- Zoos: A Historical Perspective from Smithsonian Institution Libraries
The National Zoological Park is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums.
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From Erika Bauer, the Zoo’s first Fujifilm Curatorial Resident in Animal Care
October 2008
October has been a very interesting month for this curatorial resident! I’ve been integrated into the Asia Trail/Cheetah Conservation Station (CCS) animal unit here at the National Zoo, and I’m getting involved with entirely new aspects of zoo management while working with a great team of animal-care staff.
I’m also still running the Animal Behavior Research Internship Program for the entire Zoo. Currently, we have four wonderful interns working on behavioral studies of cheetahs, cuttlefish, cassowaries, elephants, and giant anteaters. It’s a lot to juggle, but it’s really keeping things interesting!
What Am I Doing at Asia Trail and the Cheetah Conservation Station?
Well, the team that I’m working with includes the area’s curator, biologist, and several keepers. Like other animal units throughout the Zoo, this team and I have been working together for quite some time on several collaborative behavioral research projects. But coordinating behavioral research is just one aspect of the work this unit must conduct.
Working into the unit in my new role incorporates a LOT of new stuff. At our unit meeting earlier this week, we discussed everything from new and improved safety protocols for keeper practices to plans for breeding introductions to ideas for enclosure modifications and plans for an impending animal birth.
Although the entire unit works jointly to manage two separate sections of the Zoo—Asia Trail and CCS—I’m focusing most of my attention on the Asia Trail exhibits. The collection here currently includes four sloth bears, two clouded leopards, two fishing cats, two red pandas, and eight Asian small-clawed otters. All of these animals are technically carnivores, yet each species requires its own unique animal management strategy. The exhibits themselves also provide numerous challenges in terms of maintenance and upkeep. Part of what I’m doing now is facilitating repairs, exhibit improvements, and replacement of supplies.
While the animal-care staff is certainly skilled in designing, constructing, and repairing the equipment they need to work with, the focus of their work is on the more direct aspects of animal care, like daily husbandry, training, enrichment, and management. There’s certainly enough involved in all that to keep them busy all day long, not to mention the time involved in research and education!
So to get everything accomplished and keep the unit running smoothly, we work with the Smithsonian’s Office of Facilities Engineering and Operations (OFEO). OFEO has teams of plumbers, electricians, metal workers, and a variety of other specially trained staff to help us complete general and specialized projects at our exhibit. Curators and biologists are generally responsible for communicating animal-care needs to OFEO through an electronic work ticket system as well as following up on requests. I’m helping with this for several items at Asia Trail.
Zoo Maintenance
So what kind of maintenance is required for an animal unit at a zoo, you might ask? Here are a few examples of the things I’ve been working on. Automatic drinking bowls in the exhibits can develop leaks (and that’s not good for the exhibit or for the environment). Some of our rockwork is heated to enhance the comfort of the animals, and those heating systems can go on the fritz. The scales we use to weigh animals might have electrical problems or need adjustments. Padlocks rust and need to be serviced or replaced. Our natural perching logs and branches regularly need to be replaced, too. You get the picture.
But aside from normal equipment maintenance, there are always new things we need so that we can safely move forward with new initiatives. For example, the Asia Trail team has developed a new approach for veterinary care of Asian small-clawed otters. In addition to thorough training of new behaviors, this project also required the creation of an otter-size cage so that otters could be safely injected with necessary medications (as you can imagine, otters can be squirmy little buggers and sometimes need a little encouragement to stay still). The team also created an induction chamber, which can be attached to that cage, so that we can easily apply gas anesthesia when needed.
Of course, anesthesia of any type is used only when necessary—we try to accomplish as much health care as possible by training otters through positive reinforcement to cooperate with health procedures voluntarily. With the necessary equipment and routine training, the otters have become familiar with many procedures, participate voluntarily in these activities, and aren’t as stressed as they might otherwise be when it comes time for a real visit to the doctor.
These sorts of proactive approaches are very important when it comes to animal health checks, and we’re always looking for ways to improve our procedures. Currently, we’re brainstorming about how we could begin training sloth bears for voluntary blood draws, and clouded leopards for voluntary injections. With such animals as these (you know, the type with big claws and teeth), we need to take extra precautions and make sure that such activities can take place safely for both the animals and the keepers, so we’re going to need special equipment and enclosure modifications before we can get started. These sorts of things require lots of creativity and forethought, but they’re so worthwhile when the animals benefit from all our good planning later on!
In addition to facilitating the activities I’ve described above, I’m also trouble-shooting another rather interesting challenge with the Asia Trail team: animal visibility. Combine huge natural exhibits with plenty of complexity for the animals to enjoy, animal containment structures that have glare and reflect the sun, a couple of cryptic species which are difficult to see even when they’re right in front of you, and you’re bound to have some visitors who find it challenging (and sometimes frustrating) to get a good look at the animals on exhibit. This is actually a project that I’m having a lot of fun with, because finding a good solution is complicated and will require coordination of several departments (animal care, horticulture, OFEO, and exhibits).
To determine a good approach, the keepers have started to systematically document where the animals spend their time in each exhibit, and how visibility varies depending on time of day. We’re going to analyze that data to see if any patterns stand out. I’m also coordinating discussions with the team about how we might use that information to figure out possible strategies to either encourage the animals to make use of more visible areas, or make them more visible in the areas they already seem to enjoy. Then we’ll present our findings and ideas to other departments to discuss how best to coordinate efforts and help our visitors see these beautiful animals. After all, these animals are here not only so that we can provide them with good care and protect their species for the future, but also so that our visitors can learn more about them and be inspired by their uniqueness to practice and support important conservation themselves!
