Anonymous asked:

I don't have a specific question, but I was curious to know what a normal work day as a zookeeper looks like for you.

It varies from facility to facility in terms of the details, of course, and it depends on what department, as many zookeepers will have a specialty in particular taxa.

As a “swing” keeper, I have to know the needs and care of ALL animals in the collection. So, for me, it’s balancing a lot of constantly changing information (general species information doesn’t vary much, but each individual is different - just like with humans).

In VERY general terms, my day starts with doing a visual check on all animals that are part of my circuit for the day. Then I will prep the morning diets and prepare any medical treatment that might be required, as prescribed and overseen by our team of vets and technicians (not anti-psychotics, as you may have heard).

Afterwards, I spend the remainder of my morning doing a deep clean on all enclosures and night-houses, as well as placing enrichment, feeding out diets, shifting animals onto exhibit, and monitoring the animals for general health and well-being, and watching for any behavioral changes, etc.

Then I take out the trash (lots of poop) and do the dishes. So many dishes.

After lunch, I go around and do another visual check on all the animals.

The afternoon is used mostly to prepare the next day’s diets and do any big projects of maintenance work that needs completing.

For close-down, I do yet another walk through and visual check, do our evening feedings, and log anything of importance from the day.

This is an extremely generalized explanation of a typical day; there’s a lot more that goes on, but this is the gist of routine animal care. :)