So they bumped me up and it was, I find, when I look back on my career in those early years, it was an amazing period personally for me because I advanced so rapidly into so many different positions and a lot of it caused some controversy, but I mean,… Read More
How did these two groups, these different cultures, how they work together, any problems?… Read More
Well, now, you’re talking about that you held these six different positions at the National Zoo, did you ever think about leaving the zoo, go to somewhere else?… Read More
Well, yes and no. I mean, there were a of times that I got really discouraged when I was in the keeper force. And it actually applied to the graphics department Downtown at Smithsonian. And I actually even applied to the FBI, believe it or not, but this was in… Read More
And it’s six flags, which I didn’t take. There were doing a number of reasons that I didn’t take these positions. One, I really don’t like change. I mean, I’m a pretty steady person. And I mean, I’d spent all my life in Washington, DC. I spent my entire career… Read More
And I’m also, I am to a certain extent a believer in the Peter principle. And I think everybody reaches a point in their career where you can go higher if you want. But if you’re doing a good job in the job you have, why take a job where… Read More
I don’t really think it did. I think for whatever it was about my abilities early on the people that I work with. I think they recognized it. When I worked for Bridgewater. He used me as a more, I hate to use the word hatchet, man, but that’s what… Read More
I had run ins with a lot of people, I’ve run into it Seidensticker Who is?… Read More
John Seidensticker is a senior scientist now, although I think he’s on sabbatical, but he was at the time a curator in the carnivore collection. And Gould quarreled quite a bit and he really resented the fact that Ed had appointed me as associate curator because basically in Gould’s absence,… Read More
And I said, but I don’t think you should hire him. I really don’t, there’s some good quantified people. And ED Gould said, “Well, if that’s what she wants to do, then it’s her decision.” And I don’t know, I mean, I just basically lost it because I took my… Read More
I think the biggest issue that is with anybody that’s in the zoo profession is that you get into the zoo profession because you really have a affinity and love for animals. But as you get more and more into management, you come to realize that if you don’t have… Read More
I think it’s a really, really priority that there needs to be in each be people skills involved in any hire that’s gonna deal with the collections and also deal with the people. Read More
You talked about experience, how you have to communicate with people, et cetera, during that time, how did your management style evolve and how did it change over time?… Read More
And how did animal dealers impact the zoo and what was going on and as your later years in the profession, what did you see their impact was either positive or negative?… Read More
Well, our ability to acquire, I mean, that’s where we got most of our collections was from animal dealers, I mean, there’s no question about that. And we had a lot of animal dealers that we could go to and we relied on them very, very heavily, especially for the… Read More
And so it’s all basically done through contact with zoos or through the SSPs. Read More
Now, when you were a temporary as general curator, what would you say was one of the more important things that you learned at this time that helped you later on?… Read More
And I think that trip to south America, but that was about it. Read More
So when you were, but mostly you were acquiring animals early on, even when you were general curator temporarily, you were acquiring animals from animal dealers?… Read More
Yes. Read More