The end is finally here...

After a long ten weeks, it is finally time for me to go home. Even though this is my second summer interning in Omaha, I really love all the new things that I have learned. This summer felt very special to me in its own way by staying in one department versus going into a bunch of different ones. During my time here, I feel that I grew a stronger bond between all of the animals I took care of and with my crew.  By having these experiences, it really showed me what it’s like being a real keeper. I can really see how this job affects the people who work here. It is not just about picking up after animals, doing your daily training sessions or picking out enrichment. There is a lot more to this kind of job than that.

Through this job, you really see how getting to know the animals can really affect your life. Each individual has their own personality and story that makes them each unique. People often asked me, “Which animal that you take care of is your favorite?” I often have a hard time answering this question because each cat and bear I take care of is so cool in their own way. I love Yorgi, our male Amur tiger, because he is just a sweet old cat despite how huge he is which is enough information to know about him in order to adore him. In addition, I really like Payson, our white Bengal tiger because she is just so energetic and greets me every time I see her. And Nat, our Amur leopard, is very cool because she is so intelligent. Manny, our jaguar is very awesome too because his markings are so beautiful as well as his charming behavior he distracts me with while I’m trying to clean his back holding. In addition, Mai, the Malaysian tiger, is awesome because of her unique story as a three legged tiger and where her life continues at the Omaha zoo. Lastly, Josiri, our young male lion has a unique place in my experiences. Josiri has been probably one of the most difficult animals that I got to work with between this and last summer. His personality is very difficult in all ways possible for any keeper. He can come off as very intimidating, frustrating because he does not cooperate as well and is hard to keep up with without giving in for him. However, there were a couple of times where I catch him watching me washing windows in the morning, or just walking by and he didn’t look angry at me for once. There may be a possibility he is just showing off how tough he is, but deep down, I feel that he might make an exception to like me.

After a long summer with these amazing animals and people, my connection with them does not stop here. These experiences will follow me for the rest of my life. I hope they continue as I finish my last semester at school and hopefully find a job where I can pursue as a lifetime career. Even though some people may not see this as an ideal job, this kind of career is very fulfilling to me in more ways than just a paycheck. Despite how dirty and physically strenuous this career lifestyle may be, working with these amazing animals is more fulfilling to me than any other job I can think of. That in itself is very unique and enough for me to love what I hope to do in the near future.

Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus)

Freckles

Andean, or also known as spectacled bears are very cute bears to look at. They have a shorter face compared to other bears and also have a beautiful fall colored markings on their face and chest. They are the equivalent to our North American black bear in South America and are the only surviving species within the Tremarctinae subfamily. At our zoo, we have two Andean bears, Ditka and Freckles.

Ditka and Freckles sure like their fruit and veggies when we do bear feeding. This is not surprising since these bears actually prefer more of an herbivorous diet versus carnivorous even though they are omnivores.  Their skull is better adapted to consuming plants more than meat. Only about 5-7% of their diet contains meat.

On the conservation status spectrum, these bears are considered vulnerable.  There is not a lot of conservation efforts being made for these specific bears and are largely unprotected. An interesting fact about using these bears as resources though is that in Chinese traditional medicine, their gall bladders are very expensive with the international market. I wonder how using specifically using these bears’ gall bladder works in a medical setting. 

Sun Bear (Helarctos malayanus)

 Cupcake

 Cupcake

 Sun Bears

 Hoho

Cupcake (left) Hoho (right)

Cupcake and Hoho can be naturally found in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. They significantly look and act different from our other bears. These two are more arboreal bears, which mean they like to climb in trees. Their bodies are a lot smaller and have a tendency to have much longer claws. These physical characteristics help them climb around in trees better.  While they are up in the trees, this is how they are also commonly known as, “honey bears” because they have quite the appetite for honeycombs and honey.  This may ring another bell for a bear celebrity that loves honey, Winnie the Pooh.  However, they are not the same species.

Bear feeding with these two is very fun, especially with Hoho’s participation. He likes to climb as high as he can in the tree and likes to catch his food.  Despite how high Hoho is off the ground, he always keeps a good arm around a branch in case he misses catching the fruits and vegetables we toss for him. Cupcake is not as adventurous as Hoho and would rather eat off the ground.

When people often think of bears, one of the main behavior characteristics that bears commonly do is hibernate. For sun bears, they actually do not hibernate. However, they sure do like their afternoon naps after we are done cleaning their areas. Every once in a while though, Cupcake and Hoho are up and Hoho will sometimes give us a wave to let us know he is there. J

American Black Bear (Ursus americanus)

 Hutch

 Starsky

 Starsky (left) Hutch (right)

Starsky

At Omaha’s zoo, we have two black bears, Starsky (male) and Hutch (male). These two goofs are fun to watch at work when they are being trained.  They are very smart and witty. Sometimes during their training sessions, they like to try being witty by cheating to get a snack with their cuteness.  Starsky likes to hang out in his corner of the den as Hutch likes to lie under a log. It is hard to motivate these boys sometimes unless there is a treat involved for them. Sounds like a lot of college students I know when the words, “free” and “food” are involved.  I don’t blame them.

A little bit of a background about these bears is that they are native to Northern North America. They are omnivores which mean that they like to eat meat and plants. Starsky and Hutch really like their sweet potatoes and fish! Black bears have narrow muzzles and large jaw hinges. This helps with their sense of smell and munching down on their diet. An interesting fact about these bears is that they use their teeth and claws to help eat their diet; they also use them to mark trees to communicate with other bears.

Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus)

Omaha’s zoo has a pretty awesome polar bear. Her name is Bam Bam. She loves long swims in her pool and large melons during her bear feeding. Polar bears can be found in the Arctic Circle by the Arctic Ocean. These bears are very large and can almost weigh as much as 1500 lbs for males and females about half the size of that. An interesting fact about polar bears is that even though they are born on land, they spend most of their life at sea. This is how they get their scientific Latin name, maritinus, from “maritime bear.”Maritime means, connected with the sea.  Polar bears like to find their prey at the edge of the ice by the sea. They prefer to have seals since they have large amounts of fat that helps them stay warm.  The fat acts as a good insulator, blubber, under the fur to almost 4 inches. That’s a lot of blubber!

At one point, polar bears were thought to be their own genus, Thalarctos. However, there is a strong similarity in characteristics between polar and brown bears that still keeps them within the same genus as other bears.  However, some differences you may see with a polar bear are that they have large, fluffy feet for traction on ice and a thicker fur coat to help keep them warm.

Despite being a mammal and spending most of their life at sea, polar bears are actually considered to be marine mammals. However, a cool fact is that they are the only living “marine mammal” that has powerful limbs and feet that allow them to travel far miles on foot and run on land. 

Bam Bam

Chomp, chomp. Scratch, scratch: Keeping up nail and dental hygiene in the zoo

Having good claw and dental hygiene is important to both keepers and animals. Keepers often check our animal’s teeth and claws during training sessions. If we notice that the animal’s teeth and claws are not being properly maintained by the animal, keepers and the vet crew may need to come in and assist the needed attention. If their claws and teeth do not get any special attention, the overgrowth can actually cause lots of problems for the animals. This can be very painful for the animal in result and start to lose function of their main purposes.

When bears and big cats are out in their natural environment, they have the luxury of having their carnivorous diet consist of bones and cartilage. From chewing and tearing meat off of their prey, this helps keep their teeth and claws in good shape. Another way they can maintain and limit any overgrowth is by scratching on toys or trees. The bones and cartilage helps limit any overgrowth like plaque on teeth and cuticles on claws get too out of hand.

Since our animals in captivity get served with a very minimal hard bone diet, it is very common for keepers and vet crew to step in and help out by scraping the excess overgrowth on their teeth and claws.  It’s pretty much going to the dentist and getting your nails done.  Who doesn’t like that?!

The truth about animals in captivity

Going to school for zoology is amazing. It is so awesome working with such unique, exotic animals that such a small percent of people even have the chance to experience. This definitely has its perks. However, after I tell people what I’m going to school for or even at the zoo, people often ask, “But don’t the animals get depressed in captivity?”

First off, among myself and other people who affiliate themselves working with animals that happen to be in captivity would most likely agree with me that as keepers, we try our best for that not to happen. Every single day of the year, we make sure that ALL animals are taken accounted for to be fed, watered, provide enrichment and gain attention from all of us. We do this to prevent animals from getting “bored.” We do not force any of our animals to do anything they do not want to do. It is all voluntary. Fortunately, our animals enjoy our choices of enrichment every day. J The scent of a new spice or toy is very exciting and makes them curious. Even for our snow leopard, Pasha, he gets a kick out of it when we give him new straw or our white Bengal tiger, Payson, will not let us hose her back holding floor without making sure we “accidently” spray her!

Anywho, back to the part about animals in captivity. There is a huge stigma against zoos, aquariums, “Blackfish” if that rings a bell for anyone, or just the idea of animals in captivity. Well, I can agree with anyone that hands down, the natural environment that animals thrive in is the most optimal place for any animal to live. I would like to live in a world where humans and animals can coexist with each other and still get along fine. However, we have to be honest with ourselves. If you look at how much the human population is expanding, where do you expect some of these animals to go as we start to keep reaching further and further into their homes? With these “animal encounters” roaming in our neighborhoods, have you ever taken the devil’s advocate thought that maybe it is us humans moving into their space instead of them moving into ours? Well, I don’t think I can stop the human population expansion that is continuing to grow, so, that is where I feel that facilities that have animals in captivity can be seen as a positive reason.

In addition, the Black Market unfortunately still exists no matter what we do to try and stop it. Poachers in particular, are very interested not only in big cats, but for other animals to illegally sell for high prices and waste the rest of the animal. Facilities that have captivity can only save so many animals from this, but at least we know that the animals that are here at the Omaha Zoo, will be safe from that. This helps decrease the number of animals dying this way instead of struggling through life and dying in an unnatural way.

Some people also ask “Do animals in captivity tend to have longer or shorter life spans?” Like every human, people and animals can come completely healthy, some may have a mental disorder, possibly some physical difficulties, and the list could go on.  Every person and animal is different from one another. For most of our big cats, they tend to live on average to about twelve years old. However, many factors can alter this in their natural environment due to poachers like mentioned before, possibly a bad year for their prey and do not get enough food or water and so forth. However, in captivity, most of our animals could actually almost double their expected life span because they get the benefit of having the proper nutrition, medications if they need it and veterinary care.

Lastly, my last reason why I feel that having animals in captivity at facilities such like at a zoo is great because as a college student, I kind of do not have the money to go see the world where all of these animals actually come from. It’s a unique setting where I can learn so much about all kinds of animals in one place. As a zoo, we try to have people who visit come with an open mind to learn about all animals, their importance in our world and leave with a better understanding of why animals are here.

I hope after reading this, you’ll have an open perspective about animals in captivity. J Please feel free to put your feelings about captivity.