- Zoos: A Historical Perspective from Smithsonian Institution Libraries
The National Zoological Park is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums.
AZA
Small Mammal House
How did you become interested in animals and becoming a keeper?
I grew up on a farm near the National Zoo's Front Royal, Virginia, campus. I've always had an interest in animals, and my parents brought me to the Zoo often. In high school, I was a member of the Future Farmers of America and raised catfish. In college, I took as many animal-related classes as possible. Whenever I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always said I wanted to work with animals, and as luck would have it, here I am!
What made you interested in the animals you work with?
In college, I volunteered at the Small Mammal House as a keeper aide and was a free-ranging golden lion tamarin behavior watcher. At first, I was bombarded by all the information from the 30-plus species at the Small Mammal House, but the more I worked with each animal, the easier it got. That's the best thing about working with so many animals—there's always something new to learn! Small mammals are also so representative of the rest of the Zoo and make great connections to other exhibits—the hyrax to elephants, naked mole-rats to the other “cold-blooded” animals like reptiles, and the smaller primates to the apes.
What’s your typical day like?
Each day is different, but it always begins with a quick check of the animals on the way into work at 6:30 a.m. After a morning meeting with the rest of the Small Mammal House staff, we start feeding the animals (and medicating if needed), watering plants, and cleaning the exhibits and the glass in our assigned areas. Once the exhibit work is done, we prepare the next round of diets. We also make enrichment items and conduct training sessions with our animals. After we have our lunch, we give our animals their afternoon diets and medications, if needed. After filling out all of our daily paperwork, we do a final clean-up and head home, while checking the animals on our way out of the building.
Can you give some examples of how a typical day changed quickly to an atypical one?
It's so easy for a typical day to quickly go in a different direction, especially when working with living things! A golden lion tamarin might break an arm, resulting in a very quick trip to the hospital. Or a tree could fall over in Beaver Valley that would make great perching for an exhibit, so we have to rush over and grab some branches. In the winter, we may have to wade through snow banks and shovel snow in order to get to the exhibits. The possibilities are endless!
What is one thing you think most people do not know (or understand) about the job of an animal keeper?
Some people may see our interactions with the animals and assume we treat them like our pets, but that is certainly not the case. Although animals at the Zoo may develop some dependency and comfort with their keepers, they are still very much wild animals. We try not to “baby” our animals; even those that are hand-reared are eventually weaned from their keepers. In addition, some animals, especially primates, could have serious social problems when they are eventually introduced to members of their own species. Keepers are absolutely dedicated to their charges, but that includes knowing that there is a limit to the care we should give.
How do you incorporate each animal's natural habitat and behaviors into its daily routine?
We try to encourage natural behaviors as often as we can. First, we set up animal exhibits to not only look but act like their natural habitat. If an animal likes to nest on the ground, we give it plenty of mulch and leaves. We give arboreal animals plenty of branches so they use as much exhibit space as possible. Second, their diet mimics what they would find in the wild. We scatter mealworms and crickets around the exhibit for our insectivores, and we give big pieces of leafy browse to our herbivores. Finally, we keep our animals’ natural behaviors in mind when we create their enrichment. We give them big pieces of fruit like they might find in the wild and they have to figure out how to get into it, like banana still in the peel. Tamarins are given bromeliads with mealworms dropped into the plant so that they have to forage with their long fingers to find the treats. Mongooses are given eggs that they have to crack open just like they would in the wild.
How do you continuously expand your knowledge about each animal?
The curator, biologist, keepers, and volunteers of the Small Mammal House try to communicate as much as possible to share information about the animals. We all stay on top of animal and conservation news through scholarly journals and newspapers. There are plenty of opportunities at the Zoo for keepers to attend talks by fellow colleagues. Keepers are encouraged to attend conferences, such as the annual American Association of Zoo Keepers National Conference, and to travel to see conservation projects and animals in their natural habitat.
