Week 28: Animal Assignments! (Round 1) and Sadness

The super sweet goodness that is animal assignments finally happened this week! Much excitement, and disappointment, were had this week. For me, it was really all the former! Just to leave you not hanging in suspense much longer (I know some of you haven't heard yet) my assignments are: Kissu-mountain lion, Nuez-agouti, vervet monkeys (Annie, Sydney, and Benji), and Ghost-bald eagle! I think I got a pretty good run! Although only one of these animals were my first choice, I really love all of them and am really excited to start this turn over process (some of which I've already started!) This is also called round 1 since there is an extras list of animals that need more trainers, so there will/should be more added soon.
Turnovers are a multi-stepped process that generally start with writing a short paper on the species, including a breif personal history of the animal. Then you progress to doing about 2-3 hours of observations, no more than 30 minutes at a time, sometimes with more specific criteria about those (i.e. times of day, activities, public hours, etc.). Then the really fun stuff starts and you learn the diets, behaviors, and begin fully interacting with the animal! I already did a few things with Kissu, and I've been learning about cleaning Ghost's mew (a.k.a. enclosure).
Meanwhile, I am very close to finishing my 30 hours of observations on Spirit (mountain lion) for my behavior paper. There is now very suddenly tons of stuff to do at the zoo and trainers are pulling us left and right to go learn new things about our new animals. I often have to choose between animals since a lot of things happen at the same times of day. I think so far, I'm keeping it even and I've done something with all of my new assignments, and I've gotten two of my four papers written (I'm sure I'll work on the others tomorrow or Monday). I've also gotten observations started on all of my animals. I have to piece them out in the half-hour chunks, and be mindfull of finding the other times of day to do them. The good news is that I can do Kissu observations (and sometimes Ghost) while I sit and do Spirit! I love multi-tasking.
On a super sad note, we lost another this week. Tuesday morning, Hamilton, our other Yucatan mini pig, was put down. He was very old and had a bone infection that was too far gone to realistically fix. Hammy was awesome and will be deeply missed. *moment of silence*
Since you guys have seen pictures of Ghost and the vervets before, I'll just post a few pics of Kissu and Nuez, plus a bonus pic of Happy-American alligator!

Week 27: Hurry Up and Wait

I feel lately that there is all kinds of business going on, yet I still have some free-time. This cloud of stressful feelings will hopefully lift either once spring spec hits or after it is over. This week I missed the work day on Monday, so I had to make up the hours, which works out since it rained and nothing could get painted. I spent Friday and Saturday afternoons painting and prepping the Eye 2 Eye theater for spring spec, and I got a lot done, but it's not finished just yet. The behavior test wasn't too bad and I'm sure I got a solid B on that, if not better. The word on the street again is that we'll have our animal assignments this Wednesday, but I won't hold my breath. Still no word on pandas, next week we'll take action if they remain quiet.
My main emotion I feel anymore is a deep, seething rage, but no worries, it's all built up towards one person! That's right, it's that annoying dufus that I'm a manager with. I just want to ignore him and make him go away, however, with every turn, he manages to do something else to royally tick me off and it's not going to be much longer before I explode in his face. I'm pretty sure that if I actually do that, he'll back down and be officially afraid of me and not want to mess with me. I'd like that. Right now I'm just holding out the hope that I haven't somehow ended up co-trainer with him....that would really tear it for me... Anywho, pics are Bwana-White-cheeked turaco, Friday-raccoon.

Week 26: Gearing Up

This week was setting us up for a lot of work. We had our first test in anatomy (super easy) and our first test in behavior is happening next week. Other than that, things have been fairly quiet so I started clicker training my rats, and they haven't got it just yet, but I feel they are very close. I'm really enjoying my rats and they seem to be bonding well to me. We haven't heard back from the panda people yet, but we did learn that the head keeper just got back from vacation, so hopefully we will soon. It's starting to look like this will happen in April since there's not much time left before spring spec.
The weather has not been too cooperative lately. It has been freakin' cold here (seriously, like freezing temps in the mornings) and now really rainy. This is hugely un-helpful since Friday and next Monday are our designated work days to get the zoo all nice and shiny for spring spec. The rain on Friday prevented most of the useful work from getting done (i.e. painting the theatre, painting anything else, set design, etc.). It's looking like Monday will be the same story, and there's not much repreive from the wetness the rest of this week either. There's still time to get this stuff done, it's just not going to be as convenient to do anymore. Spring spec will still happen, don't worry, it just means we'll have to put in a little extra time from our own personal hours to get it done. Your pictures this week are Rosie- Olive baboon, and Baxter- Yucatan mini pig.

Week 25: Realizations

A lot of things just really hit me this week as to just how busy my life is about to get. We were given our manager positions this week. I got safety manager. I share this position with a good friend, and a total moron. My friend and I are both well acquainted through our families with emergency preparedness, especially fires, which is the main issue at school. The other guy is a dufus who was working for a contractor and now thinks somehow he knows everything about everything. We're working to let him hang himself, but there's also a good chance he won't quite make it through this semester, so we'll see. We not only are in charge of emergency evacuation stuff, but also making sure all MSDS sheets are available and that first aid kits are fully stocked. Nothing super cool, but it'll look pretty sweet on a resume! We will all offically be turned over and start working on our manager duties by March 8! That's one month people.
Animal requests for our assignments were turned in this week, so now in about two or three weeks, we will get those back. Turn over for the animals will start tute-suite and we'll be taking over feeding and caring for them by April! In April the second years disappear on all their projects and we won't see them again really until their graduation in May. It's pretty crazy and it's all happening rather quickly. On top of all this turning-over business, we're still prepping for spring spec, still have assignments for other classes to work on, and I'm needing to start some rat training! Good thing I have quite a bit of free time in my schedule to get a lot of this stuff done! Parting shots today are Starsky-patagonian cavy, and Hudson-North American Beaver.

Week 24: Enter Tom and Crow

Holy crap, this is the longest month EVER!! I feel like spring spec should be happening next weekend, but it's still like a month away. The theater is pretty much ready to go. The only thing missing now is a curtain to hide the back stage view that some of the audience has and some cloth to put up behind all the bamboo fencing that you can apparently see right through. We secured the bamboo this week and put up a shade cloth over head for backstage this week. We also acquired our uniforms, which are some red plaid shirts. Our theme is camping, so what says camping better than some plaid? Maybe we'll just come out looking like lumberjacks, but I think it should work.
I suppose the major news front for me this week is I got my rats. I took them from a class mate who had some babies to get rid of. I named them Tom and Crow, after the quirky robots on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Tom looks just like his daddy and I think Crow is going to be kind of Siamese colored. I've also gotten my maze for them and training will commence in a few weeks. Otherwise, no news on panda viewing yet. We will turn in our animal requests next week and then eventually hear back about those. Last week we turned in requests for manager positions. Those are just like they sound. Certain aspects of the zoo need help being run and we fulfill that need. It's some what possible we will hear about those next week. Since I don't have a lot to say this week, I'll leave you with a few animal shots and some of my new ratties! (Tom-rat, Crow-rat, Schmoo II-California sea lion, Forest-Dromedary camel)

Week 23: Committee Craziness

Not much to report in the way of classes or animal events. I am working on getting my rat babies home soon, hopefully for next weeks post! The bigger part of this week was spent working with my spring spec committee and trying to get the theater set up and ready to go for next week. This has turned out to be a point of much hassle and confusion that is driving me up the wall almost literally. We have to put up fencing as a barrier to the back stage area. This fencing has been stolen over the year to be used in/on enclosures. So, we have had to acquire more. We are having trouble finding time to get it up and get the stage clean and working. However, it will all work out in the end and the first show happening on Monday should happen without issue from our end of it at least. Meanwhile, I'm still trying to figure out what animals to ask for, and keeping an eye out for getting my other class assignments done. The really exciting bit is that one of our assignments is to go to another animal housing facility and interview the keepers and see what they do that is different, just to get a feel for how other places could work in the real world. I've teamed up with a friend and we are going to attempt to do this with the giant pandas at the San Diego zoo!! If that doesn't work out, then we'll go to red pandas, which are not related, but also super cute! So, be on the look out for more updates on that very exciting news! And here's your parting shot: Friday the raccoon.

Week 22: Hit the Ground Running

The second semester began this week, so I'll start you off with a synopsis of my class load.
Wildlife Education 2: This class is a continuation of last semester's. This time we are focusing more on working in a group. The main goal of this whole class, and the entire goal of the lab, is to get our large fundraiser, Spring Spectacular, up and running. We as first years are in charge of everything except the show, which the second years put together and perform. We are all divided into committees, and mine is called "Eye to eye". We are putting together all the other shows that will happen during spring spec. that are more like the normal 15min. weekend shows. Since most of my time will be dedicated to this task, you will be hearing several updates about it.
Animal Anatomy/Physiology: This is a class with our vet, Dr. Stringfield. In here we will cover the basic aspects of mammalian anatomy and physiology. That means what parts the body is composed of and what they do. Should be an incredibly easy class for me since I know most of this already.
Animal Behavior: This is the big tough Gary class this semester. I don't think I'll have to hard of a go at it since I also know most of this material already. Just like the name implies, we'll be covering animal behavior, both natural, and how to shape new behaviors. The lab is the more fun part associated with it where we will do a paper on some animal observations, then we will train a rat to run a maze. This class is basically an EATM right of passage, but a much more fun one than diversity was.
Animal Care and Handling 2: This class will cover more topics as a continuation of last semester's class. We will learn more about hands-on techniques, such as animal restraint. This class will also handle our animal assignments and help us with our turn-over requirements. The lab for this is just the same old area schedule as we had last semester, so I'll keep cleaning up the poo on Wednesday-Saturday.
Zoo Skills 2: This is day watch again. Nothing new on that front.
There is a class that is offered as optional that I'm not taking this semester: Primate behavior. I'm not taking it because I'm really not interested in primates at all. It's also saving me a ton of money due to my paying out-of-state tuition.
So besides school starting, nothing big happened this week. I've found out that I really won't have any kind of weekend free time until after spring spec. since I've been booked for weekend shows every weekend through spring spec. So, if you wanted to visit us, you should wait until April! I'll leave you with just one picture this time, since I've given you so much to digest. (Todd-Red fox)