Skip to Main Content

Ensuring healthy diets for zoo-housed gorillas

Global Field Program (GFP) graduate student and zookeeper Stephanie Hurst of Buffalo, New York, was published in Animal Keepers' Forum, a publication of the American Association of Zoo Keepers.

Ensuring healthy diets for zoo-housed gorillas

 

Stephanie Hurst

Global Field Program (GFP) graduate student and zookeeper Stephanie Hurst of Buffalo, New York, was published in Animal Keepers' Forum, a publication of the American Association of Zoo Keepers (AAZK). In "Does Altering a Gorilla’s Diet Alter Their Activity Budget? A Preliminary Study" she evaluates if changing the long-standing diet of a troop of zoo-housed gorillas impacts their behaviors. Since most behaviors did not change, Hurst would like to explore more diet presentation and timing or randomizing times going forward.

As a student in Miami's biology department, Hurst is earning a Master of Arts (M.A.) in Biology through Project Dragonfly's GFP while working as a zookeeper at Buffalo Zoo.