A day in the life of poo girl

So, you may be wondering – what is this new job all about, and is it really so wonderful that it’s worth moving 6 hours away from Ben? (Actually I’m still wondering that last part myself…) One of the main missions of Western Plains Zoo is to establish captive breeding populations of some of the world’s most endangered species. The problem is that most of these species don’t particularly like to breed in captivity, so they need a little monitoring and a little help. To facilitate whole breeding process, they hired Tamara Keeley as the reproductive biologist 4 years ago. Tamara decided it would be a good idea to add a PhD to the requirements of a full-time job, and after 3 years of juggling both, she’s decided to take 6 months off to focus on the PhD. That’s where I come in.

So for the next 6 months, I’ll be taking her place - monitoring hormone profiles of several different species with the primary objective of figuring out who is ready to mate and whether or not it worked. And yes, for the most part, the words “monitoring hormone profiles” can be replaced with the words “playing with poo.” I won’t be doing any sperm of egg stuff, but hopefully I’ll learn some more about it.

AND, I have a uniform. This may not sound thrilling to you, but I’m pretty happy about it, because 1) I don’t have to go shopping, 2) they pay for my clothes rather than me paying for my clothes, 3) I don’t need to think about what to wear in the morning, 4) it’s not a big deal when I get poo all over my clothes, and 5) they give you a weekly allowance to clean your uniform. How good of a deal is that!!