Day 46: My Last Day

Tuesday, August 20

Since it was (unfortunately) my last day interning, I started off the day passing out thank you cards to all of the zookeepers. They all really appreciated the hand written cards and it was fun reminiscing about fun summer stories with them. I started off cleaning the giant tortoise exhibit and then collected salad bowls from the building. Since I did not have time to do so yesterday, I changed the shavings in some of the rodent cages. I then had time to make sure the crickets had food and cricket quencher before break. After I was done with dishes I then got to watch some keepers get the Komodo Dragon that was off exhibit ready for transport to another zoo. The Komodo cooperated really well and then she was on her way with two keepers from the other zoo. While I was changing water bowls, two of the keepers came down and told me that they were taking me out to lunch since it was my last day. I was really honored that they wanted to bring me out to lunch to thank me and as a send off for school!

Almost all the zookeepers and I went out to Lion's Choice for lunch which I really enjoyed. It was funny because we were all in tan zookeeper uniforms, so we definitely drew some attention. One couple that walked in behind us asked about the penguins going off exhibit briefly for construction and later I saw a mom bending down to her child and telling them that we were zookeepers. Back at the zoo, I cleaned out the four snake enclosures that I worked with this summer and then started helping another keeper clean out a turtle exhibit and the Komodo exhibit. Our curator was in the building in the afternoon, so I was able to talk with him for a little and give him his card as well. After cleaning out the exhibits a little more, it was time for break.

The other day I had been asked by one of the keepers if I wanted to do anything on my last day that I hadn't done yet. As I thought about it, I could not come up with something that I had not done at some point during the summer. I was able to work with many different types of animals and help out with many different husbandry practices. I later realized that on my last day what I really wanted to do was spend some time with the giant tortoises. They were the species that I probably spent the most amount of time with and they have such different personalities it is fun to be around them. I also wanted to spend some time with Othello before having to leave. One of the keepers went out with me at first and then I was left to have some one on one time with the giant tortoises. Of course, Othello wanted attention, but I was also able to spend a little time with some other tortoises as well. Kelly, the Galapagos tortoises, actually came out of the mud and walked right up to me! As I was leaving, she was facing away from me but I still tried to rub the back of her neck a little and she actually let me do so! Kelly is usually the stubborn one who does not want to be bothered, so I was shocked! Maybe it took all summer for her to warm up to me...!

Back inside I helped finish cleaning the Komodo cage and then got trash from the building. When I was out in the public area I noticed a zoo map in the Chitra chitra exhibit. So I had to grab a pole and climb into the exhibit to retrieve the soaking map. Where I was standing was where the turtles get fed; I think I confused the male a little because he slowly came over to see what I was doing. We then closed the building and I went about saying my 'goodbye for now' to the zookeepers. After spending so many days at the zoo and being the first intern to come and last to leave, it felt weird walking out knowing that I would not be back for a while and not be an intern when I return.