A Week in the Life....My Zoo Job

As a zoo educator, my job is different during the summer than during the school year.  I primarily do outreach programs during the school year, where I leave zoo grounds with some critters and go to schools to teach kids about them. During the summer, the kids come to us and we hook them up with cool classes like "Zookeepers in Training."  My summer classes at the zoo started a couple weeks ago. These particular classes are for kids ages 10-12, are two days long and are area specific, meaning each class will focus on a different part of our zoo.  Last week kids learned about zookeeping for African animals and for Reptiles and Amphibians. Below are some photos I took of Henry the Hippo.  The Africa class kids cleaned out his indoor housing and then got to toss him some produce.

The reptile/amphibian class kiddos got to feed our giant aldabra tortoises.  There are two males and two females, and they are estimated to be over 70 years old!

Below are some photos from my phone of other activities and animals we saw during classes:

I didn't have class on Friday, but I did have a morning program at a local elementary school.  We talked about animals from all over the world.  They got to see and touch a chinchilla, bearded dragon, tenrec, and a dove.  (I just realized that I haven't done a Fur, Feathers & Scales post on tenrecs yet...you can look for that coming up soon!)

Also on Friday, we had a quick photo shoot with a new eastern screech owl, Dr. Whooo.  He was giving us hilarious expressions, so I thought I'd share those with you.  The last photo is the shot we decided to use for our project. Silly owl. 

I hope you enjoyed this peek into my day job!  I want to know what you guys do too!  Share about your job in the comments!