Day Three.
The day started out at the Zoo with the daunting task of cleaning 3 alpaca pens. The Zoo Keeper, Kris, told us before the day started that cleaning the pens would have taken one person the entire day. Fortunately, we were able to leisurely clean the yard, watch the lions and tigers eat for about an hour and a half, and finish the yards before noon. I also was able to bond with my arch nemesis, the EMU. Turns out, the emus really enjoy rolling in muddy trough water. While I was scrubbing and bleaching all of the water troughs, the emus were right next to me, trying to get me to throw more water on them, and roll around in the mud like crazy! The rest of the after noon, we all did different assignments. Katie and I washed a lot of dishes with blood on them because… tigers and lions eat bloody things. It was very interesting to hang out in the kitchen with the rest of the zoo staff.
I met a man named Kelly, who first off reminded me exactly of my father in younger form. Kelly is of average height and fairly slim, with bright red hair in a pony tail, and a red beard. In his younger, skinnier days, when he had colored hair, or hair in general, my father and Kelly could have been twins. Kelly is the on sight primatologist, and I learned a little bit about his back ground with primates. He studied at the University of Southern California San Diego, and was doing his graduate research at the San Diego Zoo. Primates are frequently known to have higher cortisol levels while in captivity. Cortisol is released when primates and mammals are in stressful situations, like living in captivity. These levels can change blood glucose levels, making mammals bodies store more fat than necessary, decrease bone and muscle density, and impair cognitive performance among many other things. Kelly was studying cortisol levels and trying to implement a strategy to help reduce the high levels in primates in captivity. The San Diego Zoo was funding his research until a Panda was introduced to the Zoo. All of the funds going toward his research was redirected towards in-vitro fertilization of the new Panda. Although an honorable cause, the San Diego Zoo is a for-profit organization, and was more than likely looking for a more publically knowledgeable way to spend research funds. The San Diego Zoo pretty much said “Thanks for your research and hard work, but we’re no longer funding you,” and Kelly moved back to Austin. He found himself at the Austin Zoo, working primarily with the primates there. He was paged to go do something with monkeys, and I didn’t get to finish my entire conversation with him. I’m really interested in his research, and I find it very unfortunate that the San Diego Zoo didn’t find it important enough to continue.
After we cleaned the Alpaca yard, the group kind of separated and got to do several different things. Phillip was able to do some “heavy things,” aka finding lots of trees to use in bird enclosures and what not. A lot of the zoo keepers actually know our names and always have some thing for us to do. I feel like they really appreciate our help, and are fairly under staffed. The zoo is kind of a small, rinky-dink place, understaffed, and the inablility to say no to help animals. Every staff member is devoted to the animals, and love the cause enough to stick around. The Zoo’s personality reflects Austin as a whole, and it is a wonderful personality to have the opportunity to experience.
Each day I become more grateful for the opportunity to be on my break, and also a little more tired.
Salutations.
Kait Perry
POST SCRIPT: Austin Weather today
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