We are the local chapter of the national organization of American Assoc. of ZooKeepers (AAZK, Inc.).
(95)
Please vote for this year's mpzAAZK's Bowling for Rhinos design in the BFR Artwork contest hosted by the American Association of Zoo Keepers!
Mesker Park Zoo AAZK's design is the 1st photo. You vote by clicking on the picture and liking it!
We have updated our booth ( #200) at His N Hers flea market, located at the corner of Diamond Ave & First Ave. You will find a wide selection of animal-related items. Proceeds will go to animals at the zoo & their wild counterparts.
Come visit us TODAY at the Summer Craft Show at Myriad Brewing! 8245 E High Pointe Dr, Newburgh, IN
Check out our unique offerings, such as keychains crafted from materials used by our beloved zoo animals, as well as bookmarks, ornaments featuring feathers, event t-shirts, and decorated ostrich eggs. If that's not enough, we also have some adorable magnets and laser etched animal photo ornaments. Don't miss out on these one-of-a-kind items.
*limited quantities
Event link for more details - https://facebook.com/events/s/summer-craft-show-at-myriad-br/846546370819156/
AUGUST 18th, come visit us at the Summer Craft Show at Myriad Brewing! 8245 E High Pointe Dr, Newburgh, IN
Check out our unique offerings, such as keychains crafted from materials used by our beloved zoo animals, as well as bookmarks, and ornaments featuring feathers. If that's not enough, we also have some adorable magnets and laser etched animal photo ornaments. Don't miss out on these one-of-a-kind items.
*Pictured items not guaranteed to be in stock, limited quantities
Event link for more details - https://facebook.com/events/s/summer-craft-show-at-myriad-br/846546370819156/
To celebrate National Zookeeper Week, our keepers (& AAZK members) had fun together. We fought each other at Foam Warriorz Evansville ; drank, ate, & played darts at Barker Brewhouse; helped Taylor Swift escape her closet at Escape Evansville; and feasted at the Annual Docent cookout lunch. **p
Zookeepers have stressful jobs that they love. It always helps to have hobbies to do in their off-time (even better when they have talent for the hobbies, too). Here's one of our keepers, on her afternoon off, beginning the process of decorating a new "habitat" that will be in front of our zoo soon.
Yep, mountains and mountains of p**p.
There are days when zookeepers take a shower in the communal bathroom at 10am & wear someone else's ill-fitting scrubs the rest of the day because one of your animals has gastrointestinal issues that ended up all over you.
Hay truck day. Three words that make every zookeeper cringe. Keepers physically deliver hay to animal barns, rotate hay stock, unload hay truck, repeat again every month or so.
To keep their animals physically and mentally stimulated, zookeepers provide them with a variety of enrichment every day. In these pictures, Rupert is enjoying a book called Rupert the Rhino read to him on his birthday, and Luna the crested porcupine enjoyed a tour of the zoo with her keeper.
Someone has to prepare the food that all the animals eat. At Mesker Park Zoo, there are two staffed zookeepers who run the commissary. This involves ordering the food; rotating stock; managing the grain room, freezer, cooler, bug room; along with actually preparing the diets a day ahead for over 120 animals.
Sometimes your miniature horse gets a bit chonky (yes, that's the scientific term), because he thoroughly enjoys eating. When this happens, zookeepers walk him all around the zoo every day. He's been everywhere. Inside buildings, to see the jaguar, the fish, the penguins, the ostrich, all the monkeys, the otters...but his favorite to visit are the giraffes & zebras.
Zookeepers train animals to perform a wide range of behaviors that allow them to cooperate as part of their daily routine, and participate voluntarily in their own medical care. By implementing proactive medical training, animals have already learned the skills that will help expedite their care when they get sick or injured. Zoos train animals for all sorts of medical procedures, such as blood draws, injections, and ultrasounds. Here is a blood draw using the tail while tiger is awake.
Zookeepers document everything: what the animal ate, didn't eat, p**ped, didn't p**p, what the p**p looked like, took the medication, didn't take the medication, weight, injuries, behavioral changes, sniffles or other illness symptoms, etc.
Zookeepers attend conferences, classes, workshops, etc to remain ahead of the evolving needs of the animals in their care.
Recycling is one of many things that zookeepers do every single day to help the environment. Human actions have had a profound effect on the environment, with dire implications for all animal species. Our activities, such as climate change, pollution, and destroying habitats, have significantly transformed the planet. Zookeepers understand that their role goes beyond just caring for animals in zoos, and they recognize the importance of aiding all animals, whether in their care or in the wild.
Oftentimes the apex predator that you work with catches wildlife that is dumb enough to enter her area. Occasionally this is a skunk. And sometimes the skunk is able to spray before its demise. Zookeepers frequently say "that smell you smell is me" when they run errands after work, but you just don't want to add skunk to the mix. Using items that we have in stock for other purposes, keeps us only smelling like sweat, p**p, urine, marmosets, giraffes, wolverines, otters, penguins, etc...
Like humans, sometimes animals don't want to take their medication. When this happens, zookeepers have to find creative ways to get the needed medicine into animals who can weigh several thousand pounds. Here, holes drilled into a high value treat (monkey biscuit) are a sneaky way to hide meds.
The most obvious daily job that zookeepers do is feed the animals. Some times, like with penguins and other birds, the keeper can be in close proximity. Oftentimes, the keeper is required to leave the food for the animal to find later while the animal is elsewhere -- such as with the jaguar and tiger.
Zookeepers create enrichment to ensure their animals are mentally and physically engaged, which is crucial for their well-being. Enrichment provides a way for animals to: reduce aggressive and fearful behavior, increase curiosity, become comfortable in their environment, and engage in natural behaviors.
Every day, zookeepers return the dishes that contained their animals' diets to the commissary. Beforehand they have to wash those dishes that held a wide variety of things such as fruits, vegetables, insects, raw meat, fish, etc.
Sometimes new animals are nervous and need help adjusting to their new home. They often need a bit more personal attention from their zookeepers until they adjust. [When it is species appropriate, free contact interaction is allowed.]
Throughout the warm months, zookeepers are able to feed browse (edible vegetation) that grows on zoo grounds every day. During winter months, this is only possible because our keepers (with help of groundskeepers) process and prepare the cuttings to be frozen earlier in the year. We freeze winged sumac, sweet gum, rose of sharon, bamboo, and certain flowers.
Zookeepers often work with other facilities besides their home zoo to help protect endangered species. Mesker Park Zoo partners with Purdue to raise and release hellbenders, an endangered salamander, into local rivers.
Delivering grain is one of many physically demanding tasks zookeepers do. Each of those grain bags weigh at least 40lbs. To show how many bags keepers might have to move, just our 2 giraffes eat 88 lbs of grain a week.
Keepers help build the "furniture" found inside each animal's habitat. They need to understand not only the requirements for the species, but for the individual animal that they are building for.
Zookeepers educate, not only the public, but each other, too.
1545 Mesker Park Drive
Evansville, IN
47720
| Monday | 9am - 5pm |
| Tuesday | 9am - 5pm |
| Wednesday | 9am - 5pm |
| Thursday | 9am - 5pm |
| Friday | 9am - 5pm |
| Saturday | 9am - 5pm |
| Sunday | 9am - 5pm |
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Mesker Park Zoo AAZK posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Send a message to Mesker Park Zoo AAZK:
Zookeepers have stressful jobs that they love. It always helps to have hobbies to do in their off-time (even better when they have talent for the hobbies, too). Here's one of our keepers, on her afternoon off, beginning the process of decorating a new "habitat" that will be in front of our zoo soon. #Artist #ZookeepersDoMoreThanShovelPoop #nzkw2024 #ImAKeeper #aazkcommunityconnections
THANK YOU to everyone who donated to and visited our rummage sale yesterday! Here's a video collage highlighting our most recent enrichment purchase: a boomer ball. It will eventually be used by many animals, from our camel, Wednesday, who currently has it, to our Sichuan takin and jaguar, to our future greater one-horned rhinoceros and Sumatran tiger. By the way, this video also highlights how we use everything, including the box, as enrichment. 📷 Keeper Amy & Docent Dee
18 years ago today, our spunky, beautiful jaguar Beliza was born at Stone Zoo in Massachusetts. Yesterday, keepers threw her a party that included a "cake" made by Keeper Nora out of frozen goats milk & (beef & turkey) gravy. She also received 2 new toys -- the new pickle getting all of her attention (it might be her favorite enrichment item ever). Here's a highlight video of our girl over the last decade plus. Happy birthday, Beliza! ❤ 📷🎥 Keepers Jackie, Loretta; Curator Misty; Guests Services Kristie; Docent Dee; Former MPZ Keepers Misti, Katelyn; Former MPZ Educator Kennedy #jaguar #bigcats #birthdaygirl #picklelover
This is Bill. Bill loves zoos. Bill hears it's going to be cold tomorrow. Bill runs to visit Mesker Park Zoo today. Be like Bill. #FunFact Because penguins have visibly short legs, a normal walking & running style would expend an incredible amount of energy. Waddling allows their muscles to do less work, and as a result, they use less energy. 🎥 Guests Services Alex R #BillSPrestonEsq #HumboldtPenguins
It's Rocco's 9th birthday today! Rocco is our adult male greater kudu antelope, located in the African panorama near the front of the zoo. Greater kudu and other antelope will rub their horns & forehead in mud, grasses, & bushes like in this compilation of pictures. These behaviors can serve many purposes, such as scent-marking and making them appear more formidable to both rival males and potential predators. It can also help increase their status with the "ladies." This afternoon should be a beautiful opportunity to visit Rocco & his herd on his birthday. 📷 Keeper Katrina
It's Squirrel Appreciation Day! While many wild squirrels do live in the trees of Mesker Park Zoo, we are here for another kind of "squirrel." Squirrel monkeys. We are home to three squirrel monkeys: Roxie, Apollo, & Dio. Squirrel monkeys are omnivores; their diet consists of fruits, leaves, insects, flowers, small vertebrates. Like humans, they are diurnal -- active during the day & sleep at night. They are a highly vocal species. If you listen closely to the video, you can hear them "chatting" with each other. Video: squirrel monkeys Roxie & Apollo working at a puzzle to get their food. 🎥 Keeper Jackie
Today is National Popcorn Day! A day celebrating popcorn wouldn't be complete without celebrating our binturong family of Anton, Vivvy, and twins Poppy & Pretzel, too! If you've ever been near our binturong habitat, then you know they smell like a movie theater. Binturongs owe their popcorn-like scent to a chemical compound in their urine. Like many animals, binturongs use urine as a way to mark territory and attract mates. Binturongs urinate in a squatting position, soaking their feet and tails in the process. They then drag their tails behind them to leave a scent trail. You can visit our binturongs in the Enchanted Forest; and when you do, maybe you’ll get a whiff of buttered popcorn. They will have outside access when real feel temps are above 32°F. 🎥 Docent Charlene
Today, Mesker Park Zoo's groundskeepers renovated our jaguar's habitat to ensure that it was safe for an aging jaguar. Beliza, who will soon be 18, is considered geriatric despite her spunky attitude. Her keeper collaborated with the grounds department to create a secure place for her to continue thriving as the beloved cat we all cherish.
We want to thank everyone who dropped coins into our wishing well this year! Each year, we donate every penny of that to conservation organizations to help save wildlife. This year, we sent $569 to AZA SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction) and $475 to Dogs 4 Wildlife. We also sent an additional $90 to Dogs 4 Wildlife to adopt two of their rhinoceros-protecting dogs, Indy & Dan. If you want more information on these programs, please follow the links: https://www.aza.org/aza-safe https://www.dogs4wildlife.org/ https://www.dogs4wildlife.org/adopt-a-dog/ https://www.dogs4wildlife.org/shop/#!/Support-Indy/p/453440399 https://www.dogs4wildlife.org/shop/#!/Support-Dan/p/469532537
Hope you had as nice a Christmas as our zoo animals did!
Jetsaan, our juvenile Sichuan takin, had fun butting heads with his Christmas tree. 🎥 Docent Charlene
A very happy Wednesday on Friday! You can visit our adorably goofy bactrian camel in the Asia section of the zoo.
Here's Juno, one of our North American river otters, playing with a shell. North American river otters are playful animals, engaging in activities like water play, mud/snow sliding, and snow burrowing. These behaviors serve important functions, including strengthening social bonds, practicing hunting skills, and scent marking. 🎥 Guests Services Kylee & Docent Dee
When there's only 1 deviled egg left and both you & your sister want it... Scarlet ibis are carnivorous birds and feed on aquatic insects, crustaceans, small fish, and reptiles. They use their long, pointed beaks to search for food in shallow waters and muddy regions. The vibrant red hue of the scarlet ibis comes from the carotene present in the crustaceans it feeds on. Our scarlet ibis flock can be found in Amazonia. 🎥 Docent Dee
Are you ready for some Thanksgiving turkey?! Zuko, one of our Asian brown tortoises, says he is! Asian brown tortoises are mainly herbivorous - eating mostly grasses, vegetables, leaves, seedlings, herbs, fruits, and fungi, although occasionally carrion, invertebrates, and amphibians are eaten. But probably not turkey. Remember that Mesker Park Zoo is open normal hours today, 9am - 4pm. Visit us before or after you eat 🦃🍗. Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving! 🎥 Keeper Katrina
When you finally get that really hard to reach itch.... Jetsan, our Sichuan takin kid, was just itching to scratch his itch and finally found the perfect "tool" to use. 🎥 Keeper Amy
THANK YOU to everyone who donated to and visited our rummage sales the last several years! Here's a video showing some of the enrichment items we have bought over the years because of these sales. See you in the Spring!
AtoZ Animal Care Specialists, Inc.
Owensville Road
