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.
