Busy weekend!
Thursday was a busy day! :) In the morning I went with Christoph and Margaret (one of the vet techs) to help with a physical exam on a American Black Bear. I had never been that up close with a bear before so I was SUPER excited! :) Christoph and the keepers were very patient and willing to answer my kajillion questions. I found out that Bears are very healthy and will generally not have health problems until they get very old, so they may not actually actually do physical exams on the bears frequently. Christoph used a pressurized air dart gun to dart the bear and then we waited as she fell asleep so that we could go into her den safely. It was really cool for me to be in the den with the bear! I'd never touched a bear before! they have SUPER thick fur, and are so rolly polly! :) It was SO cool! :D Then later in the day I went with Vickie when she was giving a contraceptive injection to a Vampire Bat! This bat had already had 4 dystocias and 4 c-sections! So they had spayed the bat. BUT even with magnification and both Vickie and Christoph working for a long time they only were able to find one ovary! :P So they have to give the bat contraceptives! And we also went to look at a two-toed sloth :) After that I spent the last part of the day working on my projects.
OH! I almost forgot At the end of the day, Christoph and I went to look at one of the year-old lion cubs! one of the young males had gotten in a tussle with the big adult male lion (their father) and had some wounds. We went to look at the cub, and they got all worked up and were being really tough and hissing and kind of burp-roaring at us! :P it was super cute! they are still not fully grown, and the males are just getting their scruffy beginning manes :) The cuts on the male weren't very bad, although there was a little bit of swelling, so we gave him a few days course of antibiotics. I really like big cats, so I really hope to get to do more with the lion cubs and the adult lions! I guess that they are not sure if the contraceptive implant that they gave to the lioness was effective, and she might be pregnant again! that would be SO much fun to have lion cubs while I'm here! :)
Thursday evening there was a barbecue/party at Margaret's house as a goodbye to Christoph. She didn't want us there until 6:30 or 7, and the drive back home was too long to make sense to go home, so I spent about an hour at Caribou Coffee reading a book before heading to her house. I haven't been to a Caribou since High school in West Bloomfield! It brought back memories of playing Egyptian Rat Screw and getting tubs of ice cream to dip in our coffee/hot cocoa :)
The party was fun! It was most of the hospital staff, and I met most of their spouses. It was fun to get to know them a bit outside of the zoo/workplace! I was pretty tired that day, and I had a decent length drive home, so I left on the early side, but the food was great and it was a lot of fun!
Friday was a pretty productive day! I finished most of one of my projects! I'm waiting on a few things from Vickie and then I have to give it to Vickie and Roberta (the senior Staff Veterinarian at the zoo) to look over. And I got a start on my big project, the Diet Notebook! I also watched a physical exam on a chameleon that is in quarantine at the zoo! It is an Oustalet's Chameleon. They're the longest chameleons! We found that they are commonly up to 70cm long! Christoph let me give it a subcutaneous injection of a dewormer! :)
The inside of its mouth is bright yellow! I love chameleons, and I really want one! although I have been told that they don't live for very long or well in captivity, so I'm not sure if I want to be responsible for subjecting an animal to a sub-par life... BUT I REALLY want one! :) so we'll see...I've been thinking of getting a reptile in the fall because I'll be living by myself for the first time, and I've been thinking about getting a pet!
Right now I'm forgetting what else I did on friday...If I remember I'll update again!
this weekend was nice and relaxing. On saturday I went to the Sprecher Brewery to take a tour and do beer tasting with Katie and Abe (I know Abe from Rochester, when I was at my last zoo internship!). and then Katie and I went out to Buckhead's bar with a couple of her friends from school. It was a fun day!
Today was a lazy morning, then Katie and Bill and I went to Arby's for lunch, and ran some errands, then I made Chocolate pie :) and then goofed around for the rest of the afternoon! Tomorrow, I swear I'm going to have a productive evening and get a lot of things done that are long overdue! :P
OH! I almost forgot At the end of the day, Christoph and I went to look at one of the year-old lion cubs! one of the young males had gotten in a tussle with the big adult male lion (their father) and had some wounds. We went to look at the cub, and they got all worked up and were being really tough and hissing and kind of burp-roaring at us! :P it was super cute! they are still not fully grown, and the males are just getting their scruffy beginning manes :) The cuts on the male weren't very bad, although there was a little bit of swelling, so we gave him a few days course of antibiotics. I really like big cats, so I really hope to get to do more with the lion cubs and the adult lions! I guess that they are not sure if the contraceptive implant that they gave to the lioness was effective, and she might be pregnant again! that would be SO much fun to have lion cubs while I'm here! :)
Thursday evening there was a barbecue/party at Margaret's house as a goodbye to Christoph. She didn't want us there until 6:30 or 7, and the drive back home was too long to make sense to go home, so I spent about an hour at Caribou Coffee reading a book before heading to her house. I haven't been to a Caribou since High school in West Bloomfield! It brought back memories of playing Egyptian Rat Screw and getting tubs of ice cream to dip in our coffee/hot cocoa :)
The party was fun! It was most of the hospital staff, and I met most of their spouses. It was fun to get to know them a bit outside of the zoo/workplace! I was pretty tired that day, and I had a decent length drive home, so I left on the early side, but the food was great and it was a lot of fun!
Friday was a pretty productive day! I finished most of one of my projects! I'm waiting on a few things from Vickie and then I have to give it to Vickie and Roberta (the senior Staff Veterinarian at the zoo) to look over. And I got a start on my big project, the Diet Notebook! I also watched a physical exam on a chameleon that is in quarantine at the zoo! It is an Oustalet's Chameleon. They're the longest chameleons! We found that they are commonly up to 70cm long! Christoph let me give it a subcutaneous injection of a dewormer! :)
The inside of its mouth is bright yellow! I love chameleons, and I really want one! although I have been told that they don't live for very long or well in captivity, so I'm not sure if I want to be responsible for subjecting an animal to a sub-par life... BUT I REALLY want one! :) so we'll see...I've been thinking of getting a reptile in the fall because I'll be living by myself for the first time, and I've been thinking about getting a pet!
Right now I'm forgetting what else I did on friday...If I remember I'll update again!
this weekend was nice and relaxing. On saturday I went to the Sprecher Brewery to take a tour and do beer tasting with Katie and Abe (I know Abe from Rochester, when I was at my last zoo internship!). and then Katie and I went out to Buckhead's bar with a couple of her friends from school. It was a fun day!
Today was a lazy morning, then Katie and Bill and I went to Arby's for lunch, and ran some errands, then I made Chocolate pie :) and then goofed around for the rest of the afternoon! Tomorrow, I swear I'm going to have a productive evening and get a lot of things done that are long overdue! :P