Friday, August 16
Today the other intern and I worked on preparing salads. I had prepared salads for turtles that are in outside areas now and was waiting for a zookeeper to let me into the cages. The zookeeper offered to just take the salads himself, but I couldn't pass up being able to deliver salads to turtles (I am the turtle girl after all). I brought the salads out and we checked on the Aldabra tortoises too before heading back in. As I was about to distribute the last salad, I passed by my manager who asked if I wanted to see a snake giving birth. He brought me into the room where the snake was and I got to see a baby snake being born! It was absolutely amazing to watch! The babies were a couple inches long and were really cute. The baby that was born was lying upside down at first, so my manager turned it over with a hook. A few minutes later the baby snake opened its mouth for the first time and then was testing out its jaw a little. Then it stuck out its tongue a few times to smell the air. It was amazing to watch its first explorations of the world! We thought the snake has one more baby since she was still having contractions, so a small group of us were gathered to watch. It turned out that she was done pushing out the babies and was just pushing out fluid.
After lunch, I did the dishes and changed the water in the McCord's Box Turtle tanks. I then got to watch two turtle eggs get candled. One egg was definitely developing, the other had some signs of development, but overall they were not as developed as expected. The zookeeper said that it isn't a sign of concern right now and that the eggs could still hatch just fine. The zookeeper who showed me the eggs then taught me more about egg development of turtles. He also explained the different types of temperature sex determination (TSD). TSD is found in most species of reptiles and is when the sex of an individual is dependent on what temperature the egg is incubated at. TSD falls into four main categories and different categories are found in different species of reptiles. So the saying "hot chicks and cool dudes" for incubation temperatures is only true for one type of TSD. That statement is valid for just some types of turtles. Other turtles have a TSD pattern where females develop at cooler and hotter temperatures and males develop in medium range temperatures. For one type (present in crocodiles and lizards), the warmer the temperature, the more males. The fourth type of TSD is where males develop at cooler and hotter temperatures and females develop in medium range temperatures (this is found in some geckos). I found all of this so fascinating and I also loved getting the opportunity to sit down with a keeper and learn more about reptiles. I also asked to see a stud book, which is a record of every individual in a species in captivity and offers recommendations for breeding to maintain the genetic diversity of the species. So I got to see a stud book and population assessment for the Arakan Forest Turtles (Heosemys depressa). After break, the zookeeper and I started to brainstorm how to remodel some exhibits for semi aquatic turtles. Of course there is no easy solution to how to design a pond for turtles that will fit the space and be sloped just so to allow easy access. We looked at some pre-made pond options, but didn't find one that would really work for a turtle. It was fun to be able to brainstorm with the other keeper and be able to throw out my own ideas and have them be heard and considered. After a lot of various ideas were talked about, both of our brains were spinning. It will be interesting to see what the final plan is. I just wish that I was able to intern longer to help see the project to completion.
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