Having the backbone to be keeper for a day
by Vincent Ciccarello
Amanda Smith hadn’t counted on having to sweep up hay and zoo poo as part of her “keeper for a day” experience.
"Like the keeper said, ‘We don’t just feed them, we have to clean up after them, too’," she said.
But, at the end of her day behind the scenes at Adelaide Zoo as winner of the Raymond Dart Vertebrate Biology Skull Prize, Smith couldn’t have been happier.
"It was fantastic. The highlight was probably the squirrel monkeys because we got to feed them and they climbed all over us, and that was really great," she said.
The prize, awarded jointly by Adelaide Zoo and UniSA, is given to the student who prepared the best animal skull – sourcing, macerating, treating, preserving and labelling it – as part of the Uni’s vertebrate biology course. The second-year biology subject run by the School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences at City East’s Hetzel Building is the only one of its kind in SA.
Smith’s intricate potoroo skull will now form part of the zoology collection and, according to practical coordinator Shaun O’Sullivan, the Prize will be an annual feature.
"All of our students have been amazingly enthusiastic about the prize and probably all lifted their game 10 per cent trying to compete for it," O’Sullivan said.
Adelaide Zoo CEO Dr Chris West said the prize demonstrates the crossover of interest between an institution like the Zoo and UniSA.
"We’re about public awareness and education and conservation and zoological science, but we’re also a terrific resource," Dr West said.
"So, if people from a university like UniSA can make use of that resource, and we can help encourage really good people to pursue a career in a relevant science, then it’s winners all round."
A beaming Smith, who is a second-year Bachelor of Science (Education) student, said being a keeper for a day was an invaluable experience.
"I’m going to be a teacher, so being able to see what they do behind the scenes is really great, so that if I do bring students here I can explain further what’s going on."