Welcome to the first installment of Tom On the Job, a look into some of the coolest jobs and hippest destinations in Central Florida. Some of you may know me from my Fanboy and Fatherhood gigs, but what you might not know is that I always wanted to be a zoologist. So, what better place to kick things off than with a peek at Sanford's own Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens.
Here's the plan: News-Journal photojournalist David Massey and I head to the zoo with the intention of experiencing everything that a zookeeper does in an average day. We want to see the highs, the lows and whatever else we might be able to get our hands into.
Our morning starts off with a walk into the den of two of the most massive mammals I've ever laid eyes on, the elephants Mary and Maude. Journalism has its perks. It was here that I met with senior hoofstock keeper and zoo veteran, Bernie Bartosch.
"This is Mary. She's 62 and weighs 6,400 pounds," she tells me. "And this is Maude. She's 35 and weighs 10,000 pounds. She's a big girl."
Bartosch's not joking.
As I stand by the giant pachyderms pondering the pure size of the
creatures, I'm jolted out of my daze by Bartosch. And she has a fire
hose.
"We're giving her a bath," she tells me as she gets Maude ready for her close-up.
And that's how it starts. Before you know it, I'm hosing down an
elephant, shoveling up her poop and feeding her something called monkey
chow, a mini treat that tastes like stale whole grain cereal. (Yes, I tasted it. They told me they do it all the time. Part of me still thinks they were playing a cruel joke.)
After that its on to something a little smaller: Goober and Angel, the Alhambra tortoises.
Playful and friendly, Goober and Angel have been at the Central Florida Zoo for three years. Goober, the male, is actually famous in the tortoise community. He's the first Alhambra to reproduce in the Western Hemisphere back in the early '80s.
And five hundred pounds. That's what Goober weighs. I remember that vividly because it's all I could think about as the giant-shelled beast stood proudly on my foot. It took three of us
to politely coerce Goober to release my nicely flattened shoe.
And with that, we were on to the reptiles.
With the help of Nick Clark, the senior reptile keeper who sadly would not allow me to pet an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake, we would have the opportunity to hang out with
one of the rarest lizards on the planet, the Grand Cayman Blue Rock Iguana.
After feeding the reptile a nice salad of mixed greens and vegetables and raking the sand in his cage to perfection, its then that I'm told that a bite from the animal goes right to the
bone. (Thanks Nick, for the heads up.)
"He doesn't have teeth," Clark says. "He has a serrated gum that bites down and he shakes his head which creates a sawing motion."
After cleaning up some more poop, this time from the aforementioned Diamondbacks, we're off to finish up our day with a rare treat, a visit with Tipper Too, an 11-month-old two-toed
sloth.
"This is really very rare," says Kristin Cornell, a keeper who is quite
attached to the sloth. She and other keepers take turns raising the
animal, going as far as to take it home every
night. "There are only a few sloth births every year and we were lucky enough to have one."
Tipper, who got her name from a beloved pet of the couple who won her naming rights at a zoo fundraiser, has become a celebrity in her own right. The sloth has appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and has even earned a paycheck as a painter. (Her art has been auctioned off at auctionnetwork.com.)
Cornell tells me I'm in luck and with the way this day has gone I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
In this case, it winded up being one of the highlights of my career, an opportunity to bottle-feed the rare animal.
As the day wore down, it was hard to not sit back and be amazed at the wonder of a place like this. An opportunity to get up close and personal with some of the planets most magnificent creatures is not something that should be easily taken for granted.
And while my experience will not be the same as the casual visitor,
it's not one that is out of reach. If this is the type of thing that
piques your interest, the zoo has got you covered.
The Keeper for a Day program is available to anyone age 16 and older and will get you behind the scenes with many of the animals discussed here as well as others. You can choose from birds, felines, reptiles, elephants and even primates.
At a cost of $150, the five-hour program includes lunch, plenty of opportunity for interaction and of course, some work.
Proceeds from the program go to benefit Zoo Funds and the Keeper Conference Fund.
If you want to check out the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens, you can find it at 3755 U.S. 17-92 in Sanford. Tickets are $10.95; $6.95 for children ages 3-12. For more information, call 407-323-4450.
For more photos, check out my Facebook page.
"We're giving her a bath," she tells me as she gets Maude ready for her close-up.
And that's how it starts. Before you know it, I'm hosing down an
elephant, shoveling up her poop and feeding her something called monkey
chow, a mini treat that tastes like stale whole grain cereal. (Yes, I tasted it. They told me they do it all the time. Part of me still thinks they were playing a cruel joke.) After that its on to something a little smaller: Goober and Angel, the Alhambra tortoises.
Playful and friendly, Goober and Angel have been at the Central Florida Zoo for three years. Goober, the male, is actually famous in the tortoise community. He's the first Alhambra to reproduce in the Western Hemisphere back in the early '80s.
And five hundred pounds. That's what Goober weighs. I remember that vividly because it's all I could think about as the giant-shelled beast stood proudly on my foot. It took three of us
to politely coerce Goober to release my nicely flattened shoe.
And with that, we were on to the reptiles.
With the help of Nick Clark, the senior reptile keeper who sadly would not allow me to pet an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake, we would have the opportunity to hang out with
one of the rarest lizards on the planet, the Grand Cayman Blue Rock Iguana.
After feeding the reptile a nice salad of mixed greens and vegetables and raking the sand in his cage to perfection, its then that I'm told that a bite from the animal goes right to the
bone. (Thanks Nick, for the heads up.)
"He doesn't have teeth," Clark says. "He has a serrated gum that bites down and he shakes his head which creates a sawing motion."
After cleaning up some more poop, this time from the aforementioned Diamondbacks, we're off to finish up our day with a rare treat, a visit with Tipper Too, an 11-month-old two-toed
sloth.
"This is really very rare," says Kristin Cornell, a keeper who is quite
attached to the sloth. She and other keepers take turns raising the
animal, going as far as to take it home every night. "There are only a few sloth births every year and we were lucky enough to have one."
Tipper, who got her name from a beloved pet of the couple who won her naming rights at a zoo fundraiser, has become a celebrity in her own right. The sloth has appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and has even earned a paycheck as a painter. (Her art has been auctioned off at auctionnetwork.com.)
Cornell tells me I'm in luck and with the way this day has gone I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
In this case, it winded up being one of the highlights of my career, an opportunity to bottle-feed the rare animal.
As the day wore down, it was hard to not sit back and be amazed at the wonder of a place like this. An opportunity to get up close and personal with some of the planets most magnificent creatures is not something that should be easily taken for granted.
And while my experience will not be the same as the casual visitor,
it's not one that is out of reach. If this is the type of thing that
piques your interest, the zoo has got you covered. The Keeper for a Day program is available to anyone age 16 and older and will get you behind the scenes with many of the animals discussed here as well as others. You can choose from birds, felines, reptiles, elephants and even primates.
At a cost of $150, the five-hour program includes lunch, plenty of opportunity for interaction and of course, some work.
Proceeds from the program go to benefit Zoo Funds and the Keeper Conference Fund.
If you want to check out the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens, you can find it at 3755 U.S. 17-92 in Sanford. Tickets are $10.95; $6.95 for children ages 3-12. For more information, call 407-323-4450.
For more photos, check out my Facebook page.
Just wanted to say that you have the COOLEST job getting to do this assignment.
Tom,
If we ever have a position open, I think you're hired!
Thanks for coming out and spending the day as a Keeper. It's something we're proud to offer the community!
Thanks again,
Shonna
Central Florida Zoo