Be a Better Zookeeper - The Basics - Part 1
I have always been an animal lover. By the age of 22, I was working in a zoo, completed their hands on zookeeper’s course and working part time at a private zoo. Over the years I’ve been lucky to work with native wildlife, primates, birds, reptiles and amphibians, mammals and all types of hoof stock. It’s easy to imagine how different the care of an aquatic mammal differs from a grassland dwelling hoofed animal. Even among animals of the same class - let’s say, Aves - there are vast differences: a penguin is not an ostrich, a hummingbird is not a falcon. They all have different needs.
As a brand new zookeeper, I was a “swing” keeper. An actor that is a “swing” can cover a variety of roles, a swing keeper is trained to work with a variety of different species. That meant, I had to have a lot of knowledge about a lot of things. For example:
Orangutan - Mammal, primate, arboreal, solitary in the wild (outside of mating and parental care), primarily fruit eaters, restricted to the rainforests of Malaysia and Indonesia, critically endangered.
After learning the basic knowledge of what an orangutan is, I needed to learn about the zoo exhibit:
How many animals in the exhibit? Are the animals on rotation? Are there certain animals that cannot be on exhibit together? What type of physical and mental enrichment do orangutans need to maximum behavioral welfare? Is the goal to breed this animal? If yes, what kind of pairing has been done? Is the exhibit indoors or outdoors? Is it a multi-species exhibit?
And then, I had to learn about each animal: 12 year old male Bornean Orangutan. Born in one zoo and transferred to another. Mated to a particular female, how many offspring? Likes to look at keeper’s belly buttons, takes medicine in a spoonful of yogurt (but only if it’s blueberry flavored), enjoys foraging for nuts in the crook of tree stumps, hates carrots, is grumpy when it rains and hides under a potato sack to stay dry.
If you are staring to think, “Whoa, that’s a lot of stuff to know!” - keep going, you’re on the right track.
Just a few of the animals in my little zoo
You can take the keeper out of the zoo, but you can’t take the zoo out the keeper - or something like that! While I no longer work directly with zoo animals, I have a small zoo of my own: toucans, dogs, poison dart frogs, isopods, parrots, praying mantis, geckos, and a Koi Betta named Floyd. I spend a lot of time learning what each animal requires to fulfill their basic needs, and then doing my best to replicate those kinds of conditions for them. I will be the first to admit that - because of time, financial and space constraints - I am not always successful. But I stay aware of my weaknesses and how they may/may not affect that particular animal’s behavior. Rather than fall back on, “My animal did this _______ undesired behavior”, I look to see how I can improve their environment and living conditions to make that undesirable behavior obsolete.
Over the years I have worked with hundreds of dogs. The sad reality is: the majority of those dogs are not having their basic needs met. When needs are not met, behavior is not optimal. It can be that simple. The problem is not always “inside the dog” but it is, almost always, in the environment.
I hope you are intrigued and stick with this series. I’ve put a lot of thought into it, and spent months agonizing over the fact that the term “zoo” can be triggering for some people. But reality is, our dogs ARE captive animals that rely us to meet their needs, and deserve the very best we can give. If your experience with zoos has not been positive, I urge to you read Zoos and Aquariums in the 21st Century by Wild Welfare.
To learn more about captive animal welfare with exotics, I highly recommend the Wild Welfare E-Learning Program: https://wildwelfare.org/resources-elearn-programme/.
This is the first part of the Be a Better Zookeeper Series. Next: Know your Animal
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