Meet the ‘passionate person’ it takes to care for Como Zoo’s lemurs, sloths and orangutans

Mike Marazzi said his job attracts a “passionate” kind of person.

It’s a necessary quality for someone who needs to find common ground with colleagues who often don’t come from the same background, speak the same language or even identify as the same species.

“The thing about zookeeping is, your animals are somewhere in that realm between a pet and a co-worker,” said Marazzi, primate zookeeper at Como Zoo Conservatory in St. Paul. “You have that relationship you have with a pet, where you feel protective of it, you have that love for it. But at the same time, from a professional standpoint, we do have to work together. Yes, we both have things we need to accomplish today.”

Marazzi, who previously worked at zoos in Dallas and Atlanta, cares for close to two dozen primates at Como Zoo, which he joined about four years ago. The primates range from small lemurs and Saki monkeys to huge gorillas and his “dream animal” to work with, orangutans.

“Orangutans are meticulous in all things, whether it’s peeling an orange or undoing some sort of puzzle-type enrichment or testing the boundaries of the zookeeper,” said Marazzi, who works with three orangutans. “They’re going [to] get to every granular detail. And I do just love that about them, watching them, having to think on their level and not be surprised.”

Working with primates takes patience, time and deposits in the “trust bank,” as Marazzi said. Food and low-key activities like following a laser pointer help build up that trust, so the animals will willingly follow commands outside of their comfort zones.

Like when they have health check-ups. Because apes, like humans, can develop heart problems as they age, Marazzi preps orangutans for cardiac ultrasounds and even electrocardiograms that require electrodes stuck on their bodies, all while they’re wide awake.

Marazzi’s charges often don’t have as long a lifespan as him, marking another tough but unavoidable part of the job. He cares for one of the zoo’s Hoffman’s two-toed sloths, Sago, who surprisingly birthed a baby while on exhibit in early April. But the baby died a month later, the same week a new baby primate, an emperor tamarin, made its public debut.

“To do the job well, you need to be able to be emotionally invested,” Marazzi said, “which makes it that much harder when you run out of time with an animal.”

In an interview edited for clarity and length, Marazzi shares what it’s like to be in his shoes.

My degree is in biological anthropology from Sacramento State, so I’ve always been primate-focused. My professor said working with primates isn’t for everyone, so you need to figure out ASAP if you’re that type of person. That got me volunteering at a zoo to get time around primates. I volunteered through college and loved it. When I graduated, I decided to continue on and see where that career path led and if I would stick with it. It hasn’t scared me away yet.

The animals I’ve connected the best with are the ones that are really standoffish at first. I like the ones that I have to win over, that maybe don’t have the patience for me at first. I want to see if I can break through that, build that trust. That’s probably the part of the job I’ve always loved the most.

They don’t live forever. So as great as it is, building those relationships over years and years, eventually, you’re going to run out of time with that animal. I’ve gone through a lot of those. In my 13 years of doing this, it gets different but doesn’t get easier, you know? And I don’t think I want it to get easier, if I’m being honest.

Gomez, a spider monkey, is a very special one to a lot of us. He had incredibly severe cataracts and was basically blind for over a decade. But a few years back, we found someone who could do the surgery to repair that, and she restored his eyesight. This monkey could see again for the first time in over a decade. It’s maybe one of, like, the best days I’ve ever had in this job, seeing him explore the space again in a completely new way, watching him get excited when he recognized zookeepers. He was so happy. It was really one of those days where I was like: That’s why I want to do this job.

We usually get in around 6:30, and that’s usually our busiest time of day. First thing, I’m preparing to do visual checks, making sure everyone looks OK. Behavior looks normal. I’m not seeing any wounds. No one’s acting like they’re having an issue. Giving out any medications and handing them breakfast.

After that is the cleaning, which is usually bringing all the animals into their indoor area so that I can get into the habitats to clean those up, get whatever food and whatever enrichment is going to be out there and getting them ready so they can then go on exhibit before we open at 10 a.m. Once they’re all out, and the zoo’s open, I start my behind-the-scenes work. Cleaning the interior areas they might have slept in. My afternoon is usually more flexible time. If I have a bigger project, I can work on that, catch up on the computer parts of the job. Talk to the public as need be until the zoo closes for the night. Then it’s bringing everyone in, handing out dinner, giving any late meds, doing another check to make sure everyone looks good, no one’s had any issues throughout the day, and then they’re off to bed.

Todd Nelson is a freelance writer in Lake Elmo. His e-mail is todd_nelson@mac.com.

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