I would like to start by apologising for the lateness of this entry but I have had severe writers’ block this week. I didn’t think there was anything particularly special to write about, which made me think it wouldn’t make for an interesting read. However, I’ve now thought that it is these “ordinary” days that are the most “real” and an account of these could help if you are thinking about becoming a zookeeper! So here we go…
This week I was on the birds round! The food for the birds gets made up first thing in the morning, so the first half hour or so was spent cutting up berries into small enough pieces. The main part of the rounds are the row of enclosures that house pheasants, doves and touraco (small-ish, African, colourful birds). Jobs here involve cleaning out and filling up the food and water pots, picking up waste (leftovers and poo), cleaning out the pond, and taking care that Andy the overly friendly touraco doesn’t get too close to your face (she has been known to make someone bleed!)
Other birds on the round include Buzz and Tallulah the Macaws. My job on this round was to feed Buzz peanuts through the bars to try and keep him calm whilst the other keeper went in to clean his enclosure. Despite being moved over to Tallulah’s side, Buzz tends to be a little dramatic when people are in his area, and squawks angrily and annoys Tallulah. Then when he’s let back into his side, he throws all his food on the floor. It’s like looking after a moody toddler.
The last job is cleaning the owl enclosures. A large part of this is avoiding Hector the grumpy Eagle Owl who likes to hang out next to the gate. This week it was especially important as his lady friend had just laid some eggs and he was feeling especially aggressive towards intruders. Using the other keeper with a bucket as a shield, I just about managed to get in to change the water and escape again.
Photos above (left to right): Hector the grumpy Eagle Owl, Me with a Java Dove, Buzz the moody Macaw
The large majority of my day involved chopping vegetables into pieces for the Rhea (birds similar to ostrich). As Rhea are quite large, but have reasonably small mouths, this takes quite a long time. Two crates of rhea food are required every day, with food needing to be cut into pieces the size of carrot slices. By the time I had finished for the day, my daydreams were full of vegetables being sliced and I had a big blister from holding the knife.
The highlight of my day came right at the end on final round, where I helped feed the tapir and capybara. At the moment, Roger the male tapir is hobbling around on really poorly back legs so hasn’t been allowed out in the paddock where he can roll around in the mud and puddles. This meant his skin had dried out a bit and needed to have a sponge bath to keep him moisturised. Therefore, I got to spend the last few minutes of my day chasing around tapir and capybara with a sponge. Turns out, they loved it and kept nudging my arm as if to say “my turn!” So despite this being a more ordinary week, I can now say I have given a tapir a sponge bath. I don’t know many other people that can say that.
Animal of the Week – The White-Cheeked Touraco
The white-cheeked touraco can be found in forested highland in Sudan and Ethiopia and can be recognised by the distinctive black plumage on the top of the head, with red eye rings and white marks on the cheek. In the wild, it lives in flocks of about 12 birds. The birds spend the night in their roosts within dense vegetation, which is also where they would lay their two eggs during the breeding season. They spend the daytime jumping from branch to branch in pursuit of fruit to eat, and will also eat the occasional insect or small lizard.
Dartmoor zoo have two White Cheeked Touraco (photo taken from google), including Andy,who is overly friendly and loves to appear in your face when you are least expecting her to.
Zookeeper Tash 