Last Day of Internship

The only pictures I really have in terms of my personal life at internship are the ones where Tierra and I hung out after work, such as the one above. We had a lot of fun looking around at all of the animals in the rest of the park. Also, at the end of today, I walked around to look at the animals with my brother and his girlfriend and when we were looking at the elephants, I was able to tell them a lot, such as which were male or female and which were more dominant. I thought it was pretty cool that I was already using some of the things I learned during my internship.

Personal Learning Experiences:

I think one of the most important things that I learned was that you're not going to always be able to follow a set path in life. As you continue to learn and become more aware of your interests, you will be able to find your place. Some of the people that I talked to had no idea what they wanted to be when they were going to college, but they eventually found what they loved to do. I'm still going to try to pursue what I'm most passionate about right now, but that could change in the future and everything will still be fine.

Day 14

Resource Pictures:

This image shows the natural resources that are available to the animals.

This picture shows a resource that is very important for the elephant department; the fences. It also shows how architecture influences the work that the keepers do. With these steel fences in place, the keepers have to be able to work with the elephants through them and know which gates to close or keep open.

Day 13

I wasn't able to get a photo of my mentor, but he's an animal care manager at the Wild Animal Park in Escondido.

Interview: this is part of the interview I did with my mentor. There's a lot more to it and hopefully I'll be able to type the rest of it up because I really learned a lot from him sharing his experiences.

Tori: Where did you grow up?
Jeff: I grew up all over the place. I was born in Arkansas, lived there for many years. I moved to the San Fernando Valley for many years, around 10 to 11 years. Then I moved to Mammoth Lake, California, a ski resort in northern California, and lived there for about 2 years. And then I left Mammoth to go to college in San Diego in 1982 and I've been in San Diego ever since.
Tori: When you went to college, what was your experience like?
Jeff: College? College was a blast of course.
Tori: Did you like it better than high school?
Jeff: That's hard to say. I had a really fun high school experience. I was at a really small school and I had a really neat science professor. I was his favorite student and he was my favorite teacher and we did a lot of neat things together. I also skied every day. I was on the ski team for the high school and mammoth mountain. That's hard to beat. But college
Tori: But college was good too?
Jeff: College was just a blast. It was great. Those were good times too.
Tori: When you were in college, did you study specifically to get into a career working with animals?
Jeff: I did. My initial major was biology and I should have studied animal behavior. It's what I really wanted to study but I didn't know enough about it at the time and I couldn't find a major specifically in animal behavior. Zoology would've been a good field too but I was a biology major. I eventually graduated with my degree in social science not in animal science. But nonetheless I spent my first three years as a biology major and I was working specifically to learn about how to study animal behavior. That's one of the reasons I switched over to social science so I could take more psychology classes.
Tori: What was your first job? How old were you?
Jeff: My first job was a dishwasher at the mobile restaurant in Mammoth Lakes. That might have been my second job because around the same time I also worked out in the forest for a firewood company...
Tori: What was the most important thing you learned from either of those experiences?
Jeff: I learned to be careful and safe in the wood cutting job.
Tori: You worked at Sea World with the Orcas, right?
Jeff: I did, right out of college I got a job as a tour guide and eventually worked my way up to being a trainer.
Tori: Did you enjoy working with the animals there?
Jeff: it was great, it was wonderful. It's a lot of hard work. You've got to be very dedicated to do it. The most important thing working in a job like that is that you really do learn that you're not in it for the money you're really there to make a difference.

My Day:
Today was very interesting. I learned so much about different things, varying from elephants being kept at other zoos to the politics within the departments. I started out the morning by listening to one of my mentor's phone calls with a curator from Bush Gardens in Tampa. They were mostly talking about politics, involving all of the elephant departments in all of the zoos, and PAWS (Progressive Animal Welfare Society). Another thing they talked about is the research being done on the distance captive elephants walk vs. the walking distance of wild elephants. They're trying to get a GPS/accelerometer anklet for the elephants to wear instead of a collar because it would be easier and safer for keepers using protected contact to put on the elephants. After he finished this phone call, we went to a staff meeting which was mostly about how the Wild Animal Park is doing with the budget so far this year. They also talked about some of the new exhibits and attractions that were coming up. After the meeting, we went to talk to one of my mentor's bosses. They talked about how the elephant department was feeling anxiety because they have three babies on the way and the construction connecting the African and Asian yards together (and baby proofing the Asian yard) won't be complete in time for their arrival. It will be going on in the middle of all of the births. I learn a lot of things just by listening to conversations that my mentor has with other people. There's so much going on behind the scenes in zoos that I never even thought about before. It makes me think about how many complex organizations there are and how many people it takes to operate them successfully. It's very eye opening to realize how much there is in the world that you don't know about.

During lunch, I hung out with Tierra and her mentor. While Tierra interviewed her mentor, I talked to one of the other staff members there about internships. Then, Tierra finished and we started to talk about our POL's. After my lunch was over, I went back to the office to work finish up my project so that I could meet up again with Tierra at 3:00. We decided to go on the Journey Into Africa Tour. We got to see a lot of cool animals. I enjoyed that because this was the first time that I really got to see any animals other than the elephants. I've been so busy that I haven't had time to look around the park too much. We saw these animals that were really funny because they would run and then start hopping. It just looked so strange and it made us laugh. I got a video of it but you can't really see them very well.

After we finished the tour, we started walking back towards the entrance. However, on our way there, we noticed that one of the lions had walked up to the glass wall of the exhibit so we ran to it to take pictures. Then, another lion walked towards the glass and after a while, he started to roar. We were very excited about this because we always liked hearing the lions roar, and this time we were able to see them up close as they did. After that, I went home and my day was over.

Pictures:

This is a young lion. You can see that his mane is just starting to grow.

This is the big yard where they keep many of the mammals.

The JIA Tour was filled with many beautiful sights like this. We picked the perfect time to go because many of the animals become more active in the late afternoon and there were a lot of good picture opportunities.

Day 12

This picture shows two of the keepers working together. One of the keepers is holding the elephant and the other is scrubbing her back.

This picture shows a trainer working with an elephant. In order for the training to be successful, both have to do their parts.

Collaborating:

In a typical work day, I work with an average of 8 people. We all work together to get the yards cleaned so that we can put more food out for the elephants. Everyone works really well with one another which really helps things run smoothly. By collaborating, we are able to work efficiently to clean the yards faster and lay out all of the food. Today was probably the day where I most felt that I was part of the group. There wasn't one time where I stood there, not knowing what to do. I found things that I could help out with and the other keepers told me what I could do. I was more sure of what I could do when usually I wasn't as confident. This helped me collaborate with the rest of the keepers.

I guess any guests that come to see the elephants are indirectly affected by the work we do because they are able to enjoy watching the elephants without the place looking like a giant mess.

My Day:

This is one of the older baby elephants, but I'm not really sure who it is. Possibly Impunga or Kami.

Today was a great day. I met another worker from the Education Department named Cat. She was really nice and we talked a lot about school throughout the day. She told me that she liked college a lot more than high school so now I'm not as nervous about it as I used to be. She also told me about other internship opportunities during the summer in the Research Department which sound really cool so I think I might look into those. During this whole internship, I've found that there's a lot of useful things you can learn by talking to people who have experienced things, such as college, already. I really enjoy learning about how people have come to be where they are. A lot of times, they didn't know what they wanted to study in college, and even when they studied a certain thing, that's not always the career path they chose. I've learned that usually everything turns out fine even if you don't have a specific path that you want to set out on. It's okay to not know what you want to do because eventually you'll figure it out and be able to pursue it, as long as you don't wait too long :)

I also noticed that there were a lot more guests visiting today. There was one group of school kids and they asked the the funniest questions but I can't remember them because they were so random. One thing that was really fun was watching one keeper, Brittany, play with baby Ingadze. He was so adorable. I wish I was able to play with him because it looks like so much fun. Of course, they were separated by the fence, but she would chase him back and forth and he would shake his head and turn around so she could scratch his lower back. I can't decide if this was more fun than watching the elephants play in the mud or not. I think they're pretty much tied.

End of Week 2

This is the baby of the family, Ingadze. He was just so cute I had to take a picture :)

This week was pretty fun. I mostly worked with the keepers and watched them do training sessions with the elephants. The most challenging was probably working in the rain because it was cold, but it was also kind of fun because I got to wear a bright yellow rain suit. The best part about the rain was being able to watch all of the baby elephants playing in the mud. There are cameras all around the yard and while we were on our break, we were able to watch the elephants playing on a muddy hill. It was so funny because they would slide down on their bellies and then try to walk back up but they kept sliding back down. You could tell they were having so much fun in the rain. It let me see a whole side of the elephants that I had never witnessed before. I've never seen animals with such personality! It was also cute when some of the adults started playing with the kids. Even big Mabhu (their dad) was sliding down the hill with them.

Day 10

This picture sums up my day because I was working with the keepers out in the yard. While working at my internship I have mostly wondered about elephants in general, such as how they interact with each other and the different training styles people use. I often find myself reading everything I can about elephants because they are very interesting animals. Whenever I'm sitting in my mentor's office, I pull a book about elephants from his bookshelf and read as much as I can. Even at home, I use my free time to learn more about elephants and research more about what I read in the books. The most interesting things that I found so far and want to look up more about are the hybrid elephant "Motty" and the frozen baby mammoth "Dima". Wondering about these things for elephants also makes me wonder about how much I don't know about other animals, and most things in this world for that matter. Before, I was so caught up in my own life that I never really thought about things outside of school and home. Opportunities like this really open your eyes to amazing things that you never knew about before.

Possible Interview Questions:

1. Where did you go to college? What was your experience like during college?

2. What was your first job? What was the most important thing you learned from that experience?

3. As you were growing up, did you always know you wanted to work with animals?

4. What was it like working with the orca whales at Sea World? Did you enjoy it?

5. What is your favorite part about working with the elephants?

Day 9

Mentor Background:

So far, I know that my mentor graduated from SDSU and used to be a killer whale trainer at Sea World, but other than that I haven't really found out much about him. I'll be sure to find out more about him to start out my interview.

Day 8

When I look around at the people that I work with every day, I see a lot of good qualities that I would like to develop in myself. One of the main qualities I've noticed in everyone that I work with is their passion. They really love working with the elephants and you can see that by watching the way they interact with them. It's not an easy job to do and only people who are really passionate about it can succeed like the keepers do.

One new appreciation I have now is for hard physical labor. This is the first time I've ever really had to work like this, so now I understand that a lot of people do things that are a lot harder than what I have to do at school so I shouldn't complain about getting homework. Although, I can't say I'd rather be doing homework than working with the elephant department because so far it's pretty fun and a very good learning experience.

End of Week 1

Project:

Internship Site: Wild Animal Park

Department: Elephant

Project Title: Unknown

General Description: For my project, I'm going to help make the Keeper Daily Report more user friendly as they switch from doing hand written reports to keeping all the reports on the computer. I'm also going to write an essay about everything that I learn during my experience working in the elephant department.

Learning Objectives:
To learn what it takes to run small part of a zoo, such as the elephant exhibit, and to learn what it takes to run the zoo as a whole.

Organization/Company Objectives and Benefits:
The elephant department will benefit from the work I do on the Keeper Daily Report

Academic/Technical Skills:
Time management, organization, listening, observation

Collaboration-Skills and Opportunities:
Working with my mentor to make the Keeper Daily Report better.

Exhibition Plans:
I will have a PowerPoint in which each slide briefly explains a part of my essay and there will be pictures that show what is being explained. I will use this PowerPoint during my POL on the 29th. I will also have hard copies of my essay and a printout of the Keeper Daily Report available.

Schedule and Time lines:
To be determined.

My Week:
This week was very fun and I learned a lot. On Friday morning I had the opportunity to see the animal hospital at the Wild Animal Park which was really cool because there were a few animals there that I had never known about before. After that, I went to work with the keepers. Later that day, the vet came to look at a couple of the elephants and to give another her tetnus shot. That was pretty interesting to watch because they had to dart her with the shot and then pull it out really fast but cautiously. Throughout the week, my main challenge was just getting used to being in such a new environment. It's a lot different than school.

Day 6

Interview:
I've already kind of asked some of my coworkers about their lives and how they came to be where they are today. I think it's good to learn from their experiences. Since I haven't asked my mentor yet, I'll interview him when it's a convenient time. When I interview my mentor, I want to learn about what it takes to be able to do the kind of work that he does and how he was able to be so successful. I also would like to learn about what my mentor did in his life to be able to get to the job that he's currently at (such as what he studied in college).

My Day:
Today as I was driving into the Escondido, there was a thick fog covering the valley. It was a very beautiful morning. It was kind of hard to see as I began driving through the fog, however. I got to the Wild Animal Park at 7:00, which was good because that meant I didn't have to rush to get my uniform on. I started off my day with the keepers again and we cleaned out the barn and the yards. While we were cleaning the main yard, I could see the giraffes in the distance which was pretty cool because I haven't been able to see them since I started working there. Then I went to lunch and after lunch I attended a meeting. The meeting was about a new system that zoos are going to being to use called the Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS). This system allows all employees in all of the zoos to keep information about every animal in the zoos. The idea is that each animal would have its own ID and information about the animals, such as their records, would be available for those who have access to the system. ZIMS will make it easier for zoos everywhere to collaborate with one another.

Day 5

Project Title: To be determined

Project Description: I am going to help make the Elephant Keeper Daily Report more user friendly because they are switching from writing the reports by hand to doing them electronically. I will also write an essay about the things I am learning about, such as the way the keepers train the elephants and the research that is currently being done. When I'm finished with the essay, I will make a PowerPoint presentation to go along with it, which I will use while doing my POL.

Project Schedule: To be determined

Materials & Equipment: My laptop and my brain.

Project Documentation: I think all of my project is going to be done electronically so anything that I document will be on my laptop.

My Day:
It was pretty cold today and it started to rain while we were cleaning the main yard at around 11:45. Other than that, things went well. I watched the keepers take off the elephants' collars after we cleaned and then we spread out different types of food for the elephants, such as beet pulp, alfalfa hay, and bermuda hay. As I continue working, I'm getting a better idea of how things operate and what I can do to help the keepers. It's a lot of physical work, but I'm enjoying the opportunity.

Day 4

What academic/technical skills could you use on the job?
The main academic/technical skills I could use would be time management, organization, and computer skills. I think no matter where you work, these skills are some of the most important.

What forms of collaboration could you use in a project?

I could work help my mentor with something as a project I guess. Other than that, I'm not sure because the keepers are pretty busy every day doing other things.

What new things can you learn while working at your site?

There's so much I could learn from working here, and so much I've learned already. As I continue working, I supposed I will learn more about the research they're doing as it progresses. I will also learn more about what my mentor does when I spend days working with him.

How can you exhibit, showcase, or otherwise share your work?

The best way to exhibit my work would probably be in a PowerPoint presentation because then I would be able to show pictures of the work that I did and explain it.

How can your work or your skills & abilities help your company or organization?

The work I do with the keepers every day helps them because it gives them less cleaning to worry about. I'm not sure what else I would be able to help with as far as my skills and abilities go. Maybe I could organize something for them...

My Day:

I spent the day with the keepers again and we started by cleaning. After we finished cleaning the main yard, we got a visit from Celeste and another worker. They came with the collars that the trainers then took and put on the elephants. The collars have a voice recorder and GPS system so that researchers can track what elephants do in response to certain sounds that the others make. This will help them understand how the elephants communicate with each other. After I watched the keepers put the collars on, Celeste left and then we cleaned some more.

One of the keepers is getting an elephant ready so that they can put the collar on. (and there's Celeste on the left)

Project Ideas

1. Create a new spreadsheet for the keepers to record data.
2. Create something to inform the public about the work that the keepers do with the elephants. (brochure, article, etc.)
3. A research project on some aspect of the elephants that isn't being done already

Questions:
What skills would you like to develop at your site?
I would like to develop pretty much any skills that I can while I'm here, such as my communication and observation skills.

What interests do you have regarding the work done at your site?
There are a lot of interesting things that I could focus on while I'm working here because there's such a large variety of things that need to be done in order to manage an animal exhibit, especially one as large as the elephant exhibit. However, being able to get close to the animals and observe how they're trained by the keepers is probably most interesting to me.

What needs can you address (needs your mentor has, your company has, etc.) based on your skills and interests?
The most helpful thing that I could probably do for the keepers would be to help create/fix their new data spreadsheet. Also, a lot of money is needed to take care of these animals, so maybe I could try to do a fundraiser of some sort. I'm sure any amount that I can raise, no matter how small, would help.

Day 3

My Day:

Today was the first day that I spent completely with the keepers. I got to the Wild Animal Park at 7:30 as usual and then followed the keepers to the yard. When we got there, Wendy (from the Education Department) taught me how to hydrate beet pulp, which is one part of the elephants' diet. To hydrate the beet pulp, I dumped it into a wheel barrel and then squirted it with a hose until the water started pooling at the top. Since Wendy and I aren't trainers, we couldn't interact with the elephants. Instead, we did everything we could to make the keepers' jobs easier. It was nice to have someone else there to do that with so that I wasn't the only one standing there when there was nothing to do. There is one other keeper who's on loan from the San Diego Zoo so the two of us are learning together. However, she wasn't there today.

Continuing with my day, I spent the rest of the morning cleaning the yards. It's a little complicated because there are three yards that we have to clean every day. The elephants have to be moved to one yard so we can clean the other two and then once they're clean, the keepers move the elephants to those two yards so the other yard can be cleaned. I'll try to get pictures of each yard so that you can get a better idea of what I'm talking about. After we cleaned, I watched the keepers work on some of the elephants' feet. They have to peel the thick calluses so that the cracks don't trap dirt and things, which could cause an infection.

While they were doing this, I wondered how the elephants took care of their feet in the wild, so I asked Wendy. She told me that the elephants in the wild walk around a lot more and have different types of ground that they have to walk on, which helps remove the calluses. However, to be sure of her answer, she asked one of the keepers, Brittany, who said that it's not really known for sure if elephants in the wild do or don't get infections in their calluses. It could just be a natural thing for elephants to get. Some people think that captive elephants get the infections from walking on the soft dirt or concrete instead of the type of ground that elephants in the wild walk on. It's more of a tradition that the calluses are peeled because people have always done that even though no one really knows a lot about the foot-care of elephants.

After everything was done, I went to lunch and when we were finished with lunch, we got a special treat because we went to one of the shows at the Wild Animal Park about animal trackers. This show was cool because we got to see a lot of different animals, most of which I had never even heard of before. The one animal that I did know of and got to see was a cheetah. All of the animals were really cool. I think being the trainers that get to handle those kinds of animals would be a fun job.

That was pretty much my whole day. Well at least my whole work day. After work I hung out with Tierra which was a lot of fun. We decided to use some of our employee perks, such as going on the 4-D mummy ride and the hot air balloon for free! We also got discounts on our ice cream :) We went on the 4-D ride first and then Tierra realized that she didn't have her phone so we had to go look for it. We wanted to go on the last tram ride, but by the time we found her phone (which she had left at the elephant overlook when she met up with me) we missed it. So, instead, we went on the hot air balloon. It was really cool because we saw everything in the park and we also saw the zip line, which we're going to do sometime this month. After that, Tierra wanted to find the gorilla exhibit, but we went the wrong way, which wasn't good because it was almost closing time. We ended up going in a huge circle until we finally found the way out. By that time, it was getting dark and the park was completely empty so we were pretty freaked out. It was quite an adventure.

Pictures:

This is a view of the park from up in the hot air balloon.

The cheetah from the Animal Trackers show.

Day 2

What have you actively done to start off on the right note?
To start off on the right note, I made sure that I was always polite to whomever I was speaking to. I also made sure to follow all of the safety rules that my mentor told me, such as not getting to close to the fence when the elephants are around. I stayed out of the way and observed when the keepers were working with the elephants so that I didn't cause any trouble. Also, I tried to help in any way that I could so that I showed that I was a diligent worker. As soon as I get the hang of things, I should be able to help out more.

What have you actively done to create interesting opportunities for yourself?
The main thing that I've done is ask plenty of questions about what the keepers do. The elephant program at the Wild Animal Park is very unique so it's interesting to hear what the keepers here do in comparison to elephant keepers at other zoos.

What have you actively done to advance the interests of your mentor and/or sight?
I'm not really sure what this is asking... but I guess I advance the interests of the people that I work with by telling them a little about myself and our school. They were very interested in how I was able to be an intern there.

What can you do in the immediate future to improve yourself and your experience in the above areas?
I could try to talk to the keepers more and ask more questions about what they do because everything there is new to me and I'm learning so much.

My Day:
Today I spent most of the morning getting everything settled, such as ordering my uniform. Then I went to lunch and after lunch I went with the keepers to help them finish cleaning. Can't wait for my first official week to start!

First Day

Pictures

This picture shows the typical dress worn at my site. We have to wear this khaki uniform.

This is a picture of three of the elephants in the main yard.

Here, you can see that the elephants are separated from their trainers by large, steel gates. This is for the protection of the keepers because the elephants aren't tame even though they are trained. This surprised me because the elephants seem very tame when they're with their trainers.

This is my mentor's office. I will spend most of my time either working in here or working with the keepers in the yard. (below)

Economy Questions:
1. Has the recession affected the amount of visitors coming to the Wild Animal Park?
"Through creative marketing and new products, attendance has been minimally affected.

2. Has the recession caused a decrease in funding for the care of the animals?
"Yes it has affected many things in relation to revenue and Donations to the Zoological Society of San Diego. However, through operating expenses and innovative fundraising, we're still financially sound."

My Day:
Today, I woke up at 5:30 to get ready for my internship. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't late so I left at 6:30 and arrived at the Wild Animal Park at 7:20. Then, I found my mentor and he showed me to his office where he introduced me to the rest of the elephant department. My first order of business was attending a USDA meeting at 8:30 with my mentor, in which they talked about things that needed to be repaired in order to maintain facilities that were approved by the USDA. Then, I had to find a uniform that fit me so that I was ready to work.

The rest of the morning until lunch, I sat with my mentor in his office and he gave me an overview of what his department does. I learned a lot about how the elephants at the Wild Animal Park are trained differently than at any other zoo. At regular zoos, they are trained with fear because the trainers beat the elephants with bull hooks to get them to comply. This is how it has been done for thousands of years since elephants were domesticated Asia. The Wild Animal Park is one of the few zoos where the elephants are trained with positive reinforcement. The animals are never intentionally hurt in their training process.

After I talked with my mentor, we went to lunch with the other keepers in a small cafeteria nearby. Then, I went with the keepers to watch them do their jobs. I also helped clean up the presents the elephants left behind. I wasn't able to interact with the elephants in any way because even though they are trained, they aren't tame. Their training is based on a trust relationship that they built with the keepers and since they don't know me, they don't trust me. It would be dangerous for me to try to pet them or feed them. However, I might be able to do so after a couple of weeks. After I was finished with cleaning, it was time for me to go home.

I'm really excited about being able to do more work with the animals and just being able to work there in general. Everyone was really nice and made me feel welcome. Once I figure out what my project is, I think things will run smoother because I'll know what I'm doing. I'm a little nervous about the dangers of working with such large animals, but I think I'll be fine as long as I do what I'm told. I think I still have a lot to learn before I can start my project. I need to get a better understanding of how everything works there so that I know what to do.