Seasonal Zoo Keeper - Nocturnal/Animal Interpreter - Central Zone

  About the Memphis Zoo

Today, the Memphis Zoo serves as a crown jewel for the city and is one of Memphis’ highest attended attractions. Our vision is to preserve wildlife through education, conservation and research. Our Team and Volunteers are dedicated to providing a naturalistic and enriching sanctuary for our animals, and a friendly, entertaining and educational experience for our guests. Together, we are building one of the world’s great zoos.

Summary:  This position is primarily responsible for daily husbandry of a collection of small mammals, birds, amphibians, invertebrates, and reptiles in the Animals of the Night and Ambassador Animal collection, with the possibility of assisting in the seasonal butterfly exhibit.

The Animals of the Night exhibit is a reverse light cycle building consisting of a variety of small mammals including aardvarks, agoutis, armadillos (three-banded, nine-banded, and six-banded), bats (bulldog bats, Egyptian Rousettus bats, Seba’s short-tailed bats, and vampire bats), binturong, bushbabies, genets, ringtail cats, kinkajous, pygmy slow lorises, naked mole rats, owl monkey, pottos, tamandua, and two-toed sloths.  The ambassador collection consists of a variety of small mammals, birds, amphibians, invertebrates, and reptiles including Virginia opossums, skunk, tenrec, toucan, kookaburra, Baird’s rat snake, Louisiana pine snake, prehensile tail skink, toads, tortoises, and Madagascar hissing cockroaches.   The butterfly exhibit consists of various species of butterflies housed in a walk-through aviary.

The ideal candidate would be proficient in all aspects of zoo animal care including husbandry, enrichment, training, exhibit maintenance, record keeping and keeper chats, as well as engaging guests to connect with the animals in both formal and informal settings. Candidates for this position should be self-motivated, excellent at time management, hard-working, positive, and dependable, who can work both independently and within a team setting.

Essential Job Functions

• Daily husbandry of assigned animals.
• Engaging the public in both formal and informal public presentations to provide a positive guest experience during regular zoo and during after-hours events.
• Actively observing animals’ behavior, checking for any signs of illness or disorder; reports irregularities and abnormal behavior to supervisor; works with vet staff to address medical needs.
• Preparing and administering appropriate daily diets and maintaining accurate records of assigned animals.
• Appropriately cleaning and disinfecting assigned animal enclosures/habitats according to written protocols and ensures a sanitary and safe environment.
• Assisting with husbandry in butterfly exhibit.
• Exercising good judgement when making decisions that affect our collection.
• Assisting hospital staff in all aspects of animal treatment within the assigned section.
• May incorporate modern behavioral husbandry techniques such as operant conditioning and environmental enrichment into animal care.

Minimum Requirements:

• A high school diploma.
• Some college-level coursework in the fields of Zoology, Biology, Psychology, or a related field.

Preferred Qualifications:  Previous experience with animal care and handling.

Competencies:

• Written and oral communication Proficiency
• Proficient in MS Office, current technology and applications for communication, research and record keeping.
• Records and reports creation and management
• Problem Solving/Analysis.
• Stress Management/Composure.
• Teamwork Orientation.

Supervisory Responsibility: None

Reporting Structure: Reports to Associate Curator.

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work: This is a seasonal position that works up to 40 hrs per week and regularly requires weekend work.  The position will not exceed 120 days.

Work Environment:  While performing the duties of this job, the employee frequently works in outside weather conditions. The employee is occasionally exposed to wet and/or humid conditions, fumes or airborne particles, chemicals and vibration.

Physical Demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand, walk, sit, talk and hear. The employee is constantly required to use hands and fingers to feel, handle or operate objects, tools, or controls; and reach with hands and arms. The employee is occasionally required to climb, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, crawl and walk. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, color vision, and the ability to adjust focus.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

​Other Duties: Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.