Last weekend, I visited the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium with the Biological Sciences Scholars Program. I had the opportunity to tour the health center and the manatee exhibit.

In the health center, I got to see where surgeries and examinations of the animals take place. It was fascinating to see pictures of how they adapt the rooms to handle the many types of animals that come in. My favorite part of the health center was that in addition to their position, each veterinarian is pursuing a research project to help animals in the wild all over the world. It opened my eyes to other types of research opportunities that exist as careers.

In the manatee exhibit, we got to see the exhibit from a zoo keeper’s point of view. In the back, we learned what types and how much food all the manatees and other animals in the exhibit eat. In addition, we learned that the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium rescues manatees with the intent to send them back into nature. They take extra care to make sure that the manatees grow and learn how to find food as they would in the wild. My favorite manatee was Stubby because although she can never be released, she takes care of the baby manatees that are rescued as if they were her own.