Happy World Nature Conservation Day! The education department wanted to give some updates on what they have been doing to include more conservation into the education programs offered at the zoo.
The mission statement for the Lehigh Valley Zoo’s education department is to provide the community with educational opportunities to learn about wildlife and to develop positive attitudes and curiosity about nature and conservation. In the first weeks of the Covid-19 lockdowns, March of 2020, the education department utilized that time to evaluate the programs offered and compare them to the department’s mission. After careful consideration, the department began the process to cut and redesign programs to ensure that each one fit into the mission. Over the past two years, the changes implemented in the education department have expanded the department’s conservation impact and brought us closer to our mission.
The first program to change was the onsite rental events. These programs include parties, weddings, and catered events run by the events team, both during and after zoo hours. The timeline for the education portion of these events is a one-hour mingle with three to four ambassador animals. Education staff stand behind a table and guests can walk up and meet the animal as they move around the event. The animals are changed out every fifteen minutes or as needed. These programs are not meant to be formal presentations but mingles with the guests for short periods. Since the amount of time spent with guests in these programs is shortened compared to our formal presentations, it was important to expand the conservation impact beyond the conservation messages presented during the program.
The education department decided that 20% of the profits from these mingles would be donated to a conservation organization related to the theme of the animal package. This would increase the conservation impact beyond the educational information given during these programs. There are three different animal packages that guests can choose from. The Rainforest Friends package includes the Linnaeus Two-Toed Sloth and three ambassador animals. This package donates to Smithsonian’s Bird-Friendly Project to help conserve rainforest habitats in South America. The Penguin and Feathered Friends package includes an African Black-Footed Penguin and three ambassador animals, usually birds if they are available for programs. This package donates to the African Penguin SAFE, impacting African Penguin conservation in South Africa. The last package is the Amazing Animal Ambassadors, which includes four of the ambassador animals, generally from the smaller ambassador birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrate populations. This package donates to Wildlife Alliance. This organization focuses on wildlife rescue and rainforest protection. The addition of these donations to rental events has helped promote reliable conservation organizations to the public and increased guest and zoo participation in conservation programs around the world.
Bean, the zoo’s Linnaeus Two-Toed Sloth, typically books up three months in advance for his weekend private encounters. As the most popular private encounter, this was the first encounter to get a revamp in its conservation messaging. Previously, the staff gave out rainforest alliance-certified coffee bean samples with every encounter. This helped spread the message of shade-grown, rainforest-friendly coffee. To continue with this conservation message to help protect rainforest habitats, the program was adapted to offer freshly brewed Bird Friendly Coffee samples and opportunities to purchase bags of Bird Friendly coffee beans with the encounter. This coffee comes from a new partnership with
a local coffee roaster, Calm Waters Coffee Roasters in Bristol, PA. Calm Waters Coffee Roasters recently underwent the certification process to roast Bird Friendly Coffee. The Smithsonian Bird Friendly Project certifies that coffee and cocoa bean farmers in South America are growing organic, shade-grown crops and that the roasters follow a specific process. This addition to sloth programs has engaged the guests with conservation that directly affects the animal they are learning about. Taking the extra steps of brewing coffee, supplying the coffee with encounters, and selling it in our nature store has helped make conservation for rainforest animals an accessible goal for many zoo guests.
In addition to education programs, the department prepares pop-up tables to educate about Bird-Friendly Coffee at the zoo’s daytime events. Education staff set up Bird Friendly Coffee sample stations and education tables to teach guests about the coffee and provide samples. These tables educate guests about how easy it is to aid in the conservation of the rainforest. The option to sample the coffee before purchasing has reassured guests of good quality and taste before making the purchase. The department has presented tables out in the zoo during World Migratory Bird Day, Endangered Species Day, and multiple Bean Days. The Bean Days are special meet and greet days for a limited amount of guests to have a short meet and greet with the Linneaus Two-Toed Sloth Bean. There has been a great turnout to these events, increasing the impact of the tables and broadening participation outside of paid education programs.
The Lehigh Valley Zoo’s Know Plastic campaign teaches the community about single-use plastics and has an online pledge for guests to sign and commit to limiting the amount of plastic they use each year. To help inspire that change, the education staff decided to work on a new 
behavior with the ambassador raccoon, Meeko. Meeko has been learning how to recycle by placing an old crumpled plastic bottle into a small recycle can. This behavior is a great way to get the community involved in learning about plastics and help Meeko express her natural behavior of using her front paws. Once the behavior is fully established, staff can begin to demonstrate the behavior during the training portion of Meeko’s private encounters. While the training process has been slow, guests have been able to periodically follow Meeko’s training with updates posted on social media as she has learned this behavior. She has inspired school students in the local community and even had a book jacket created about her to demonstrate the new and innovative ways to talk about climate change. While Meeko hasn’t finished learning the behavior yet, she is getting very close. The attention she has received from the community throughout her learning process has been inspiring to the education department and a great indicator that the direction the department is heading in will better engage the community.
The changes made to education programming at the Lehigh Valley Zoo have impacted the department’s involvement in conservation. It has elevated the staff 
beyond educating about conservation as they are active participants in it and lead guests to do the same. These changes have had a positive impact on both staff and guest experience during educational programming. Its provided staff with simple solutions for guests regarding complex conservation problems. By clarifying the messages, guests can feel less overwhelmed with the many different opportunities to try and participate in conservation. The education department is excited to look toward the future of programming as we continue to make changes to include more conservation in programs. With each successful conservation change made, the department continues to learn and develop new ideas to progress our work to lead the community in conservation actions.
Written by Dani DiMarco
Education Specialist
Lehigh Valley Zoo | Schnecksville, PA
Featured in Summer 2022 Ambassador Animal Scientific Advisory Group Newsletter
the zoo frequently and have always been interested in interning or volunteering. After I finished my freshman year of college, I had my first opportunity to intern with the education department this summer. The education department offers two types of internships, animal handling and interpretation. I was selected for the animal handling internship, which focuses on hands-on experience with ambassador animals and educating guests about them.
When we’re not doing AK’s, you can find interns in the exercise yard with one of the ambassador animals. Our exercise yard is a place for the ambassador animals to exercise and exhibit natural behaviors. It is a great place for interns to get extra practice on presenting an animal, but it is much less formal than an AK presentation. As guests are walking around the zoo, they can stop at our exercise yard to get some information on an animal they won’t see on exhibit. This interaction can be as short or as long as the guest would like. They can ask us any questions they have about the 
animal, or they can just take some time to watch the animal as they make their way around the yard. When I take one of the animals out to the exercise yard, I like to stick to fun facts versus the in-depth facts that we would typically share during an AK. As guests ask questions on the animal, I will then take time to answer their questions with the best answer I can provide based on my knowledge. In order for us to take animals out to the exercise yard, we have to make sure that it is above a certain temperature so we can make sure that it is the more ideal temperature for that animal. That is why you will only find ambassador animals in the yard during the warmer months, which are most ideal for our reptiles and mammals.
Throughout the day, you can also find interns giving animal chats during their feeding time. At scheduled times throughout the day, guests can experience watching the otter, lemurs, and penguins being fed. While our animal care team feeds the animals, you can find an education specialist or intern presenting information on that animal. These experiences allow our guests to get in-depth information on exhibit animals. Our animal chats touch on the same topics as our AK programs, bringing up the animals habitat, diet, predators, and adaptations. Differing from our AK’s, interns can give a chat on their own as soon as their outline is approved and they have watched an education specialist give that type of chat.
One of my favorite things that I get to do as an intern at the Lehigh Valley Zoo is work the giraffe feeds and spend time with Tatu and Joshua, our Masai Giraffes! There are many parts to a successful giraffe feed, such as checking guests in for tickets, going over rules, handing out lettuce, and keeping our giraffe’s focus while switching from one group to another. As interns, we are the ones on the giraffe deck keeping the boys focused and engaged during the feed. We are responsible for making sure that Joshua and Tatu are in their correct stations for feeding, enforcing the rules for our guests to keep them and our giraffes safe, and feeding the boys some “giraffe cereal” to help them keep their focus and encourage them to participate for the entire feeding. Guests are free to ask as many questions as they like about our giraffes during feedings since everyone that works the giraffe feed has to know some basic information about our giraffes.
This week across the nation people and animals have been celebrating those brave souls that have chosen to work in the zookeeping field. National Zookeeper Appreciation Week is a chance for people to show a little extra appreciation for the challenging work zookeepers do every day. In honor of that, I wanted to take a little closer look at why on earth anyone would want to be a zookeeper.
You don’t mind a one-sided relationship. Let’s be honest, even though we like to think our animals love us as dearly as we love them, unfortunately, animals don’t process human emotions. So sometimes they are a little less appreciative of all our hard work than we would like them to be. Basically, don’t be expecting a thank you at the end of the day for completing all the housework.
You secretly wish you were an extremophile, meaning you enjoy extreme living conditions. Feels like the sun is going to burn your flesh off? You throw on some sunscreen and whistle on your way out the door. Seems cold enough that your toes might fall off? You get excited about a chance to try out your new mukluks. Despite the weather, every day is a walk in the park… or the zoo.
At the end of a long day (one of those magical days where everything went at least moderately well and worked out in the end), it can be very satisfying to look back at all the hard work you did and to feel like you made a difference in the lives of the animals you work with. The work is often very physically and mentally demanding. So when you feel proud of the work you did and feel like you are helping your animals live their best lives, it is a very gratifying experience.
Because you aren’t here for the money, chances are you love your job and that your coworkers do too. This really has an important impact on your work environment and the relationships you have with your coworkers. When you all are working toward the same goals and all want what is best for the animals in your care, it changes how you work together. Zookeepers are often some of the most passionate, nerdy, hardworking people you will ever meet (even if quite a few of them might be introverts).
