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Student Spotlights

Leah Smith: Biodiversity & Conservation

Leah interned for Jacksonville Zoo as a research and wellness intern during Spring/Summer 2022.

Describe a day in your life as an intern.

I'd get to the office around 9am and grab an ipad and some binoculars. I was usually assigned to nine observations a day (three in the morning, three at midday, and three in the afternoon). Most of my time was filled by doing those observations, which were all on different animals. They included walking around the zoo to the various exhibits where the animals were, watching their behavior, and documenting it on an ethogram. When I had free time, I would do computer work such as creating ethograms for new projects or doing research on animal behaviors of the species I was responsible for. I also liked to spend time walking around the zoo and visiting the animals I was particularly fond of.

What industry/job specific skills did you learn?

I learned how to research better, how to create an ethogram, how to start a project, how to use ZooMonitor and BORIS, how to use procreate to make habitat maps, how to conduct observations, and more.

What is one thing you learned from this internship experience that could be applied to other settings?

I learned how to better communicate with supervisors and team members. The only way to get things done is to make sure they are talked about, so good communication is a necessity.

What was your favorite part of your internship experience?

Getting to spend so much time with animals from all over the world.

How did this internship experience affect your future goals?

I didn't have any career plans before this internship, but now I could see myself doing animal behavior research in the future or working at a zoo long-term.

How did this internship experience contribute to your growth?

I learned to be more confident in myself when it comes to data collection and scientific methods, and that I am capable of making a difference, even in a small way.

This is a photo of Sampson, our male, white-bellied bustard. I was the head of a project on him and his interactions with the guests, who antagonize him often in an attempt to get him to use his loud alarm call. I observed him 3 times a day, keeping track of his movements, behaviors, location, stereotypic behaviors, and agonistic behaviors exhibited by the guests. The Wellness team is continuing the project even after I left, in hopes of getting enough data to petition for a sign to be put up in front of his exhibit to encourage guests to be quiet and respectful around him.
This is a map of the lion exhibit I created as part of my personal project. Each intern gets to start their own project at the zoo and I decided to observe the behaviors of the lions, specifically their social behaviors with each other. The project included researching lion behavior, creating my own ethogram, drawing a map of their exhibit so I could plot location, putting all of that onto the ZooMonitor software, learning to identify the four lions by name, and conducting observations.