Zookeeper 101

Price: $250.00
Where: Franklin Park Zoo
When: See our registration page for upcoming dates.
Who: Youth ages 11 and up

In this one-on-one experience, you’ll work alongside our dedicated care team to help provide essential care and training of our animal ambassadors. Every day is different with our little critters, so you never know who you’ll meet, maybe our chinchilla pair, corn snakes, or even a pygmy falcon!

Start your experience with a zookeeper vest and personalized nametag, then venture behind the scenes to begin your assignments.

Hands-on activities

• Animal training session: A trusting partnership between animal and trainer is essential to our animals’ health and well-being. Learn how we use positive reinforcement in our training sessions to form and strengthen that bond.

• Diet prep: From kale to kibble, find out how we prepare balanced diets that are healthy and tasty.

• Animal Enrichment overview: It’s a zookeeper’s job to offer animals creative ways to interact with their environment. Does the animal stalk and chase its prey, burrow underground to hide, or forage for food? Find out how we use this information to design enrichment programs that stimulate the senses, and keep our animals on their toes, hooves, or claws!

Q&A

Be sure to save up all your questions for an exclusive Q&A with our care team.

Photo Op

Smile! Have your photo taken alongside an animal ambassador so your Zookeeper 101 experience will last a lifetime.

Behind-the-Scenes Tour

Last, but never least, your experience wraps up with a behind-the-scenes tour of an animal habitat. On this tour, you'll have the chance to meet one of our amazing animals here at the Zoo and learn about what goes into their care.