00:00Al Ain Zoo, which was founded 50 years ago in 1968 by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan
00:12Al Nahyan, is home to over 3,500 animals.
00:16These animals spend their days with skilled trainers who work day in and day out to teach
00:21them special tricks and moves.
00:23I'm a senior animal keeper in the carnivore section.
00:27Working in the zoo has always been a dream for me because I literally grew up with animals.
00:34And I've been surrounding with animals at home, like of course they were pets, until
00:40I grew up a bit and I had some wild animals and then I discovered and I knew that it's
00:48like it's wrong to have wild animals at home.
00:51So I decided to send them to conservation areas and when I reached like the proper age
00:56to actually work, like to get a job, I joined the zoo.
01:00I do the keeper talk here in the zoo.
01:04What is the keeper talk?
01:05It's like every keeper of every section have to talk about their animals.
01:09So I get to do the cheetah talk here.
01:11So once we had like the cheetah talk here, I normally like get one cheetah with me to
01:17do the talk.
01:19And the others are like spreading around the exhibit.
01:21So one day the three of them were actually with me, sitting like right next to me.
01:27It wasn't planned.
01:28They just decided that they will be part of the talk today.
01:31So they sat there and while I was moving, like moving around the exhibit, they were
01:36just chasing me around, the three of them.
01:38It's like they were knowing what am I, what am I saying about them, you know?
01:42And when I was like, I was describing about the spots and the tail and their face, like
01:46how can you distinguish them from cheetahs to leopards?
01:50So like, it feels like they understood what I was saying.
01:54The zoo is also home to hundreds of bird species, including eagles, owls and even penguins.
02:00Here in the UAE, as you know, we know only falcons.
02:04We don't know these birds, owls, eagles, vultures.
02:07So when I came here, I had the same thought that I will only train falcons, for example.
02:15But I found eagles and vultures.
02:19So I was kind of surprised.
02:22I was scared a little bit in the beginning, but then I got used to it.
02:27I had like a little bit of information about birds, but I needed more.
02:32So here in the zoo, they gave us education and more.
02:38We have two periods of like pressure in the morning and in the end of the duty.
02:46In the morning, we weigh the birds and we clean the cages.
02:52And in the end of the duty, we have the bird show.
02:56So I prefer the bird show.
02:58The zoo gave us two owls, small owls like this one, the desert eagle owl.
03:03And me and one of my colleagues started to train these owls.
03:07He got one and I got the other one.
03:09And then he went for an annual leave for like one month and a half.
03:14So I had to train both of them.
03:17His owl didn't like me in the beginning, like maybe for two weeks.
03:23And I had a difficult, difficult time to train her.
03:27And then she got used to me.
03:29And sometimes she was like attacking me all the time.
03:32She doesn't eat from me, like, so yeah.
03:38And then now she's, she's fine.
03:40She's one of the best owls now we have here.
03:42The Royal Ane Zoo recreates a natural habitat for animals to live freely.
03:47It also provides interesting experiences in a natural outdoor environment.
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