10 things you NEED to be a ZOOKEEPER

[Music] 10 things you need to be a zookeeper just before we start i would like to apologize for this rogue bit of hair on top of my head i only noticed it once i started editing this film hey ho also please consider hitting the subscribe button it's completely free for you to do and i'd love to try and hit 100 subscribers by the end of the month anyway let's get on with the video number one you need to have a passion for animals there's no way that you can work with animals and not like animals it just doesn't make sense mainly because you're spending most of your day with them zookeepers and in zoos can work anywhere in between eight to 12 hours a day so very very long days in fact actually we spend more time with animals than we do with our own family um so if you don't like animals then zookeeping is definitely not one for you obviously you're going to be working really really closely with them you're going to be cleaning up after them you're going to be making their food for them providing them with water and all the essentials that they need to be able to live but not only that you're going to be educating people on animals and how they can be saved in the wild and the best way you can educate people is through showing your passion that you have for the job number two intelligence you need to be really really smart to be a zookeeper and not many people realize that a lot of time they just think oh you're just shoveling poo or you're just cleaning up after things you're sweeping things you're painting things you don't need to be smart to do that but that is completely false so when i say intelligence i don't just mean being really really smart being good at math being good at science you do need that especially if you're working out how much medication to give an animal from converting it from mixed meals when your vet gives you it definitely need to be able to do that yes we have to do all of those things but we've also got a note about all of the anatomy of the individual animals that we are working with no animals are the same so you've gotta know the individual animals and the individual species their anatomy their physiology their biology the psychology that they have as well you need to know the natural history of that animal what are they likely to do in certain situations and then use that to ensure that you can provide them with the best life whilst they're in captivity but also help you in looking after them as well not only that we need to know what they eat what's best for them what do they need in their diet for them to have either really really nice feathers or really nice coats make sure everything's growing the way it should be make sure everything's happening inside them the way it should be but also just being intelligent with how you behave around the animals what you're doing how you behave around people do you have to be the smartest person in the world no but you need i would say common sense but a lot of time common sense is the worst thing that you can have when you're in zookeeping because the thing that most people do is completely the wrong thing to do a lot of times when it comes to looking after animals if you are enjoying the video then please carry on watching to the end but also in that eye up there there is more zookeeping videos about animals and with animals that you may want to check out as well number three a sense of humor you need a sense of humor when you're working with this job because i cannot tell you how many situations you get into where if you don't laugh you'll probably cry so laughing has to be a key element of the job you'll end up with poo on your face you'll end up with food on your face you'll fall over things in this job you're often climbing over things to get to an area to be outside put a bit of enrichment up to clean there to you know go and check the animal whatever it may be you're gonna fall off every now and again you're gonna trip over things every now and again and if you don't laugh like i said you will cry and you have to laugh an awful lot of the time number four not just accepting that you're going to be working with pooh but liking it and somewhat loving it as well poop wonderful poop have you hit the like button yet if not then why not let's see if we can get 15 likes on this video as a zookeeper this is something that you're gonna have to learn to love the reason why you're gonna have to learn to love it it's solely for the fact that actually all animals do it you have to clean it to get rid of it to make sure that your animals are in a nice clean safe area but not only that actually examining an animal's poo is sometimes the best and most efficient way to be able to detect if the animal is well if it's eating its food properly if it's digesting its food properly and also we have to send samples of the clue off not only just to test for things like parasites but also you can be using it to be able to test for hormonal things and whether or not an animal is in season as well and if it's ready for breeding so actually like i said i'm not just gonna like put gotta love it [Music] that's some good five we'll make you get down now being creative being creative is a another massively important thing when it comes to being a zookeeper and this is because you know things will break when you go to use them or things won't quite go according to plan so sometimes you have to use your creativity to be able to change this this isn't just honesty if things break and stuff this could be for making toys and enrichment that the animals enjoy as well but also it's using what you have on you at that time to maybe fix a problem in a bad situation i cannot tell you how many times a radio has become my most handy tool finding creative ways to not only motivate your team but motivate your animals like i said making toys in richmond being creative as possible with all of this stuff is really really key to ensuring a nice healthy lifestyle for yourselves and for the animals that you work with as well variety is the spice of life and you can only be as varied as what your creativity allows you to be padlock won't shut well use your radio nail sticking out on a planter use your radio work colleague really annoying you use your radio six just have a little patience you're still banging on the window why i asked you to not things don't happen overnight it don't just happen straight now you need a lot of patience when you're working with animals because animals are very quick at learning things very very quickly things but also again animals have lots of natural instincts and sometimes those natural instincts can override everything that they learn i don't just mean with the animals this can be with people that you're working with i think patience is a key thing in life but people that you're working with they might not understand exactly what you're saying straight away so you need to have patience with that and then also the public you need a lot of patience with public public i love the public public are super important for zoos for us to be able to make money to be able to look after the animals as well as we do and to raise money for conservation but my word some public can take the mickey sometimes with what they do dealing with their terrible jokes as well look at that strange looking animal that's a lesser spotted human [Laughter] number seven people skills as a zookeeper you cannot do it all on your own you need to be able to work with other people to ensure that you're providing the best care for the animals there's gonna be days when you're not there so you need those people to be as good as you are with doing stuff to make sure the animals are getting the best care and enrichment and anything else that they need as possible but you do sometimes have to deal with difficult people we all know people can be difficult and dealing with that in a sensible and a good way is one of the best ways to make sure that people have a fun day but your animals are still respected as well not just for telling people off but for passing your message across the whole reason why we're there is we're trying to not only provide the animals with the best life we possibly can that are in captivity but also educate people on how they can save these animals and a reason why they should care about these animals so being able to have good people skills and tell people all about that is going to make it a lot easier and a lot better for you explaining this to them and make sure that people go home with that message of how can i make a difference to save these animals out in the world because we really do need to save these animals out in the wild before it's too late number eight a decent pair of boots i resented the idea of spending lots of money on clothes and equipment for work until i realized that hold on i'm spending most of my life at work 60 hours a week sometimes so actually investing money into decent things to wear at work was a lot more beneficial to me my word am i glad i did it i was getting home i was having blisters on my feet and i was also getting back pain and it suddenly occurred to me that this just that just does not make sense so i've finally invested in a decent pair of walking boots uh and also a decent pair of mukboo wellies as well for when it's a bit wetter i've had a pair of mug boots for about two years without anything going wrong with them and so actually that was money very very well spent also i just liked that i'm not sponsored by mukboot in any way shape or form but if they are watching this they want to sponsor me also you want to make sure that what you've got on your feet is actually going to be supportive when you have to all of a sudden run to the other side of the zoo for for unknown reasons or puddle for unknown reasons yeah if you've got a run somewhere or climb up something you want to make sure that your footwear is suitable to help you out with doing that as well number nine you need to be strong-minded and strong-willed you need to carry on when things don't go quite right and things will sometimes not go right no matter how much training you do with the animals there'll be times where it doesn't go right so you need that patience which we said earlier and you need a strong will and a strong mind to be able to persevere and carry on with what you're doing not only that we work with animals we work with living creatures and that does mean that they will die it's sad it's not something any of us enjoy not something any of us want to experience but you work with animals some that only live for very short periods of time some which live for a long period of time but may have been in the zoo for ages and are old and when these animals die it is really sad like i said we devote most of our time to these animals and everything that we do with them so you need to be really really strong-minded and strong-willed to carry on with your job because it can knock your confidence quite a lot when an animal passes away it does make you very sad but you need to remember you could have 30 40 50 maybe even 60 other animals are still alive you need to look after and work and deal with for the rest of the day and make sure that they are okay and getting the best life possible 10. nobody really wants to hear experience working with animals is not a textbook thing you can learn lots from a textbook you can learn lots from the internet you can learn lots from anywhere from anyone but looking after animals is truly a experienced thing you learn from your mistakes you learn from other people's mistakes you learn from what works and you learn from what other people do that works physically actually managing and going and looking after these animals and working with people that have been there and done it all before is the best way to get the experience to be able to become a zookeeper you will not find a single zookeeper in the world that didn't volunteer at some point most if not all zoos love having volunteers volunteers are amazing they they help us with absolutely everything and you know what our job would be a lot harder if we didn't have those volunteers i used to volunteer i did work experience you know there's internships where people volunteer you know there is so many ways you can gain experience to be able to get into this industry and you have to do it there is no way that you can go to your university do your zoology degree or your biology degree and then just be like yeah i'm a zookeeper now it won't happen you need experience and the only way you can get experience is through volunteering and you know what volunteering is awesome you get to do so many amazing things with the animals that you would never expect to be able to do as a volunteer you just need to go to the right places and also like i said the zookeepers we love volunteers we love the help and we love nothing more than telling people about what we know and helping and showing people what we know so we know that in the future when there's when we're not around and there's other people now looking after these animals they're doing it in the best possible way they can thank you for tuning in to zookeeper on tom join us again next time when we'll see more animals and we'll do more stuff if you did make it all the way to the end of this video then a huge thank you for watching if you haven't do subscribe to the channel as it really does help us out and there is plenty of more animal videos and zookeeping videos that you may enjoy on there as well

Channel: Zookeeper Tom

Views: 2,528

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: top 10 things to be a zookeeper, day in the life of a Zookeeper, top 10 thigns to be a zookeeper, Top 10 animals, top 10 animals at the zoo, Zoo, top 10 list, top ten list, things you need, working with animals, strong mind, how to become a zookeeper, zookeeper job, how to be a zookeeper, how to, how to work with animals without a degree, working with animals skills, 10 things, zoology rick, career advice, top 10 animals you didnt know existed, when i grow up, become a vet

Id: QKQHAMuFEng

Length: 13min 45sec (825 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 04 2021