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In March last year, I began interning for Jersey Zoo’s Learning department. I loved it so much that I didn’t want to leave once my six months were up. So, I didn’t. I was one of the lucky interns who managed to get a job and stay on this incredible island. I’m now two months into being a Conservation Learning Officer and it’s as fun as it was a year ago. I can be delivering a talk about orangutans to over 50 school children one day and then be handling Madagascar hissing cockroaches and snake skins the next. Every day is different. My main role, however, is to help create and deliver many of the engagement initiatives and educational programmes that we offer at the zoo. This includes running touch tables with various animal artefacts, creating educational resources, delivering teaching sessions and writing the text for some of our signs.

One of the big projects I started developing as an intern and have been able to complete as a Learning Officer is the Orangutan Investigation Station. If you have ever wondered if you are as strong as an orangutan or been curious to know what their hair feels like or what their favourite fruit smells like, then the Investigation Station has all the answers. Alternatively, if, like most people, these thoughts have never crossed your mind, then the station is somewhere to discover something new.

Based in the Orangutan Longhouse, the Investigation Station is filled with things to touch, smell, hear and do, to learn more about our Sumatran orangutans and their habitat. You can even find out how you can help protect wild orangutans during your weekly food shop. 

My overall hope for the station is for it to be a fun, interactive hub for visitors of all ages to learn something new about this amazing species. I have been working at Durrell for less than a year, but I have heard so many stories about the zoo which have fascinated me. By having the station operated by our Learning Team and wonderful volunteers, I hope these stories can continue to be shared and amaze even more people. In turn, I hope visitors will leave feeling empowered to help support Durrell’s mission of saving species from extinction. That may be through consciously choosing products which use sustainable palm oil or just telling a friend about how special orangutans are. Either way, the more people we can connect with nature and inspire to take action, the better chance we have at protecting the natural world.