Notes from a Penguin Keeper

I Work With Animals! - Penguin Keeper

 
SeaWorld

by Daphne Sashin
May 4th 2010

What animal lover hasn't daydreamed about ditching their desk job and applying for a job at the zoo? Or at a doggy daycare? Or tracking gorillas in Africa? We sure have, but since most of us may never actually get to work with the animals we love, we thought we'd introduce you to a few people who do.

Name: Laura Dray
Age: 33
Job: Aviculturist/Penguin Keeper at SeaWorld Orlando

What education is required to be a penguin keeper?
I have a biology degree, but you can also do animal sciences or zoology. There's actually a zoo teaching school in Gainesville, Fla.

What qualities do you admire in penguins?
They have a great little personality. They're not graceful on land -- they're meant for swimming in the water -- so they'll do a little waddle and sometimes they'll do some tobogganing. They'll trip a lot too, so it's walk, walk, walk, and then right on their stomach.

Do the penguins ever come home with you?
We do bring them home as chicks if the parents aren't feeding them enough or if there aren't any foster penguin parents to raise the chicks. They're with us for about two weeks. Last year, I had a king penguin named Ludwig. He was three days old when I took him home. He had a single mom. We don't know who the dad was. We take them home because they need to be fed every three-and-a-half to four hours.

Why couldn't you identify the father?
Usually when the penguins pair up, you see both the male and female on the nest together. But all of a sudden, one day, she laid an egg and we never saw the male. He's in the exhibit but we didn't know who it was. So we labeled the parent as unknown.

Where does the penguin stay when it comes home with you?
In a brooder, which is basically a portable heating container to keep the bird warm. They would normally be sitting under the parents. The brooder can plug into our power outlets in the car and also plug into the power outlets at home.

How many different kind of penguins do you have at SeaWorld?
We have five species. We have penguins from Antarctica; the sub-Antarctic islands, which would be a little warmer; and then the temperate species. The temperate species are kept at 60 degrees.

Do penguins make good pets?
No, they would not make a good pet! You would have to keep them in a cooler environment and you would have to have a good fish source with nice, healthy ones. It's a lot of cleaning. And they're colonial animals, so they like a lot of birds around them.

You recently took two Magellanic penguins (the largest of the temperate species) to Atlanta for a series of TV and radio appearances. How do you fly with a penguin?
They're in a kennel on a seat. If it's an easy travel day for them, I'll take them out and let them walk down the aisle. It kind of just depends on the day and the birds.

What do they do in the hotel?
I keep them in the shower. The tile is cold and that's the easiest to clean. I can turn on the water and scrub everything down. They are pretty content staying in the room. I did have two juveniles when I traveled to Canada that were very rambunctious, so I would run them down the hallway. That was fun.
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