new kids on the block

So it's another day at the zoo. After our morning meeting to start off our day, I went to start cleaning our howler room. When I got there, I was told to go outside first. When I did, I found three cute and little pacas in kennels in the back of our truck. The three pacas were just shipped in from San Diego. Here is what they look like from Google.

Before we let the howlers, sakis and squirrel monkeys out, I had to observe how the three new pacas were adapting to their new home. They were a bit timid at first to their surroundings, but then eventually came out of their hiding spots and started to run around. These guys are very small as full grown, they like to be under bushes or underground. Even though these guys are cute, they can be aggressive. As I walked around them, they seemed to not mind me, but I still considered the new information and kept a distance. After observing these guys for a while, I was called back to start cleaning the back holding. After cleaning that out, we set out the howlers, sakis and squirrel monkeys. After doing that, I was sent out to observe again for an hour. 

This was very interesting since the primates were not expecting new neighbors. The pacas were very intimidated by the primates' curiosity and the pacas hid in the bushes for quite some time. For a long time, I could not find the pacas. However, the primates gave away where they were at by staring at certain locations that indicated to me where they were hiding. Eventually, the pacas were brave enough to roam around their new home with the other primates around. This made me feel better that this display and zoo would be a good home for them. 

During this activity, I learned a lot about observation. Observing is a very useful skill to know how to use since it can give you so much information. As mentioned before, I talked about how I observed their behavior among the new environment for the pacas at first and then the interaction between the pacas and primates. Something else that I did observe is how they manage to get their water, food and where they feel more comfortable at within the display. Since they like to run, we had to clear some pathways so then they could run without running into anything. We also had to put their food under the bushes since they prefer to be there. In addition, we had to lay down a log to get from the higher tier to the low tier since they cannot jump from one another. We also had to put a water bowl out for them since getting their water from the water fall was too difficult for them to reach. 

After making all of these adjustments, I hope the three new friends can live happily here at our zoo.  All that is left to do is picking out names for them! I hope we can pick something good!

going for a run

A way to keep in shape while I am out here with a lack of knowledge still to the city, I like to run around the zoo when it is closed. That way, nobody can notice how bad of a runner I am, I am not running people over  and nobody thinks that I am running away from a loose animal. Running in the after hours is very peaceful and is quite a different atmosphere than the open hours. Most of the animals are back in their back holdings while some are still on their outside display. I feel this really cool connection with all the animals around the whole zoo since they are beginning to recognize me. When I take my break, I always like to spare a few minutes by the big cats. 

As the sun begins to die down, all of the animals are entering their nocturnal behavior. As the peacocks are making their strange bird noises, the orangutans and other primates are howling. However, my favorite sound to hear when the voices of the night appear are from the big cats. As they are getting ready for their sleep, they like to stretch. While they stretch, they let out this big yawn that turns into a roar. They continue to roar for a few minutes and quiet down. Within a few minutes, they continue to roar again. There is something about these big cats' roar that does not get old to me, unlike some of the primates and peacocks. They were cute at first, but can get a bit annoying. 

Hearing the big cats roar is such an amazing feeling. It really does give you a sense of how big they are. I never get a chance to hear them roar in the day. They save it all for the night when no one is around. I feel really lucky to witness this. At this point, all I can do is savor the moments while I get to witness the very unique experience. Hopefully someday, I can learn some more and/or witness other cool things about the big cats.  

tiger rat snakes

So on Friday, the 14th, I was helping out full clean out a display. This display was a different experience since the zoo let me get my hands dirty in a display that contains animals that are not as friendly. The animal I had to clean their display for were the tiger rat snakes. Sorry that I do not have a picture, but here is a picture of what they look like on Google. Ironically after finding this photo, this photo was uploaded from somebody who took this shot from the Omaha Zoo! How ironic, eh?!

Aren't these guys so cute?! I love the way their prints look. A fun fact about these guys is that they can almost reach to be as long as 10 feet long! Also, as aggressive as they are, they used to be known to be completely nonvenomous, but recent studies shown that they have a very small amount of venom. Either way, one should always still be careful around any animal no matter how cute they are. ALL animals can be very unpredictable when you least expect it.

Anyways, while I was cleaning out the tiger rat snakes' display, this brought a lot of attention from the people on the other side of the display window. While some people thought I was really cool cleaning in a small room with these snakes, there were really big tough guys who couldn't handle watching me perform my tasks. They were pacing back and forth barely able to watch me while they bring their friends over to show them their disbelief. This made me feel really cool since only so many few people get this kind of opportunity. However, I had to keep all of that distraction behind me since my main concern was being able to get my job cleaning their display done all while watching the snakes instead of what I was doing or any other distractions. Even though the snakes seemed a bit threatening from time to time, I had to be patient working around them by stopping whatever I was cleaning and back off. When the snakes were ready for me to proceed cleaning again, I stepped back in the display still keeping an eye on them. After a patient amount of time cleaning, I was able to finish cleaning out their display. After exiting their backdoor to the snakes, I had the audience who was watching me asking all of these questions and how I am ever able to have the guts to get in with all these kinds of animals with ease.

To me, this makes me reflect on the whole summer and how I get to work on these amazing animals. I feel really blessed to be here and how much of an opportunity it is to be able to say that I get to work with animals that most people don't even dare to even consider with. This makes me feel like I am an individual that people admire and have a great deal of respect for. In reality, if it wasn't for the people like myself who have an interest in this field, the animals would most likely not have a great future in their (hands, claws, fins, etc.), the public would not be as aware of the reason why we need to preserve and know how to respect these animals. I'll agree that being a intern keeper is not the most glamorous job, but we do risk our safety for these animals so that the animals have a good life while educating people why they are important. 

Bitter sweet

When we think of a Pygmy Slow Loris, images of super cute little ones comes to our thoughts. Today, I got to full clean out the Slow Loris. I apologize for not having pictures of me cleaning, but here is a cute picture of a loris if you do not know what it looks like off of Google.

They are definitely on my "Top Cute Animals" list. We have two of them in our Jungle. The female is very shy, however, the male is very curious. As I was cleaning their display, he had a urge to keep following me and try to pull off my protective glasses. He even followed me all over the display and made it hard for me to keep doing my job. He was also pretty quick despite his name. This seemed to draw a lot of attention from people on the other side of the display. People were taking pictures of the both of us as I was trying to clean as he kept chasing me around.

 These guys like to have their fruits and veggies in their diets. I make sure they eat their veggies first since they tend to only like the fruits more. Picky eaters they are! These guys can be hard to find though since they do not move around a lot. You can find them clinging onto a branch or to another loris. If you would hand them some food, they will hold onto their branch and try to reach as far as they can to get it and pull it back to themselves in a very shy way. How can anyone not think these guys are cute yet?! However, you would need to be careful when feeding them since sometimes they like to bite you if you give them the chance. In other words, as cute as they are, these guys are bitter sweet since their cuteness is overwhelming, however, they do like to bite. The male tried to bite me as he was trying to climb on my back and steal my protective glasses and almost bit my ear instead. Either way, these guys are easy to love and forgive. I hope I can work with them again!

Operation: Power Outage

I had a really nice start to my day. My father and his girlfriend came to visit me and the zoo. Even though letting me pursue this internship was a tough call for my family, my father could see why this opportunity was one not to turn down. After showing them how awesome of a place this zoo is, they left. :( I then went back to work in the Jungle like I would have any other day. The rest of the day went as smooth as it always is. I did more cleaning for the messy gibbon family, make new enrichment for other animals, and do some diet preparations like cutting up fish. The fish scent tends to stay with me until I take a shower. I would not recommend keeping the fish scent as your choice of perfume! After my afternoon shift was over, I asked if I could stick around and see what else there is new to learn in by helping out the closing keeper, Kyle, what it is like to close the zoo.

Shortly after we started closing down, the power went out. Since we were underground, it was VERY dark. Not a crack of light was to be seen anywhere. Luckily, Kyle had his flashlight. This was pretty useful for this situation. After struggling to find each other, we eventually do and our plans for a normal closing night is now skewed to solve a power outage problem. Kyle ordered me to check the DO levels (dissolved oxygen) first since the power stopped circulating the water flow. Since there was no water flow, this threw off the DO levels and could kill off some animals living there. Luckily, the levels were not affected too much.

The next thing on the list to make sure was getting back in order was by  check the water falls. Other than their their beauty to add to the jungle theme, the waterfalls are important because it helps prevent primates from going to other parts of the jungle. Most primates do not like water and try to avoid it. Since the waterfalls were turned off, this could create a problem that would allow the primates to go where they shouldn't. Luckily, none of the primates did not go where they should not have.

After taking care of that, we had to make sure all of the heat lamps would turn back on. A lot of the reptiles and amphibians need the heat lamps since living in a jungle is not our normal room temperature.

While I am trying to move as quickly as I can and hoping that the power comes back, the animals were stressed since complete silence is not normally in their habitat. They knew something was up. We lastly tried to get all of the animals back in their back holdings. This was hard since losing power and created an unusual environment stressed them out. All of the animals were very vocal at this point. However, with enough patience, compensation of treats and friendliness, all of the animals were safely put back in their back holdings.

All in all, it was a very long evening after a long day earlier to get all of this done. However, instead of just learning how to close down the Jungle, I got to learn how to follow through a procedure in case if there was a power outage!

The work that I do continues to be the same as far as cleaning, developing enrichment and making sure there's no animals on the loose. However, this animal (myself) got out on the loose from the zoo and escaped to see the famous downtown Omaha. 

With the only one and famous, Chef Bioardi

 They have a lot of nice cars

Durham Museum

This city has a lot of history behind it and diversity behind it. Since working here in Omaha, I got a chance to take a picture with a car that came from all the way from Alaska!

People come from all over the US and the world to see Omaha. Even when I am working the front gate at the Omaha Zoo, I have seen people coming from Mexico, Europe and even Australia! It is so cool to see all these different people come to Omaha and the zoo. Some highlights of downtown Omaha is the Century Link building. They hold Olympic swim trials here.  If only I could swim that fast! I also visited the famous Pedestrian Bridge. It goes from Nebraska to Iowa. 

 Approaching the Pedestrian Bridge

 View of Omaha from the bridge

 In two places at the same time!

 View of Omaha from Council Bluffs, IA

View of the famous downtown Omaha

Two of many of Omaha's famous buildings

Even though there is a lot of diversity in Omaha, there is something that I have found that this city does share something very similar for each other. The first thing Omaha has in common with each other is their love of baseball. The College World Series actually used to be placed in the parking lot of the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo called Rosenblatt. Rosenblatt is a historical idol to Omaha since Rosenblatt was a native to Omaha and played baseball and eventually spent his later life voluteering his life to service for his community. Since many people were upset about that going down, a new place was selected in downtown Omaha to hold The College World series. In replacement of the original location, a smaller field as a memorial was built just in two weeks to honor the original Rosenblatt College World Series location. It marks off the original  home plate, three bases, original lines to the field posts, and the original sign that was on top of the score board. Unfortunately, I could not take a picture quite yet. However, when I was downtown, I did come across this!

Another thing that the people of Omaha have in common is their service to our country. Omaha has a very strong involvement with active duty. The reason why Omaha is so active in service is because Omaha holds lots of air bases here. Omaha recognizes the people who participate in service throughout the city. 

Unfortunately, all of these were underwater due to flooding last year. However, they stand strong today. I feel that the pictures speak for themselves about the feelings the people of Omaha have about serving our country. Seeing all of these monuments has really moved me and I grow a great respect for the people who live here and what they do. 

Even though I may have not wrote much in this blog entry about the shananigans happening in the zoo, I do feel like having this experience outside the zoo has taught me a lot about what kind of community the Omaha Zoo has to provide.Check my facebook to see my videos since my blogger doesn't like to upload them.  Enjoy, comment, and share!

Getting things going

Hey Everybody,

Living in Omaha for almost two weeks has really been quite the experience. I have learned so much more already. Coming from Platteville, I definitely feel like this prairie dog.

Omaha is a big city with lots of diversity. However, I am excited that there is just as much diversity with the animals I get to work with. As you can see, I am working hard at work! My first order of business is showing you guys my new ride to work every day and my new home since I finally got some time to take some pictures and be able to share. 

Just kidding, I walk to work every day. It is not that far. Also, do not worry. I have plenty of work to do while I am here. I just took the weekend off to see the jungle for myself. 

This week, I have done a lot of things. Usually the first thing I do to start my morning is to take a DO (dissolved oxygen) calculator and take records of all the different water areas around the jungle to make sure that they were in the 70-85% DO level.  It is critical to make sure for this type of habitat to not be out of range for the animals who strive here. They cannot tolerate anything less or above these levels. Another task I would usually do in the morning is make sure the displays are nice and clean from the outside. One of my favorite displays to visit while I do this is my pygmy tamarins. They remind me of little Einsteins. As adorable as these guys are, they will only be friends with me with a compensation of grapes. Luckily, this guy let me take his picture! :)

After I am done with my morning tasks, I have to clean out more displays and back holdings (where they stay when not in display). Within this week, I cleaned for three pygmy hippos, Mochel, Scooby, and their 3 month old Ralph's back holding and display. Below is a picture of Mochel and Ralph. Arn't they cute?! To me, they are more like over-sized dogs since they like to hang their tongue out, wag their tail and ears, and also  being curious about you. As Mochel and Ralph were keeping the crowds busy on display, Scooby was patient enough to withstand my singing in the back holdings while I was cleaning. 

We clean most of the back holdings and displays with bleach and soap. However, some animals make an exception. If we were to go and clean the howler monkey room, we have to use a special chemical once in a while since they are carriers of Hepatitis and we do not want that spreading throughout the jungle. For animals that are known to be scent trackers, it is not wise to use soap and bleach in their displays and back holdings. This would take away the scents they are familiar with and cause them to be distressed. We just take a strong hose head and power wash their area. Amphibians also do not use any chemicals and we have to use certain water so that they do not get sick since some of the animals are semi-permeable. 

Each day is fairly similar with the tasks that we have to perform. I would say that my day consists of 85% cleaning the animals' back holdings and display and 15% is miscellaneous between preparing diets, finding enrichment for them (either a new toy, new mulch, bubbles, scents, treats and so on) and miscellaneous tasks. Even though this a very strenuous labor and work, I find myself enjoying getting to know the animals' names, their personalities and their eagerness to see me every day. 

With only being here one for almost two weeks, I know I have learned so much already, but there is still much more to learn. Keep following me to see what else I am learning and fun events that happen here. Enjoy the pictures and videos below! Also, feel free to comment! All pictures  I post are taken from me or a friend that takes a picture of me. 

How I feel after a long day of work

Waterfall behind flower

Fork in the path

 Waterfall

 Deep in thought

This is Lucky 

 Howler

 Not my area for interning, but visited the Desert Dome

Ring Tailed Lemur

"Please, no pictures"