FNR Field Report: Andrew Reyes

Throughout the fall, Purdue FNR will catch up with students, faculty and staff about their summer experiences from jobs and internships to study abroad and research trips in the FNR Field Reports series.

Senior wildlife major Andrew Reyes spent his summer as an animal care intern at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago after seeking out the internship through the zoo’s website.

In that role, he worked 40 hours a week prepping animal diets and feeding animals daily as well as performing advanced husbandry and medical treatment and care duties daily. He also monitored behavior and got to know each animal on a personality-based level to understand their habits and a typical day. Andrew also created, executed and presented a research project aimed at understanding the guest experience when attending zoo chats and suggesting different changes to be implemented to increase guest satisfaction. He was even asked back to present his findings to the zoo’s board of directors.

“Not only did I learn what it is like to work in such a fast-paced and evolving environment such as a zoo, but I was also able to learn so much about animal behavior, all the way down to an individual level,” the Valparaiso, Indiana, native said. “I was able to polish skills working with guests and understand explain natural histories and conservation-based information with guests in informal zoo chats nearly daily. The knowledge of population dynamics and ecology as well as animal life histories I learned in FNR were very beneficial when communicating with guests.”

While the work was challenging at times, Andrew said his colleagues made it a perfect work environment for him.

“The work could be absolutely back breaking,” Reyes said. “We filled about six large trash cans a day with wet shavings and feces, sometimes in 100+ degree heat, but this was a daily operation and was necessary no matter how hot it was.

“What stood out to me the most was the people I got to work with. The team was a very well-oiled machine that worked as a true team and even a group of friends. Our team was composed of three main zookeepers: one lead keeper, a director and me. I was treated as everyone's equals when it came to meetings and sharing opinions on different choices we had to make regarding animal care, but I was also taught so much and mentored. The ability to learn while also having the freedom to work independently, eventually doing my last two days on my own only with supervision, created the perfect environment to shape me for my future.”

Andrew developed relationships with the animals he worked with throughout the summer.

“I loved hearing random things the guests would say, but that was nothing compared to the interactions I got to share with my animals. Every animal under my care had a name and individual personality. My four favorite animals to work with were: Will, our male okapi; Mortimer, one of our red billed hornbills; Rod, our Congo peafowl; and Stix, or as I called him Stickers, our red river hog. Will was a cute boy, who walked around with the tip of his tongue sticking out like an emoticon and drooling everywhere. Mortimer was amazing at catching bugs I threw in the air. I worked hard to form a relationship with him eventually allowing him to trust me to take bugs out of my hand. Rod was a very vocal guy who would follow me around, clucking at me requesting food as I cleaned his large enclosure. Stix was a very smart boy who knew that if he did not come inside on his own it meant we would toss treats to entice him in. He also had a very lumpy face which was so adorable because of his tusks that males have.” 

The summer internship at the zoo was not Andrew’s first natural resources related experience as he spent four years working as a counselor at Cub Creek Science Camp in Missouri, working his way up from a junior counselor to a leadership role in charge of the animal specialist in training program. He now acts as a campus ambassador for the camp.

This fall, Andrew will be attending the national Wildlife Society Conference in Des Moines, Iowa.

In addition to his studies in FNR, Andrew is a part of Purdue’s improv comedy troupe, The Crazy Monkeys, for seven semesters. The group performs show monthly to crowds from 400 to 1,100 students.