ever explained why these two animals get fed/enriched so many times a day. The rats, it is very easy for them to over groom themselves and each other so we feed them three times a day to try to prevent that. The aye-aye, in the early morning they are given their gruel, then with their second feeding they are given their vegetables, and the third one they are given their fruit. This is done this way because they like the fruit the most and if they were given that with or before the other food they would only eat the fruit and not the other food. Sometimes in the morning I will help with herps, and give the crickets new food. Then tomorrows diets are prepared and that’s the end of the morning. In the afternoon most things are different from day to day, but feeding the bats, and the aye-aye and rats again, as well as preparing lemur enrichment is done every day, most days I also get to hand feed the collared lemurs their fruit.

In the afternoon on Sunday, I went with a keep to the jungle to start laundry and try to find balloons for paper mache, then spent most of the afternoon making paper mache.

Monday was interesting too. In the morning I cleaned the downstairs mongoose lemur holding area with them in it. They were not going on exhibit because they were being moved upstairs and separated. The two mongoose lemurs upstairs were separated as well. They are switching mates in hopes that they will breed. All lemurs were put in separate cages with one empty cage in between them and their new mate. In the afternoon another intern and I stripped one of the herps exhibits.

Tuesday in the morning I cleaned the tenrec’s tank. In the afternoon I helped a keeper to fix fallen shelves and other various tidying up jobs. Then while I was feeding the collared lemurs we learned that USDA was at the gorilla area next to us. Everyone quickly ran around trying to straighten everything up and make sure things were where they were supposed to be. After we did all that we discovered that they were not actually getting to our area until the next day.

Wednesday started off a little bit crazy because we knew that the USDA was going to be there sometime that day and so had to make sure to clean everything very well, including all drains, and make sure all chemicals were put back where they belong after we used them. I started out helping one keeper get down cobwebs from the bird exhibit, but then went to help another keeper clean the giant aye-aye and bat exhibit. After that I neatened up the enrichment hallway a little, and then cleaned two of the upstairs mongoose lemur holdings. Today after the holdings were cleaned, the mongoose lemurs were put into cages right next to each other. In the afternoon I fed the ring tails on the island, watched collared lemur training and fed the red ruffed lemurs outside.

Different Week

This week pretty much every morning was different because on Monday and Wednesday we had four interns and Tuesday the ruffed exhibit and holding area were not cleaned due to exhibit maintenance which caused the lemurs to stay in the back holding for the day.

Sunday morning was like a usual morning, I cleaned the ringtail exhibit and holding area, then cleaned windows, then cleaned the fossa holding area. After that the morning was different though and I brought branches from a tree that had fallen down to all the indoor exhibits, then cleaned up dirt and ceramic off the boardwalk outside from a potted plant that had fallen over during the storm the previous night. In the afternoon I disinfected extension cords, did more rust painting, prepared the lemur enrichment and fed the collared lemurs.

Monday I did not clean an exhibit in the morning, I just cleaned windows, cleaned the fossa holding area, and cleaned the tenrec tank. Then brought the aye-aye and rats their morning enrichment, and cleaned the windowsills in the upstairs keeper/holding area. In the afternoon I scraped chipping paint for the fossa holding area, cleaned the floor in the upstairs keeper area, then pulled weeds out on ringtail island.

Tuesday I cleaned the ringtail exhibit, then swept and vacuumed the public area, another intern cleaned the ringtail holding area since the ruffs had to stay off exhibit for the day. Then I cleaned the mongoose and vasa parrot holding area. Then prepared part of the aye-aye and rat enrichment, then went to get diets and prepared the dry part of their diets, brought the aye-aye and rats their enrichment, and did herps. In the afternoon I went to go get new crickets, unpacked the crickets, fed the bats and brought rats and aye-aye afternoon enrichment, put new browse branches in indoor exhibits and holding areas. Then pulled more weeds on ringtail island. Last for the day prepared lemur enrichment and brought it to their holding areas.

Wednesday I also did not clean an exhibit. I cleaned the windows, fed the crickets, spot cleaned the tenrec’s tank, and cleaned the fossa holding area. Then I went on a trip with a keeper, we brought the bags of weeds to the compost area, went to get diets, picked up clean laundry from the jungle, and dropped off fecal samples and picked up arthritis medication for saggy, the brown lemur, from the hospital. When we got back we added the dry parts to the diets. In the afternoon, more browse banches were brought to the sick lemurs in holding and to the black and white ruffed lemurs outside. Then with a keeper did cleaning and rearranging in the storage area of the fossa holding building. After that I fed the bats and aye-aye and did lemur enrichment.

Aye-Aye...

This week was a short week for me because I had to call in sick on Wednesday. Other then that the week again went pretty routinely, especially in the mornings. This week I cleaned the ruffed exhibit all three days of my working and foamed it on Monday, we normally foam the exhibits, Monday, Wednesday Friday, and back holdings get foamed everyday. I cleaned the ruffed holding area, another holding area, either the fossa or the upstairs or downstairs mongoose lemur. After the holdings are done morning enrichment is done for the aye-aye and giant jumping rats, then herps gets done, then diets get done, and that is usually it for the morning. After lunch tends to be different everyday since the only things that get done everyday are feeding the aye-aye their fruit, feeding the bats, preparing lemur enrichment and hand feeding the collared lemurs their fruit.

On Sunday I went with a keeper to get our snakes back that were removed from their exhibit last week for maintenance, then I washed some dishes and spent the rest of the afternoon painting rusted areas in the upstairs holding area with rust preventing paint.

Monday I did extra stuff in the morning, I cleaned out the tenrec’s tank and I helped to clean the cricket tanks. In the afternoon I did more rust preventing painting, this time in the downstairs holding areas, and then cleaned the floor in the keeper area upstairs. This was done the same way as cleaning the holding areas, with hosing down, then foaming, then scrubbing, then hosing again, the squeegeeing.

On Tuesday, in the morning when I cleaned the downstairs mongoose lemur holding area I also cleaned the vasa parrot holding area, this was a little bit different because the parrots are in there and I have to be careful not to let them out. I also went out to meet a keeper in the outside red ruffed lemur exhibit to feed the ibis that are also out there, they got pinkies, some of which I tossed to one bird and then the keeper put the rest up in the nest while I held the ladder. The ruffs were also fed while I was out there. Then another intern and I stripped the aye-aye holding area. Then I watched collared lemur training and that was the end of the morning. Not really sure how so much got done that morning. In the afternoon I helped put the new crickets in their tanks, watched ringtail lemur injection training, cleaned the upstairs keeper area again and cleaned crates that had been used.

Yay Lemurs!

This week was mostly routine, days started in the morning with cleaning either the ring tail exhibit and holding area or the red ruffed exhibit and holding area, which is then followed by cleaning the downstairs mongoose lemur holding area, the upstairs mongoose lemur holding area, or the fossa holding area, cleaning holding areas also always means cleaning the footbaths that are in that area as well. Sometimes I will also clean the windows in the public viewing area. Once all the holding areas are done we prepare the day enrichment for the giant jumping rats and the aye-aye, and do herps. Diets for the next day are sometimes prepared before lunch and sometimes after lunch depending on when a keeper has time to go get them because all we do for diets is add in the dry food like browse biscuits and pellets and such. Once diets are prepared, aye-aye and rats are given their afternoon enrichment, and the bats are fed. Then lemur enrichment for when they return to their holding areas for the night is prepared.

There were a few things that happened each day that were not part of this normal routine. On Sunday, I got to go with a keeper to get diets and see where all of that is prepared. Also on Sunday, I had to strip the snake exhibit, this meant removing all the mulch that was on the floor of the exhibit and then hosing it down. This had to be done because they are adding new heating sources into the exhibit so that all the snakes can be at one at the same time.

On Monday, I got to go out and bring enrichment to the sick lemur holding area, and brought food to the ring tail lemur island and to the red ruffed lemurs outside. A keeper usually does this alone so I was happy to get a chance to do this and was able to get some very good pictures of the ring tails and the red ruffed. Today I also helped move around plants that were upstairs and cleaned the dirt that was around the plants, and then cleaned shelves that were removed from holding areas due to rusting.

Tuesday was a short day for me because I injured my ankle stepping out of the ring tail exhibit in the morning and did not come back after lunch to give my ankle a chance to rest. What ever I did to my ankle it is now better and no longer hurting.

Wednesday was a special day called Member’s Day at the zoo. And for this we had ring tail island training at 2pm, fossa training at 2:30pm, and then were putting enrichment out for the lemurs from 3-7. I got to watch the ring tail training, but then had to stand inside and watch the button quail for almost 2 hours. The male and female were just being put back together on exhibit and were not getting along very well so someone had to watch them to make sure they were not fighting.

First week of work

Thursday

This was the day after I arrived and checked in to where I will be living. I had my orientation where I got background information about the zoo, people who work there, the different exhibits that are there; got my id badge; got my working hours and was shown shortcuts to get to my area. I was also stopped by two groups of kids doing scavenger hunt to take pictures.

Sunday

For my first day of work we were shorthanded because I was the only intern there and one of the keepers was on vacation. Normally new interns have help with cleaning their first exhibit but got I told what to do then did it myself because we were so shorthanded. The exhibit I was cleaning was the indoor ringtail lemur, collard lemur, and tortoises exhibit. While cleaning I have to wear mask and gloves to prevent disease since lemurs primates and primates so close to humans. Tortoises were on exhibit while I was cleaning, while the lemurs were in their back holding area. First I drained small pool of drinking water. Then I took small broom and dustpan and went in exhibit swept up the food that was left and the loose feces. Then I hosed down exhibit getting stuck feces up and spraying the windows that go out to public viewing. Took broom and dustpan again and picked up the feces that were now not stuck, then took large broom and swept out the water that had collected at different parts of exhibit to a drain. Throughout this one tortoise kept leaving the area on one side of the exhibit with wood chips for them and I had to pick him up and move him back to the wood chips. Then closed the drain for the drinking water and refilled it with fresh water. Squeegee the windows. Then took the lemurs food for the day and put it in different parts of exhibit off the ground so the tortoises would not get it.

Next I went out into the public area and cleaned the windows throughout the whole indoor area.

When I finished this I started cleaning the holding area for the lemurs whose exhibit I had cleaned earlier. For this I again got the broom and dustpan and swept up the food and loose feces. Sprayed the area with the hose to get wet it down and then got hose with soap attachment and sprayed whole area down with that then got scrubby brush and scrubbed the area making sure to get all that was stuck off. I then sprayed again to make sure I got up all soap then squeegeed again. Then I filled up the water dishes.

Next I cleaned out the footbaths that are used every time you go from one area to another. This was done by just emptying them, spraying down the pad that was in there, putting in one squirt of soap then filling with water until it was even with the pad.

After that I cleaned the mongoose lemur holding area, this was done the same way as the previous one for the other lemurs.

Next I worked with another keeper, Wendy, and prepared enrichment for the aye-aye, this was a cardboard tube with food in the middle and newspaper on both ends.

Then was lunch break!!

When I got back from lunch I was preparing diets for the next day with another keeper, Sara. The fruit and vegetables had already been prepared and were all in bags marked with the animals they were for. On the fridge there is a list of what each group of animals gets in terms of pellets or other type of dry food. All this was added to each bag and then the bags were put in the fridge.

Then Sara, Wendy, and I took the bags of food for the bats for today and went to their exhibit. The males are in their own smaller exhibit and the females are in a larger exhibit with the aye-aye. Sara and I went in the larger exhibit and Wendy went in the smaller one.

This weekend is an event called Moo at the Zoo, and for this most of the animals were getting watermelons so me and the three keepers that were there today, Joe, Sara, and Wendy cut up watermelons, some to look like turtles, and brought them around and put them in exhibits, only the lemurs got them in our area.

Unfortunately, the red-ruffed and black and white-ruffed lemurs that are in the outdoor exhibits are currently positive for bacteria (the outdoor boardwalk walkthrough area is currently closed due to this) and they needed to get their weight up a little before beginning treatment so we had to go out and weigh them. This part of the day was my favorite because we got to go in the exhibit with the lemurs. First we did the black and white ruffed ones. There are four of them. Sara, Wendy, and I went in the exhibit and Joe stood right outside to note the weights. We had a scale that was plugged in with extension cords and cups with raisins in them. Each lemur was scanned for its microchip then weighed. Sara and I distracted the other lemurs while Wendy lured one on the scale and got its weight. To distract the lemurs we fed them raisins which they took gently from our fingers and also tried grabbing on to the cup holding the raisins and onto my arm or shirt. Switching the lemurs to weigh other ones was difficult as a couple didn’t want to go on the scale then two of them would be on it at once. After this Sara left and Wendy, Joe, and I went up to weigh the red-ruffed lemurs. They were a little bit easier to do because they didn’t all swarm us as soon as we were there.

When this was done we went back inside and put the food for the lemurs in their holding areas along with enrichment, egg cases stuffed with food, for them to have when they came back in for the night.

And that was the end of my first day.

Monday

There were more people there today, the same keepers as yesterday along with two other interns, Cassie, and Ryan. To start off the day I cleaned all the windows in the public viewing area for the indoor exhibits. Then I swept the floor since it had not been done by the night person the night before. Next I helped finish the aye-aye exhibit, by sweeping out the drains and moving the rocks back to cover the drains so the public can’t see them. Then I cleaned the fossa’s holding area. This was done in the same way as the other holding areas. After that I cleaned the holding area for the two mongoose lemurs that are upstairs. This one is a little different in that I have to be careful where I am spraying the hose because the lemurs are right there in pen next to the one I was cleaning. Next Joe, Ryan, and I prepared enrichment for the aye-aye, which today was hiding their food in different boxes, and then brought this down and put it in their exhibit. Next Ryan and I prepared the diets for the next day. After lunch, Cassie and I cleaned the aye-aye holding area. Their holding area has wood chips and straw bedding on the floor of it so that had to be swept up. Then the rest is cleaned like every other holding area. When we were done it was left to finish drying and bedding would be added later by the night person. Next the two other interns and I prepared ice treats from watermelon that was left from the weekend. This was done by putting the watermelon chunks in buckets along with water and some grape cool aid. They were then placed in the freezer. Then we prepared the enrichment for the lemurs to get when they got back in their holding areas for the night. Today it was large buckets with their food at the bottom and shredded paper on top. This was placed in the holding areas and then the day was done.

Tuesday

Today there were three other interns and two girls from zoo academy. To start off the day one of the other interns, Melissa, and I cleaned the indoor exhibit for the red ruffed lemurs and the brown lemurs. This was interrupted halfway through by a severe weather drill during which we had to move to the stair. Once that was over we went back to finish cleaning the exhibit. When we finished a keeper came to let the lemurs into the exhibit from the holding area. Then we cleaned the holding area. After that me and another intern, Heather, prepared the enrichment for the mongoose lemurs upstairs, then a keeper moved them to the next pen so we could clean the one they had been in. Next the day enrichment for the aye-aye was done and brought to them. Then Heather, I, and a keeper, Kendal, did herps. The first part of this was tossing food in for the tortoises in the exhibit with the ring-tailed and collard lemurs. Next we went to the exhibit for the mantellas. This is sprayed with mist then fruit flies are put in there for them to eat. Then we went to the exhibit with a button quail, geckos, a friendly chameleon. This exhibit is misted then large crickets are put for the reptiles and other food for the quail. I also got to hold the chameleon. He is very sweet and likes to be held by people. The next stop was the exhibit for two small tortoises and several other small lizards, all that is done here is food put in for the animals. The last stop for completing herps is one more exhibit with frogs in it. This is sprayed and then food is put in. Then lunch break. After lunch Heather, Wendy, and I went to strip and clean the burrow for the giant jumping rats. Kendal came in for a few minutes to help Wendy catch the male rat to and get it in the carrier; the female rat is friendlier and goes into the carrier very easily. The rats were then put in the mongoose lemur holding area while we cleaned their exhibit. This is also added enrichment for the lemurs when they return to the holding area at night and smell the rats. To clean the burrow first the large stuff in was scooped out by hand and thrown away, then it was hosed down, then the water was vacuumed out. Then foam soap was sprayed in there and it was scrubbed, this was then vacuumed out. Then the rats were put back in. Then we fed the bats and gave the aye-ayes their fruit. Then we prepared the enrichment for the lemurs for that night which was their food in large feed bags along with straw.

Wednesday

Today started out with cleaning the indoor exhibit for the red ruffed and brown lemurs. Since it is a Wednesday it is a foam day so along with hosing down the exhibit and sweeping stuff up it is also sprayed with soap and scrubbed. Once that was done and a keeper moved the animals from the holding area to the exhibit I cleaned the holding area. Then I went upstairs and cleaned the upstairs mongoose lemur holding area. Then did aye-aye and jumping rat day enrichment and brought it to them. Then did herps again. Then I had two hour lunch break because there was a staff meeting. When got back we moved the tenrecs that are in a small tank upstairs downstairs along with the tanks of crickets so that they could be in the air conditioning since the heat upstairs was having bad effects on them. Then we fed the bats and brought the aye-ayes their fruit. Then we took three of the snakes out of their exhibit and put them in storage containers that are used as feeding boxes and gave them their food. Then prepared enrichment for lemurs today was cricket bags with their food, some cereal, and newspaper in it. Then we hand fed the collard lemurs their fruit because they are on exhibit and go in holding area with the ring-tailed lemurs and one of them, Rhea, has diabetes and is not supposed to have a lot a fruit.

Since this was my first week I wrote everything out to really explain what I was doing. After this posts will be more summaries of what I did for the whole week then explaining out each day.

Where I work

I am working in the Expedition Madagascar area. This area consists of a building which has about 13 exhibits on either side of a hallway with glass showing into the exhibit for public viewing. Inside there is an exhibit for black lemurs, which houses 3 black lemurs; mongoose lemurs, which houses 2 mongoose lemurs and 4 younger giant jumping rats; bats, this exhibit houses just the male bats; aye-aye, which houses 2 aye-ayes and about 30 female bats; a small exhibit with frogs and geckos; giant jumping rat has two adult giant jumping rats; an exhibit with two birds, an exhibit with 4 ring-tailed lemurs (one of which is diabetic), 2 collared lemurs, and 2 large tortoises; an exhibit with 2 small tortoises, and several other smaller reptiles; an exhibit that houses several species of mantellas, very small frogs; an exhibit with 4 different species of snakes; an exhibit with 2 red ruffed lemurs and 3 brown lemurs (one of which is old and has bad arthritis and cannot jump very well); and finally an exhibit with a button quail and chameleon. This area also has 3 outdoor exhibits. One is a small island in the middle of a lagoon which houses 5 ring-tailed lemurs. There is a walkthrough boardwalk that goes through an exhibit with 5 red ruffed lemurs, and a few birds. And the other exhibit outside is one with 4 black and white ruffed lemurs.