Animal Sciences Commons^™

Animal Care Observation Internship, Chandler Carr

Student Symposium

Zoos contain a wide variety of animals that each have idiosyncratic behavioral patterns, personalities and preferences. Unlike scientific literature, which tends to focus on the population, zoos take the wants and needs of individuals as priority. It would, thus, be beneficial for the zoo to have a detailed account of individual behavior throughout the day so the zoo knows how best to care for individuals. However, it is very likely that a few zookeepers watch over several animals at a time and have tasks to perform throughout the day. Watching and documenting specific behaviors at a specific time is a …