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Working with a bunch of apes

By Kate Kowsh

September 11, 2006

San Diego--When faced with the choice of trying to relate with wild animals or with the public, Yvette Kemp opted for the beasts. She says they’re easier to deal with.

As a zookeeper for the San Diego Zoo, Kemp’s spent the past 10 years working with animals. Currently, she works in the hospital, caring for whichever of the zoo’s 4,000 animals come into the quarantine or to the hospital. “The duties of a mammal keeper are things like observation, cleaning, feeding, setting up exhibits, making diets and administering medication--things like that,” Kemp explained.

Kemp talks to the animals in the same way she would talk to a human being. “Not everybody does this but, me, you know I just have conversations with them,” she explained. “They get to know you and they feel secure when they hear your voice. You can say a lot of silly things to them and I think they like it.”

In an effort to document some of the daily interactions she shared with the apes, Kemp kept a web log, which is posted on the San Diego Zoo’s Web site, www.sandiegozoo.org. In a recent post, Kemp wrote:

Every morning the siamangs receive their breakfast after the orangutans. Eloise loves to eat, so I make sure to give her a piece of fruit first, and then I let Hitam pick her own fruit out of the paper bag of mixed fruits and biscuits I have prepared for them. Once those two are settled, I give Unkie his whole share of the breakfast. Meanwhile, Hitam is yelling at me that she is ready for another piece of fruit; I hand her a banana piece, which mom promptly snatches from her hand. It’s everyone for themselves here!

Kemp says it’s easy to tell what the animals are thinking by their non-verbal responses. “They make a lot of gestures, they laugh, she explained. “You can tell when they’re upset or when they’re throwing a tantrum--just like people.”

In the same childish, namby pambyish way that humans let others know that they’re upset—stomping—Kemp says the apes make a good showing of just how pissed off they are.

Last March, when one of the zoo’s gorillas gave birth to a baby, Kemp said the gorilla’s three year-old son started going bananas. “You could see him clearly throwing a tantrum, just like a kid would with a new baby in the family,” she said. “He’s not getting all the attention anymore.”

Still, tantrums, pooh throwing and all, Kemp says she wouldn’t trade her job for the world. “With animals, you know exactly what they want. You can read them pretty well,” she said. “You know if they’re gonna try and be a little mischievous—they have that look, you know, like maybe they’re gonna squirt something at you.”

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