I was just a little bit frustrated with the zoo today. One of the main people in charge had specifically told me that a calendar with the different times volunteers were supposed to show up would be sent out through email. She made it sound like I should check the calendar to determine if I was supposed to come in this Friday. Well, I looked and looked all week, but the calendar never came. I decided to go to the zoo anyway. Good thing I did. Apparently the calendar was only sent to staff members, not to volunteers. Oh. Good to know- both about the calendar, and to know the difference between a volunteer and a staff member so I don't hear "staff member" later and think that includes me.
My task this morning was using this machine that looks and functions a lot like a lawnmower, but is a leaf blower. I pushed it around the walking paths all of the zoo, blowing leaves out of the way and onto the grass. This was a great first task, because I was able to walk around the zoo and get a feel for the animals and their locations. My fingers quickly got cold and sore from having to hold the "Go" lever on the machine, though.
I had gone around the loop once and was coming back from one of the side paths when I bumped into Troy, the main zoo director. He checked to see what I had done so far, then did the other side of the loop for me. By this I mean, I had driven the machine while sticking as far to the right side of the path as possible for my first loop around. Troy also stuck to the right side, but went along the loop the other way to blow off the rest of the leaves and loose grass and things. He was a lot faster at that than I was. Then he pulled me aside so that we could talk about ethograms.
The zoo seems really excited about my background in psychology and my interest in animal behavior. Troy gave me several ethogram sheets to fill out, asking me to look at the muntjacs, the yak, and the coyotes. A muntjac is a tiny deer. A really, really tiny deer that only comes up to your knee. Oh, and it has fangs. The female and the male are housed separately right now, but the goal is to house them together when they get moved to their winter pens. The female is generally shy and skittish whereas the male is more forward. So, he wanted me to record those behaviors. He also showed me the enrichment binders for various animals so that I could look through those if I want to.
So, I went out and recorded some behavior today. The female muntjac stared at me without moving the entire time (until I stood up again and she bolted), but the male was a lot more friendly and came right up to the fence to see me, even though it was drizzling a bit and he had been hiding in his "tunnel" until I got there. The yak paced in circles a lot, and the coyotes ran about their area. It was neat to spend so long watching each animal, whereas zoo patrons probably stay for just a few minutes and then move on. Luckily the rain didn't cause any problems, though I quickly became aware that the season is changing and I'm going to want to start dressing more warmly.
My shift is from 8:00 - 11:00 Friday mornings. I rode the bus to Blue Square to rest, eat, and prepare for my fiction writing class at 2:30 today. My class wasn't impressed with the guy that lots of them went to hear speak on Wednesday. I was a little amused by that. My teacher kept insisting that he was great and the lecture or reading thing would be great, but my classmates who went complained that what happened at the lecture was a lot different than what was advertised. I didn't get the details, but I didn't feel bad about missing out in favor of Institute instead.
Speaking of which, I went to Institute today accidentally before remembering there was no class on Fridays. Whoops. That'll take a bit of getting used to, since I go to it after fiction writing two other days during the week. Well, maybe it only takes forgetting one time to remember for later.
My task this morning was using this machine that looks and functions a lot like a lawnmower, but is a leaf blower. I pushed it around the walking paths all of the zoo, blowing leaves out of the way and onto the grass. This was a great first task, because I was able to walk around the zoo and get a feel for the animals and their locations. My fingers quickly got cold and sore from having to hold the "Go" lever on the machine, though.
I had gone around the loop once and was coming back from one of the side paths when I bumped into Troy, the main zoo director. He checked to see what I had done so far, then did the other side of the loop for me. By this I mean, I had driven the machine while sticking as far to the right side of the path as possible for my first loop around. Troy also stuck to the right side, but went along the loop the other way to blow off the rest of the leaves and loose grass and things. He was a lot faster at that than I was. Then he pulled me aside so that we could talk about ethograms.
The zoo seems really excited about my background in psychology and my interest in animal behavior. Troy gave me several ethogram sheets to fill out, asking me to look at the muntjacs, the yak, and the coyotes. A muntjac is a tiny deer. A really, really tiny deer that only comes up to your knee. Oh, and it has fangs. The female and the male are housed separately right now, but the goal is to house them together when they get moved to their winter pens. The female is generally shy and skittish whereas the male is more forward. So, he wanted me to record those behaviors. He also showed me the enrichment binders for various animals so that I could look through those if I want to.
So, I went out and recorded some behavior today. The female muntjac stared at me without moving the entire time (until I stood up again and she bolted), but the male was a lot more friendly and came right up to the fence to see me, even though it was drizzling a bit and he had been hiding in his "tunnel" until I got there. The yak paced in circles a lot, and the coyotes ran about their area. It was neat to spend so long watching each animal, whereas zoo patrons probably stay for just a few minutes and then move on. Luckily the rain didn't cause any problems, though I quickly became aware that the season is changing and I'm going to want to start dressing more warmly.
My shift is from 8:00 - 11:00 Friday mornings. I rode the bus to Blue Square to rest, eat, and prepare for my fiction writing class at 2:30 today. My class wasn't impressed with the guy that lots of them went to hear speak on Wednesday. I was a little amused by that. My teacher kept insisting that he was great and the lecture or reading thing would be great, but my classmates who went complained that what happened at the lecture was a lot different than what was advertised. I didn't get the details, but I didn't feel bad about missing out in favor of Institute instead.
Speaking of which, I went to Institute today accidentally before remembering there was no class on Fridays. Whoops. That'll take a bit of getting used to, since I go to it after fiction writing two other days during the week. Well, maybe it only takes forgetting one time to remember for later.
