Brendan Lewis has been sitting in the dark and damp of a forest for six hours. He’s wrapped in bug netting, swarmed by mosquitoes, and waiting—and waiting—for wood turtles to make nests and lay eggs. Once they did, he would scoop them up and bring them back to the Zoo. Here they would incubate, hatch, and grow bigger. After a year’s head start on a healthy life, they’d be returned to this ideal turtle habitat the following June.
Brendan Lewis using telemetry to track wood turtles in the field.
Wood turtles are a threatened species in our state due to habitat loss, road kills, and predators. The Minnesota Zoo’s head-starting program is a critical part of increasing survival of juvenile turtles. The Zoo also partners with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to monitor wood turtle populations using telemetry and field surveys. The data collected will inform a habitat management plan to support wood turtle populations.
As he waited for nesting activity, Brendan found there to be one big benefit to being on a turtle’s timetable. It was six hours he could spend listening to and asking questions of his mentor Dr. Tricia Markle.
Brendan is an undergraduate studying human ecology, herpetology and wildlife at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. He traveled here to the Land of 10,000 lakes to deepen his studies of aquatics as an intern in the Conservation department of the Minnesota Zoo this summer. He works with Tricia Markle on wood turtles and Ben Minerich on freshwater mussel conservation.
Through conversation and connection with his mentors he’s seeing he can jump right into the work.
“Here [at the Zoo] I’m seeing how science actually gets done,” Brendan says. “And seeing it’s almost always what you can do, not what you know.”
“Conservation is the most important work to me. And I don’t need a PhD first in order to start doing science I really care about.”
As an intern, what’s Brendan learning to do—or do even better? Using radio telemetry to find what he describes as “tennis ball-sized turtles on a 12-acre site;” tagging and fitting turtles with tiny backpacks; cleaning and sterilizing tanks for turtle eggs and juveniles; plumbing complicated aquatic systems to raise zebra mussels in lab; and daily system checks of mussel-rearing containers in two lakes on the Zoo grounds.
Because at the Minnesota Zoo, interns don’t stand by as the science happens—their hands, feet, and minds are all in.
Supporting Pollinators in Peril
Three more students are devoted not to aquatic animals, but airborne ones. This summer, Bella Maiwurm, Katy Molina, and Amaya Thomas are helping to raise hundreds of endangered butterflies through their lifecycles, from egg to adult. Conservation biologists Dr. Erik Runquist and Cale Nordmeyer guide them in rearing and monitoring breeding of Dakota skipper and Poweshiek skipperling butterflies in a lab at the Zoo as part of the Pollinator Conservation Initiative. They nurture these critically endangered native butterflies during their delicate caterpillar stages, so they can be released as adults in native prairie habitat in Minnesota and Michigan—where hopefully they will thrive and repopulate in the wild.
Monitoring, recording data, and providing fresh food to hundreds of butterflies in early stage of development (not to mention the speed of breeding to egg-laying) means the interns are kept very busy.
“We started at end of May and jumped right in to work,” Bella says. “The work goes by so fast when it seems we have all lifecycle stages at once.”
Since she was in elementary school Bella knew she wanted to work with animals and is now an undergraduate studying animal ecology at Iowa State.
Butterfly interns Bella, Katy, and Amaya, along with Zoo biologist Cale Nordmeyer during field surveys.
During her summer at the Zoo working with invertebrate animals (that people might not associate with a Zoo), Bella was a little surprised to find “you kind of get attached.”
“I’m not fully converted to insects, but I’m very interested in continuing conservation work, and making an impact for species recovery.”
The three students memorized many butterflies’ tag numbers and, most especially, will always remember the Dakota skipper they nicknamed “Good Girl.” She’s the only one of her lineage to survive to adulthood. And the dozens of eggs Good Girl laid—and Bella, Katy and Amaya monitored—just may carry those genetics forward.
Katy is an international student and biology major at Wartburg College in Iowa. She grew up on a farm in El Salvador, and like her fellow interns, always knew she wanted a career with animals.
“I didn’t have experience with invertebrates but they [Erik and Cale] have made me part of the team,” Katy says. “I‘m constantly looking at the ground and identifying bugs now.”
“As an intern I was exposed to all the ways the science is challenging. That includes the protocols, the procedures—even the grant seeking!”
And she remains undaunted. While insects may not be her focus, Katy knows her future will be in conservation science.
Amaya is returning to the Zoo after interning last year. She’s coming back with butterfly experience under her belt and will use this summer’s work with critically endangered Poweshiek skipperlings for her undergraduate honors thesis at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities this year. She’s studying the Poweshiek’s egg-laying behavior, observing what plants they’re drawn to, and what that habitat characteristics might make their offspring more likely to reach adulthood.
“It’s very unusual for an undergrad to work with a federally listed species,” Amaya says. “[The staff] are so supportive, helping me brainstorm a huge list of research questions, and then honing them.”
And her mentors were also supportive in making Amaya one of them.
“I’m a full insect person now—they converted me!” she says. “This has opened my eyes to possibilities in conservation science and I’d love to remain in entomology.”
Equipping the Next Generation
All summer long at the Zoo, these students have put tools to use. Rudimentary tools like pencil and paper. Delicate implements like paintbrushes to move Poweshiek neonates that are smaller than a grain of rice. Highly technical tools like radio transmitters on those tiny turtle backpacks.
Amaya Thomas checking caterpillars at the Zoo’s hoop houses.
But in equipping them for their futures in conservation science, one tool stood out: questions. The interns said the culture of the Conservation department encourages deep and constant curiosity.
“They never treat my questions like dumb questions,” Bella says of her mentors. With wet feet in a river, among bubbling tanks of zebra mussels, hand-feeding caterpillars —or fueling up around the lunch table—the summer saw a steady stream of questions between interns and mentors.
“I always feel like I am learning from and useful to them,” Katy says. “They are patient teachers and encourage lots of practice.”
Dr. Seth Stapleton, the Zoo’s Director of Conservation and Research, wholeheartedly agrees that the interns are useful—even more so, they’re essential.
“Students are so important to making everything about our work go,” Seth says. “We would be in a tough situation without them. We’re so grateful for and thrilled with the quality and quantity of their work.”
For example, without interns and student workers, the Zoo could not raise nearly as many endangered butterflies for reintroduction in the wild. And with species at risk of extinction, every individual insect counts—and contributes to a survival success story.
Zoo staff shape the summer experience to give interns an intense, hands-on experience and help them get their foot in the door of conservation science.
“We want to make a well-rounded experience for the students and expose them to all aspects of the work,” Seth says. “And from them, we’re looking for excitement and enthusiasm for science and a willingness to learn.”
Interested in internships or student worker positions at the Minnesota Zoo? Opportunities will be posted here. These paid positions are made possible by support from the Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation and the Minnesota Zoo Foundation.