Day 14: Tortoise Egg

Saturday:

This morning the other intern and I were surprised to find a tortoise egg when we got to the giant tortoise exhibit. The egg was in their water pool and was over calcified. Over calcification happens when a tortoise holds the egg inside of them for too long, allowing more calcium to add to the egg shell. The egg was quite large and spherical. With the extra calcium it looked more like a golf ball coating with ridges and craters on the outside of the smooth egg. Even though the egg was not good, it was still cool to be able to see it and find it in their exhibit. Cleaning the giant tortoise exhibit today didn't take too long. The other intern and I then gathered salads from the building. I then learned how to vacuum the bottom of three large tubs for aquatic turtles. It was hard to get everything, but at least it looked better once I was done than when I started!

After lunch I washed the dishes, cleaned the black worms, and worked in the rodent/cricket room. I then was sent on the not so fun task of cleaning the lizard room in the basement. The room had probably not been cleaned in a while so there was thick dirt/dust built up on all of the pipes. I started cleaning with rags, but just going over a small area made the rag so dirty I had to stop and rinse it out. After break, I went out with a few other interns to watch the Chinese Alligators get fed. The zookeepers are trying to work on target practice with them, so when they touched their respective target they got a mouse. After they were fed, the zookeepers then went over into the American Alligator exhibit to feed him. It is a shame that these animals have such a bad reputation. I overheard people making comments that the zookeepers should just shoot it or should have a gun on them to be in there. If you would bother them or taunt them with food, then yes, they might not be too happy. They are animals sharing the earth with us, so they deserve our respect. One person did ask us if this was the best job ever and of course we said it was. After the feedings ended I then worked more on cleaning the lizard room until the end of the day. I also got to talk to one of the zookeepers about plans for remodeling some exhibits in that room (maybe even starting this summer!).

Chinese Alligator

American Alligator