1st Month as a Zoo Intern: Ft. the Most Exciting Day of My Life

So I updated you guys after a week, but now I’m here with another update since been a WHOLE MONTH at the zoo! I still love my internship as much as ever! I mean who wouldn’t want to be surrounded by animals all day every day?

The otters are still just as cute as they were before I started. I love coming in in the morning and finding them cuddling and being all sleepy and cute! I finally started cleaning the areas more often and I’m still doing diets. (PS - Otter feces sucks js. They are cute, but nasty little poopers!)

 Quan is still my absolute favorite! He still follows me around and is a pain in the butt, but he’s my homeboy! I finally had a piece of green for him that was long enough that I felt comfortable hand feeding him (he’s got a decent sized beak and I kind of would like to keep my fingers..).

Now for the exciting part!

There was one day we were ahead of schedule for the morning, so I got to go with my supervisor over to the Arctic building….. to clean the polar bear holding area!

(*insert cries of joy*).

So she gave me the first timers speech…..They have to leave the door open for the males exhibit, otherwise he will get upset and bang on the door. Right inside of the door, is a small cage (it has a scale on the floor - this is how they weigh him and do whatever check ups they need to do).

He had access to that cage while we cleaned, but the door to the holding enclosure was locked, so he couldn’t get in while we were cleaning. I was warned, because she didn’t want me to panic if he came in to say hi (as I crossed my fingers hoping he’d come in).

Well while I was cleaning the males enclosure, sure enough he came in and said hi. It happened when I was least expecting it…. I’m just looking down scrubbing the floor and he came in so silently I didn’t even notice at first!  So here is this giant male polar bear 5 feet in front of me, with just that one locked gate between us. It was amazing! And he was huge! It was slightly terrifying, but so cool!

These are the experiences that I live for, and I am so excited to get more of that in the months to come!

To anyone that has any interest in animals: Definitely seek out an opportunity to volunteer with them! I’ve only had this one internship so far, and I’m already getting ready to meet with my advisor to convince her I need to sign up for 2 this summer, and 1 next fall!! You will create memories and experiences that will stay with you forever!