Archive for the ‘Behind the Scenes’ Category

Dec
10

Meet the Staff: Erica Lemon

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Featured,Meet the Staff

Hometown: Houston, TX

Department/Title & Description: Ranger – Ranger/Guest Services – we help zoo guests and learn about animals

Quote – “It wasn’t worth it if you didn’t work hard for it.  – My mom

How long have you worked at the Houston Zoo?: I worked two months in Guest Service Relations manning the Dinosaur exhibit and have been with the Rangers six months now

Favorite animal: Jaguars are my favorite but I find all of our animals interesting!

Special interests/hobbies: I work hard and then I like to go home and relax

What made you want to work at a zoo?: I like being around people but I find office work too boring.  Everyday is different and you get to meet lots of different people. 

Education/training: I had law enforcement training in High school.  I am waiting to be certified to get more confident in helping people. 

Advice to anyone wanting to enter the your field:  Do it!  It is a lot of fun.  The heat doesn’t bother me.  So, if you don’t mind working in the rain or shine, apply online!

Something you want people to know about your job: Our team is really strong.  They are very welcoming and make you feel comfortable. 

 

 

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Nov
23

Meet the Staff: Alissa Fuhrman

Posted by in African Forest,Behind the Scenes,Chimpanzees,Featured,Meet the Staff,Wortham World of Primates

Hometown: Livermore, CA

Section: Primates-I mostly work in Chimps right now.

Quote: “If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it.” Willy Wonka

Special interests/hobbies: I’m a member of a Drum and Bugle Corps.  I play the French horn and the Mellophone.  I also have 5 fresh water fish tanks at home.

Favorite animal: Amelia, a De Brazza’s Guenon; she is really cute.  Penda, a Swamp Monkey; she has a great personality.  Kerchak, a Red-capped Mangabey; he can be aggressive and unpredictable but I’ve taught him some fun behaviors that kind of off-set his personality.

Animals you train: Mangabeys, Red-tailed guenons, Swamp Monkeys, De Brazza’s Guenon, Chimpanzees

How long have you been in the animal care field?  I was a volunteer/intern beginning in 1997 at the Charles Paddock Zoo and the Oakland Zoo.  I have been a keeper here at the Houston Zoo since 2001.

What made you want to be a zookeeper? Animals are cool and can be easier to relate to than people sometimes.  In Junior High I wanted to work at Seaworld and work with marine mammals.

What is your previous education/training? I have a Bachelors of Science in Animal Science with a concentration in Zoo and Exotics from California Polytechnic State University.

What sort of advice would you give to anyone wanting to enter the zoo field? Volunteer and be well rounded. You need to know how to work with tools and be creative.  Work on making fun toys for your dog, similar to how we enrich animals here at the zoo.  You should also read “Don’t Shoot the Dog” by Karen Pryor to learn more about animal training.

What is your favorite animal story?
Naku, our Swamp Monkey, loves his pool. He likes to take things from the yard and soak them in the pool.  We decided to put grass sod in the yard for greenery and give them something else to walk on.  The day we put the sod in, Naku decided to take each sheet and drag it to the pool.  80 squares of grass was in the water.  He had fun that day.

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Nov
07

Meet the Staff: Carlos Contreras

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Featured,Meet the Staff

Hometown: Born in Mexico but raised in Houston

Department/Title & Description: Ranger – Provide first aid, provide information about the zoo, and help with lost children.

How long have you worked at the Houston Zoo?: Worked in concessions for the first 4 years at the Houston zoo and have been working for 3 years with the Rangers ever since

Favorite animal: Monkeys and Jonathan the Lion

Special interests/hobbies: Going to the gym and playing with kids

What made you want to work at a zoo?: I love to talk to guests and tell them about our animals

Previous related jobs: Worked in catering at hotels

Education/training: Certified Interpretive Guide and First Aid/CPR trained

Advice to anyone wanting to enter the your field:  Houston Zoo, Inc. is a great company to work for and they are great to their employees.  Get your High school diploma and practice great guest service! 

Something you want people to know about yourself: I’m a really nice guy.  I’ll be here to help you with anything. 

Favorite Story about work or home: I was working in Macaw café and was wearing a decorated hat with animals on it.  A child came by and started banging on the glass and waving at me.  I thought is strange because he kept pointing at his own head.  His teacher explained that he wanted my hat.  I handed over my hat to the kid and it made him so happy that he was running and jumping all around.  It was nice because that made his whole day!

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Oct
28

Meet the Staff: Mollie Coym

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Birds,Featured,Meet the Staff

Hometown: Houston, TX

Department/Title: Senior Bird Keeper

How long have you worked at the Houston Zoo? About 5 years.

How long have you worked in your field? Over 8 years

Favorite Animals: Blue and Gold Macaw; Attwater’s Prairie Chickens

Do you have any animals at home?: I have a Blue and Gold Macaw named Trinity.

Quote:

“Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.” – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Special Interests: I like to travel and I’m a 4th degree black belt in martial arts.

What made you want to be a zookeeper?

I had many pets as a kid and always loved animals…basically, it just seemed like a fun job!

Education/Training: I earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Houston in 2002. I’m working on a Master’s from George Mason University in Zoo and Aquarium Leadership.

Previous Jobs: I worked at the Downtown Aquarium for two years and Moody Gardens for one year. I also volunteered at the Houston Zoo for a while.  I came to the Houston Zoo because I really enjoyed working with the great people and animals.

What advice would you give to anyone wanting to be a zookeeper?

Volunteer or intern in a department with animals you think you’d like to work with.  This will give you hands on experience and lets you see if it is really something you want to pursue as a career.

What’s your favorite animal story?

One of the bird species I work with is the endangered Attwater’s Prairie Chicken.  This year we received the exciting news that several birds successfully raised and fledged chicks in the wild.  Since the captive breeding program started in the early 1990′s, many of the captive raised birds have been released to the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, Texas City Prairie Preserve, and private land in Goliad, Texas. While many of these birds have made nests, laid eggs, and hatched chicks, this is the first time released birds in the wild have raised and fledged their own young.  This is great news for the captive breeding and release program because it proves that captive raised Attwater’s Prairie Chickens have the ability to be productive in the wild.

 

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May
09

The Houston Zoo is on Univision!

Posted by in Babies,Behind the Scenes,Media,Primates

Something new is afoot.  Every Tuesday at 7 AM, the Houston Zoo is doing a spot on Univision, the city’s premiere spanish-language channel.

A Houston Zoo Keeper in the Univision studio with a snake

Now you can have a little of the Zoo come right into your living room first thing in the morning. Visit with several of our caregivers through the summer, who will bring a different animal to the TV studio every Tuesday morning and talk with the hosts about the species.

Watch at 7 AM every other Tuesday through the summer

Tomorrow, May 10 , catch Keeper Marci, from Natural Encounters, talking about out new baby orangutan Aurora! You should find Univision on Channel 1o on both Comcast and Uverse. If not, please check your local listings.

Little Aurora Orangutan

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May
07

Bird Conservation in Saipan: Turn Your Head and Cough (Giving the Birds a Physical Exam in the Field)

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Bird Conservation in Siapan,Birds,Conservation,Endangered,Series

Each bird that is brought into holding is “processed” – this means we do a quick health assessment of the bird as well as band it and weigh it.  We take the time when we first arrive back at the bird room to give each bird a quick physical exam (by the vet that accompanies us on this trip).  The vet looks at the overall condition of the bird, how much body fat that it has and takes many measurements including: tail length, wing cord length, tarsus length, and bill length.  

Measuring the length of the beak

Taking leg length measurements

Tail length measurement

And finally, a wing length measurement

The vet also takes a small blood sample (by clipping the bird’s toenail) to check for any problems or disease issues and to provide a small blood sample for DNA determination of the bird’s sex. 

This information combined with the incoming weight of the birds gives us a quick snap shot into the overall health of the birds.  After the health check is complete, we assign a leg band number to the bird and place it in its new holding cage with a label indicating the bird’s band number.

Home sweet home, for only a few weeks!

 

But wait! There’s more! Read the rest of the series HERE!

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Apr
27

Did Someone Rub Hamburgers on the Windows?

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Funny,Tropical Bird House

At the Houston Zoo, one of the unique difficulties managing birds in the Tropical Bird House comes from our glass-fronted exhibits.  While they are fantastic for the guest experience, glass is not something birds ‘get’ without a little help from their keepers. 

Every time we introduce a new bird to an exhibit, we soap the exhibit window.  This simply means we go out to the front of the exhibit with a bowl of water, some bars of Dial soap, and we smear the soap over the window until it becomes opaque. 

Keeper Jeremy preparing a window for a bird transfer in the Tropical Bird House.

Guests can still see into the exhibit, and the new birds can learn exactly where that glass is.  After a week or so, we remove the soap. 

A soaped window

This also varies depending on what type of bird we are introducing or moving.  Doves aren’t known for their mental acuity, so any time we move a dove into an exhibit, even if it was just out of the exhibit for a couple days, we soap the windows.  Starlings and corvids, on the other hand, learn the boundaries of their exhibit a little faster. 

I have worked in the Tropical Bird House for about six years now, and although we have signs that explain why the windows are so foggy, I have heard some wonderful explanations from guests for the cloudy windows:

1. ”It’s condensation on the window.”  This is the most common explanation I overhear.  It is very humid in the Bird House, because tropical birds really dig humidity, so this is probably the most valid guess.

2. “Someone rubbed ice cream cones all over the window”. It could happen.

3. “There are better ways to clean a window than that!”  It really would be a labor intensive way to clean windows, but they do sparkle after we remove that soap!

4. “Someone rubbed hamburger grease all over the windows!” This is my favorite, by far.  The bird house is near a concessions area, and I think the aromas imbed into our subconcious, because I often find myself day dreaming of a juicy burger as well. 

Next time you visit the zoo, make sure to stroll through the Tropical Bird House.  If you see a hazy window, you’ll be in the know!

Unfortunately, our exhibits in the bird house are not the only place where birds need a little help from humans to avoid collisions.  Want to make sure your windows are safe for our feathered friends?  Check out this helpful website!

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Apr
07

Maned Wolf Pups: The Great Outdoors

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Carnivores,Dogs

Since our last update Dora and Diego have made the move out of the Clinic to bigger accomodations. Since things are going so well with Taji, we decided to move them down to her barn, next door to the cheetahs. Everything had to be carefully puppy-proofed before they arrived but they have settled in just fine.

The best part about moving down to the barn was the puppies now have an outdoor yard to play in. As usual they were a little shy at first but quickly came around:

And of course, after a long day of playing outside, what could be better than snuggling up with your favorite dog friend?

phew! what a day

 
Check the Daily Update  for times when you can see the puppies and Taji at the zoo!

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Mar
18

Witnessing the Birth of a Giraffe at the Houston Zoo

Posted by in African Forest,Babies,Behind the Scenes,Featured,Giraffes,Hoofed Stock

I had the honor of capturing baby giraffe Asali’s birth on film last week for the Houston Zoo’s YouTube Channel. On a busy Friday afternoon in the spring sunshine, Tyra the giraffe began giving birth in the middle of the field in full view of an increasingly large crowd of public. Not long after I arrived, out of breath, having racewalked across the zoo with camera in hand, the keeper staff decided Tyra might appreciate a little privacy. They opened up the gate to the back and waved a green plastic buoy atop a tall bamboo pole. The giraffes notice this as a “come over here if you like” signal. Tyra thought this was a great idea and moseyed into the private back yard, followed by moans of many disappointed guests. For those of you who thought you might have missed the birth, here it is in high definition:

Myself and a few other chosen staff were allowed to follow keepers and vets behind the scenes. It’s not safe to stand in the yard with the giraffes – although they’re completely gentle, there’s always a risk of one accidentally crushing your foot with a misplaced hoof – so we watched and I filmed from behind a wall. Tyra slowly paced around the yard, looking around and gazing at us with her big dark eyes as if to reassure us that she had this completely under control. She stopped periodically for contractions, and would often point her back end at us the contractions came – she knew what we were there to monitor.

We watched and I filmed as giraffe Asali was born

As we watched the baby’s nose, tongue, and then the entire head emerged. Unlike a human birth, the head is not the first to come out, but only after the front feet have appeared. After a brief delay the shoulders came after, and then it was just a minute more before the whole baby came sliding out. Since giraffe moms give birth standing up, it’s a rude awakening into life as baby falls to the ground.

The most remarkable thing about the whole process was how silent it was. There were no outcries of pain, beeps of fetal monitors or hurried bustle of nursing staff around a maternity ward.  Zoo veterinarians kept a vigilant eye, ready for any intervention needed, and we all waited holding our breath while Tyra calmly and quietly brought Asali into the world.

 

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Feb
26

Maned Wolf Pups: Making Friends

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Carnivores,Zoo Births

So Dora and Diego are growing fast, and starting to look like real wolves. Believe it or not, they will grow into these ears.

sniffing out the camera

 Any time we raise an animal instead of their parents, its critical that we find ways to make sure they are properly socialized and grow up to be well socialized, rather than thinking they are people. These pups are cute right now, but soon they will be much larger and wilder, and someday they will go off to be paired with other wolves. In order for that to be successful, we need to make sure they know how to act like maned wolves.

The best option would have been to introduce them to another maned wolf litter that was being mother-raised but there were no other females due at the same time as our pups. So we looked internally and one candidate stood out as being right for the job: Taji, the Anatolian Shepherd Dog.  Taji was raised with the cheetahs and works as part of our Cheetah Ambassador Program. You may have seen her out greeting our guests or hanging out with cheetahs Kito and Kiburi.

When the puppies were just a few days old, we started letting Taji come up to clinic to meet them. She was immediately interested in them and and seemed eager to help.

naptime for everyone

As you can see in this photo, things got off to a great start and so Taji is hired as the latest member of the maned wolf pup team.

Need to catch up on Dora and Diego’s story? Check out these earlier posts.

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