Thanks to class on Friday, I think I really know what I would like to do my project about - the relationship of zookeepers/zooworkers with the animals that they care for. I've had so many different ideas for this project and had to choose something much more narrow or specific to study. As I was discussing my ideas with Holly and Heather I realized that what I really wanted to spend my time doing was being around animals and being around the people who worked with those animals. Voila, study their interactions and relationships! I'm going to do a mini version of what we did on Friday. Heather asked us three questions - what is our field project; how are we going to study it; and who are we going to work with in order to study it.
What - Study the relationship between zookeepers and zoo animals. What kinds of things do zookeepers do? Do they become attached to the animals they are working with? Do they give them personalities or try to keep things impersonal? Do they have much interaction with the animals? How do the animals respond to them, do they treat different zoo keepers differently, or show preference? How can I tell if the animals are doing that?
How - Shadow/interview the zoo keepers at the East London Zoo and/or Lion Park. Go with them throughout the day to see their routines.
Who - Zoo keepers and administrators and zoo animals.
I am really quite excited about this!!! I just hope that the zoo will let me do this stuff and that the zoo keepers won't mind me tagging along. I would really like to help them do their jobs. So that is the new direction of my project, I will now start looking in the literature for anything about zoo animal/worker relationships.
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