Which animals on this list would you choose to work with?

Which three strings would you choose?

  • String 1

    Votes: 23 26.7%

  • String 2

    Votes: 15 17.4%

  • String 3

    Votes: 22 25.6%

  • String 4

    Votes: 12 14.0%

  • String 5

    Votes: 19 22.1%

  • String 6

    Votes: 11 12.8%

  • String 7

    Votes: 5 5.8%

  • String 8

    Votes: 11 12.8%

  • String 9

    Votes: 22 25.6%

  • String 10

    Votes: 14 16.3%
  • Total voters
    86
Z

zooprincess

Member
Hi everyone! I'm really excited to have found this message board. Greetings to fellow zoo people! :D

Here's a question for you (wanted to get off to an exciting start!). I'm applying for an apprenticeship at the Oakland Zoo, in Oakland, California. I need to rank my top three choices of the following "strings," or animal groups, to work with. Your ranking of strings doesn't affect your likelihood of being selected, so you're supposed to pick the animals that you most want to work with! So, if you were applying for this apprenticeship, and you had to rank your top three strings, what would yours be, and why? :D

String #1 Giraffe, Eland, Dama Gazelle, Egyptian Geese, African Crowned Crane, Griffon Vulture, Lilford Crane

String #2 Lions, Tigers, Camels, Tule Elk, Bison

String #3 Sun Bear, Sika Deer, Muntjac, Lesser Flamingos, African Spoonbills, Siamangs, Bobcat

String #4 Chimpanzees* [apprentices/interns do not work with the chimpanzees], Hamadryas Baboons, White-Handed Gibbons, Squirrel Monkeys, Wreathed Hornbills

String #5 African Elephants

String #6 North American River Otters, Bats (Malayan Flying Foxes and Island Flying Foxes) [You have to have rabies shots to work with the bats]

String #7 Kookaburras, Long-billed Crellas, Ring-Tailed Lemurs, Princess Parrots, Goats, Sheep, Pot Bellied Pigs, Domestic Rabbits

String #8 Vervet Monkeys, Spotted Hyenas, Warthogs, Meerkats, Tammar Wallaby, Emus, Walleroos

String #9 Chestnut Mandibled Toucan, Cotton-Topped Tamarins, Blue & Gold Macaws, Taiwan Beauty Snake, Yellow Anaconda, Cattle Egret, Pied Crow, Hadad Ibis, Sacred Ibis, Spurwing Lapwing, White-Faced Whistling Duck, Orange Bishops, White-vented Bulbul, Hottentot Teal, Hammerkop, Red-billed Hornbill, Blue Bellied Roller, Fischer's Lovebird, Tavata Golden Weaver, Tambourine Dove, Speckled Pigeon, Egyptian Goose, White-Throated Monitor, Great Plated and African Plated Lizard, Royal Python, African Spurred Tortoise, Grants Zebra.

String #10 Aldabra Tortoise, American Alligators, Florida Red-Bellied Turtles, Chuckwalla, Black Tree Monitor, Emerald Tree Boa, Red-Tailed Boa, Leaf-Tailed Geckos, Gila Monsters, Standings Day Gecko, Spotted Turtles, Golden Mantellas, Desert Grassland Whiptail, Panamanian Golden Frogs, Poison Dart Frogs, Desert Spiny Lizard, Peninsula Cooters, Green Anoles, Green Tree Frogs, Invertebrates

Education [Animal care and maintenance only] Cockatoo, Pionus Parrot, Amazon Parrot, Great Horned Owl, Black Kite, Corn Snake, Pacific Gopher Snake, Calif. King Snake, Royal Python, Bearded Dragon, Blue-Tongued Skink, Leopard Gecko, Hermann’s Tortoise, Whites Tree Frog, Eastern Box Turtle, African Burrowing Bullfrog, Tenrec, Pygmy Hedgehog, Chinchilla, Giant Kangaroo Rat, Domestic Rabbits, Tarantulas, Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches, Millipede

Sorry, I could only make a poll with 10 options--if you'd pick education, you'll have to reply! ;D
 
If you want to interact with the Animals, I would have to suggest Education, because the Education Animals are normally the tamest, and something needs to make them such... I'd personally choose String 9, But that's because I love birds! But it all depends on what you like...
 
Seems the birds are most popular so far!

My first choice was 3. Being a cat person I'd want to work with felines, but choosing lions and tigers seems a bit obvious... so I went for Bobcats. There's also a nice, varied range of animals and birds in that group, which I think would all be interesting to work with.

Second choice 10, as I don't have a great deal of knowledge and experience about reptiles and amphibians, so it would be a great oportunity to learn.

3rd 5, the elephants, as when else are you going to get that oportunity?

I'm actually surprised that right now nobody has choosen 2 for the lions and tigers. Maybe I'm not the only one seeing the greater apeal of string 3! But I guess it's early days... Also 7 would be a good one to choose if you want to get hands on, and 8 gives an interesting variety. Agree with what nrg said about education too (though as someone with experience of presenting, I might be a bit frustrated just doing the care and maintenance side of that!)

Do you just work in one area or do you get to have a go at all three if accepted?
 
PS: Just had a closer look at 9 and there's more besides birds than I realised, so maybe it's not just bird lovers voting for that one?

And Zooprincess, are you going to tell us what you choose?
 
Welcome to the area!

Good day, ZooPrincess,

I don't live in the Bay Area currently, but I grew up there (in Berkeley) and I still get back once a year. Good luck with the apprenticeship -- Oakland has come a very long way, and they seem to be headed in some good directions. I think you'll enjoy being there.

Besides the three strings I voted for (6, 7, 9), I would also seriously consider education. Few things are more rewarding than being able to reduce or eliminate a visitor's misconceptions (and, often, unreasoned fear) of some critter or other by helping them (gently but firmly) confront those very misconceptions or fears. Interactive education, using 'ambassador' animals, is the best way I know of to do this (and I speak from experience on both sides of the fence). ;-)

I do have one bit of preliminary advice: You will likely hear of a park in Vallejo, northeast of San Francisco, euphemistically named Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. Despite the fact they do still have a few animal exhibits, I would recommend staying far, FAR away from them.

Some history: The park which used to be on that site, Marine World/Africa USA, was a unique combination of zoological park and oceanarium. The place was very well done, staffed by some of the sharpest and most caring people I've ever met in the field.

Unfortunately, through a series of bad deals and mismanagement at the top, the park got taken over several years ago by the Six Flags chain (I can't help but think of them as 'Sick Flags'). It was quickly and horribly warped into a travesty of its former self. Thrill-rides and tacky carnival-type games went up in every spare centimeter of unused space, and the animal elements of the park were, overall, sharply reduced in favor of said thrill-rides.

And that was only the beginning. Parking fees went sharply up, along with admission, airline-style metal detectors and security were installed at the gates, underwater viewing windows at the aquatic exhibits (which used to be freely available any time the park was open) were closed off, and every single original staffer from the animal side of the park was either let go or quit in rightful disgust with the changes.

Some of those staffers had been there since the original park opened in 1968, in Redwood City, and stayed with it through the initial move to Vallejo.

There are likely some on the forum who will disagree with my comments on Sick Flags, and I will freely admit to being strongly biased (I grew up with the original Marine World park). However, I remain firm in my belief that the current version of the place is not worth the time, money, or effort of any serious zoo-goer.

With all the above said -- Feel free to bug me for further details about the Bay Area, if you wish. I'm not that savvy about San Francisco itself, but I can certainly answer questions about the east bay.

Happy moving.
 
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Gaaahhh...

This is what I get for reading on an empty stomach. Corrected, thanks.
 
I'd definitely go for string 9, partly because birds are my interest, partly because it has the greatest number of species - hence more experience of different enclosures, different dietary needs, different behaviours - and partly because with most bird and reptile species there is comparatively less danger and so a greater opportunity for getting close to and even handling those species.
 
Education
String 9
String 2

(in that order)

I love birds, but everyone has dreamed of working with big cats. ;)
 
bats?!? why has nobody voted fro bats! they are one of the most incredible animals on this earth! plus it will be a nocturnal exhibit, something that would be really cool to get experience in
 
I'd go 2, 5, 8. 2 for the cats, 5 because...well, it's elephants...and either 7 for the lemur or 8 for the hyena. Good luck on getting the internship!
 
headkeeper said:
bats?!? why has nobody voted fro bats! they are one of the most incredible animals on this earth! plus it will be a nocturnal exhibit, something that would be really cool to get experience in
Click to expand...

AMEN!

Although I'd recommend to keep said Pteropus species in an exhibit with natural sunlight.
 
I took a different approach than most on here. I can't believe as a teacher I didn't choose Education but most of those animals (or similar substitutes) can be experienced in a non AZA zoo setting. The internship is about challenging yourself and about doing things there you can't do at other places.

So my choices

1 - String 3 - African Elephant - Because there is a big demand for Elephant Keepers especially PC ones

2 - String 1 - Not just because I am an african hoofstock fan but that also an in demand "stock" of animals that would mean more jobs as well

3 - String 9 - Again rarer species/genus and the flexibility to work with birds and a larger variety of them.
 
Man, if I wasn't afraid of elephants (I know my fear is irrational) I'd totally work with them. They're one of my favorite animals!

Anyway, I'd like #6, #9, and education. I love otters and I think it would be cool to work with them, and bats are pretty awesome as well. #9 has good variety, and for education, I loooove to talk about animals.
 
String 3, as it has a combination of hoofstock, primates, carnivores and birds and thus is the most varied. You'll have experience working with a nice range of species.
 
As a reptile keeper I would say either the educational thread or thread 9. I just feel that working with those animals would require more of me and offer a bit more of a rewarding experience.
 
Which animals...

I don't think a fear of Elephants is at all irrational, it's actually very sensible. Anything that can damage you deserves a bit of caution.
 
Hard to choose. I was honestly torn between several groups for my third choice because there was something I love in each.

First string #8. How could I not love that group. I have always loved everything on it.

Second string #5 because how can you pass up a chance to work with elephants. Oh wait it wasnt so hard I did pick string 8 first. It lost out for me simply because I could have variety in string 8.

Third string #4. I love everything on that list. Sure you cant work with the chimps but you probably get to see them. The baboons, gibbons and squirrel monkeys make up for the lack of time with the chimps.

I desperately wanted to pick the giraffes but nothing else in that group stood out for me and I love lions and tigers but string for was just more appealing.
 
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