Science Teacher Won't 'Forget' Zoo Experience

Science teacher Leah Mucciarone won't soon "forget" her summer experience at the Smithsonian National Zoo working with the Asian elephant population. 

Leah was a research assistant for an Asian elephant behavior and cognition study at the Washington, D.C., zoo. She was employed full time for a month, working closely with the keepers and other researchers to design and carry out puzzles for the elephants to solve. She explained that data was extracted from video-recorded experimental trials in order to give the elephants a personality score.

“This study I participated in will apply the findings of captive elephant cognition to wild elephants and which elephants are more likely to participate in crop raiding activities,” she said.

Leah said she made observations of the six female Asian elephants at the zoo, but one in particular, named Shanthi, was of “special interest” to her.

“A new methodology used to treat arthritis in horses called IRAP was utilized on Shanthi for the first time last summer. This was a very involved procedure with multiple veterinarians, including one that works regularly in the equine field. Shanthi was well trained to stand with both her front feet in buckets of Epson salt for her soaks and put her foot up on the enclosure when directed for the keepers and vets to take a closer look,” observed Leah.

Leah further noted that Shanthi had a habit of carrying a tire around with her everywhere she went!