Animal Behaviour Research in Zoos

My journey as a zoo keeper began with a placement at the Wildlife Heritage Foundation (now The Big Cat Sanctuary), a three week work experience placement for University, after which I carried on volunteering two days a week. Duties included: feeding, enclosure upkeep, enrichment making, administering medication, leading guided walks, giving talks to guests. I was also involved in building a new leopard enclosure and even did a skydive to raise funds for a new clouded leopard enclosure.

After a year and a half, I wanted to expand my knowledge beyond big cats and so I started volunteering at Paradise Wildlife Park (now Hertfordshire Zoo). Here I was involved in working within the Primate & Reptile; Small Mammal; Big Cats & Carnivores; and Bird Teams.  Two behavioural studies were undertaken here, one on ocelot behaviour and enrichment use; one on pygmy marmosets and their dietary preferences in captivity.  Other duties beyond my research included: cleaning enclosures, food preparation, administering medication and making enrichment.

I undertook my Bachelors degree dissertation research at ZSL London Zoo on a mixed species troop of primates within the Rainforest Life enclosure. The troop was formed of emperor tamarins; golden headed lion tamarins; and red titi monkeys. The enclosure also contained a three toed sloth; tamandua in addition to several bird species. I was looking into the interspecific and intraspecific behaviours between the individual animals in addition to comparing differences between species and their use of the enclosure space.