Zoo Negara #2

Day 2

Day after day, I feel like I have more to learn and love about the zoo. Today, I stared at a family of hippos in their enclosure for about half and hour and another half an hour at the savannah animals. Add twenty minutes to pandas and that sums up my day after 1pm til end of my shift at 4pm. You know what's adorable? The baby hippo was attempting to play with its father, biting on the father's mouth. Thr father then did some fancy mouth movement that made the water splash back at its young one. Not sure if it was out of annoyance, telling the kid to stop or amusement, entertaining the baby. :)

Day 2 was pretty casual for me as it's a Monday and it was the first day for a group of other interns. 15 from University of Sarawak (UniMAS), one from University Malaya and one from University of Terengganu. So i followed the group and had an orientation today and had the rest of the afternoon off until it was time to stamp off.

I am the odd one with only 1 month internship as the rest had 3 and it was compulsory for them to have a placement experience before they graduate. Dear monash, I'd wish I had better guidance in this. These students had thesis papers to write and probably had the chance to do more units than I did. All I had was: Animal Diversity and Animal Physiology. It is actually possible that I have more information crammed into one semester, but I doubt it would be any more than what these other interns were doing.

Everyone of the staff in Zoo Negara are like family. It's a really nice feeling to have. The supervisor was superb as she and her assistant sat down with me to have a conversation of my purpose here as an intern. As mentioned, my case was sort of different because I applied and came here for my own benefit in wanting to gain experience. But for the rest, it was a requirement for their course whilw mine wasn't. My supervisor asked me where I or what am I aiming for after this internship was done. Me being clueless, I told her: ultimately, get a job as a zookeeper in an Australian zoo. Then I proceeded in explaining my rough plan towards that goal.

It turns out that it was definitely not easy getting a chance to work with the zoos there. Reasons unknown, but she shared with me about how this had happened before in the past where about three students asked for recommendations/testimonials from her in regards to experiences. It was then that I realised how I had no idea what I was supposed to do after I graduated. Thank god for that urge in wanting to get a placement here at Zoo Negara!

She helped me plan my month, trying to make sure I had enough experience rotating between different sections. She was also very kind in wanting to give me extra holidays that I don't think I should have because of the short period of time. She and her assistant also urged me to have testimonials from them during my last week here as an intern so that I have something to bring with me afterwards.

Ahh. I don't know how to explain my feelings in words. It feels like words will not be enough to justify my thoughts about the zoo and everything in it!

 Honestly, the zoo has to go in a routinely manner because it is what and how the animals are trained and are used to. If things were to change, it had to be slow and subtle for in could stress the animal out otherwise. Mornings in the zoo are the liveliest times because this is when they are released from their cages at the back of the enclosures and they get to eat whatever that is being fed to them.

The spotted storks (not sure if I got it right, its the other stork that isn't milky at this zoo) were trained to listen to the lorry honk where it knows it will get to eat fish that is provided by the zookeepers. These storks roam freely in the zoo, so when the zookeeper is ready to feed them, they will honk a couple of times and you'll be able to see storks flying in from all over towards that one spot.

You'll normally see animals sleeping in the afternoon and I would say it's because of the weather and there isn't anything else for the animals to do. It's pretty sad, at least to me. Because these animals are kept in captive and live that sort of life. This could be argued though, that they are living the life because they have nothing to worry about. I would always look at the animals and wondered how I would feel if I were them. Honestly it calms me to know that the animals aren't living in cruelty of humans and they are in the hands of good people.

Passion for something doesn't come as you wish. It's just there in your heart and when you see it, you know that it is it. No matter what you do, it will be something that will drive you there regardless.

I love talking to the staffs here. Because I know that they love their job and that they truly care for their animals.

Normal people won't get it.

But we won't give up. The littlest information we can share with you, we will share it with joy.

HAHAHA. I fed carrots to a rhinoceros! I feel so lucky! I still can't believe it. The last special moment I had was when I was younger, I touched the back of a green turtle while it was swimming in the ocean. :D I fed giraffes too. But I paid for that. That's different though. Doesn't mean it didn't give me a tingling feeling afterwards. HEHE.

Ok. I need to stop babbling. Toodle loo!

Ps. The traffic to work and home is horrible. URGH.