- Zoos: A Historical Perspective from Smithsonian Institution Libraries
The National Zoological Park is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums.
AZA
From Erika Bauer, the Zoo’s first Fujifilm Curatorial Resident in Animal Care
September 2008
Science Day
This year, September brought many invitations and opportunities to speak with different audiences about behavioral research initiatives here at the National Zoo. Due to some sort of alignment of planets (or, perhaps more logically, just a freak convergence of schedules and requests), I found myself giving four formal presentations in one week.
Although there was some overlap of information, each presentation had its own unique angle and I had different goals for each one, depending on the audience for whom it was intended. There was no way I could skate by and give the same presentation four times, which presented a bit of a challenge, but I think all the presentations went well, and I really enjoyed speaking with all the groups.
This is the story of what one crazy week in my life was like this September.
Monday
The fall Animal Behavior Research Internship session began on September 8. This was the first day our four new interns arrived to start their Zoo experience. On the first day, I like to provide some sort of orientation to the Zoo and the Zoo staff. So we spent some time walking around the grounds, and meeting the people who are always good to know if you're an intern. I also like to present a PowerPoint, which (hopefully) doesn’t feel too much like a lecture in a college classroom, but covers some important points.
I’d created a presentation titled "Crash Course in Behavioral Research Methods" and it really was a lightning-speed course. Interns accepted into this program already have some background in science, so many concepts are familiar to them, but the amount of information I include in this presentation could definitely be expanded into a semester-long course for people just starting out in a scientific field. My hope was to present a combination of review as well as new information for each intern, so that everyone had a common foundation.
 |
| FONZ volunteer observing golden lion tamarin behavior |
My talk began with some information about intern responsibilities and a review of the safety issues that must be taken into consideration when working in a zoo environment. Then I gave what I hope was a good refresher on the scientific method—it’s always important to keep the basic concepts in mind—and provided background on why and how we use ethology (the scientific study of animal behavior) in the Zoo environment.
I went on to describe common ethological tools and research methods, and set the interns up for their first scientific activity. This gave them something to work on for the week, (amidst other brainstorming meetings with keeper staff, focused work on literature review, and a variety of other intern training activities, of course).
Tuesday
After a morning jam-packed with the usual weekly meetings, I had a couple of hours to eat lunch, touch base with the interns, and attempt to check a few things off of my to-do list. Then, off to the Science Briefing! This meeting takes place every three months, and staff from a variety of Zoo departments (including education, public affairs, animal care, and research) are invited to attend. The goal of the briefings is to update staff on current research projects going on at the Zoo. As you might imagine, there is a LOT of science happening here—it’s very difficult to stay up-to-date with all of it—so the science briefings are here to help.
At each briefing, three speakers present their research. At the September 9 briefing, the line-up included a talk on amphibian conservation, another on whale shark nutrition research, and then there was me. I knew I probably wouldn’t be a presenter at too many Science Briefings, but there are so many behavioral projects going on in my group. I selected my presentation topic carefully.
I decided to focus on the Animal Behavior Group’s most recent projects, which included studies of African lion and Sumatran tiger use of enrichment and effects of shifting routine, Asian small-clawed otter social dynamics, giant Pacific octopus enrichment, activity budgets of double-wattled cassowaries, night behaviors of Asian elephants, and the effects of seasonality and social enrichment on pacing in an adult male sloth bear. All of these projects had blossomed in recent months, and we had interesting results across the board.
I was able to touch only lightly on each project, but I think I was able to hit the most interesting points in the little time I had. I really wanted to give the audience a feel for how much research we have going on in the Department of Animal Programs and with animals throughout the Zoo, while providing a sense of the impact our research projects can have on animal care and management.
Wednesday
A full day at work, followed by a lovely evening (which included a dinner provided by FONZ) with the volunteer interpreters who work in the Zoo's Asia Trail. No, these volunteers are not fluent in Asian languages who interpret our English-language graphics for foreign visitors (although perhaps some of them could do that!).
Asia Trail interpreters are highly trained volunteers who tell visitors all about the animals and exhibits at Asia Trail, answer questions, and provide an experience above and beyond what visitors would otherwise have. Our interpreter teams get together once a month to hear updates from animal-care staff about the animals in their unit, and to learn new things that will better inform their interpretation for Zoo visitors.
I was asked to present information to this group about the research projects we have going on at Asia Trail, so I shared information about our sloth bear, Asian small-clawed otter, and Asian elephant studies. It was particularly fun to present to this group because they already know the animals that I’m talking about—and they know them really well.
I left plenty of time for Q&A, and really enjoyed the conversation that took place throughout the presentation. I might have been the presenter for the evening, but I learned so much from the audience to which I was presenting that night. Plus, I got to eat some really yummy brownies!
Thursday
I was recently contacted by a teacher at a nearby high school who is teaching a behavioral neuroscience course this year to honors students. As one of their class activities, the students are assigned to develop ethograms for animals at the Zoo. They plan to come at least once a week throughout the school year to observe animals and develop detailed descriptions of their behaviors. This teacher contacted me in advance of the semester to find out whether I had any good suggestions of which animals the students could observe. I surveyed the animal-care staff, asked if anyone was involved in projects with particular animals for which an ethogram would be useful. I heard back from several keepers who were working on or planning to initiate interesting projects with their animals.
On this particular Thursday, the teacher brought his class to the Zoo to meet me. I talked with them about their interests and their project ideas, presented a portion of the presentation I’d given to the interns on Monday (the part that focused on ethogram development), and gave them some background information on the species that keepers had suggested for this project.
Of course, the students were free to choose any animal here at the Zoo, but I got to tell them about how we might put their ethograms to use in our projects after their project ends, and how they would be developing research tools that could potentially be incorporated into official animal-care documents shared throughout institutions accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. If they produced great work, this could be so much more than an isolated high school research project.
It was great to meet these young scientists, and it’s always fulfilling to feel like I have helped motivate students in their early zoological research endeavors. I hope they are as excited to be working with us as we are about having them here.
Friday
Friday was a usual busy work day, but no presentations by me! Just a typical happy Friday, working at the National Zoo.
