Application

A student intern MUST be receiving academic credit from, or fulfilling an academic requirement for an accredited educational institution. In most instances, student interns are upper division majors or minors in the areas of biological science, horticulture, pre-veterinary medicine, education, conservation biology or related disciplines.

Internships are unpaid and are 10 to 14 weeks in length and 30 to 40 hours per week.

Applications MUST Include:

• Completed application form
• Cover Letter including a paragraph explaining why you are interested in an internship at the Minnesota Zoo;
• Resume;
• Official Transcripts; and,
• Letter of recommendation from an advisor or supervisor

Application Deadlines:

All application materials must be received by the following deadlines unless otherwise noted in the internship descriptions.

The Minnesota Zoo's Aquariums/Life Support department is responsible for over 150 different aquatic species (including fish, invertebrates, and corals) with close to 700 total fish both fresh and salt water, 15 different species of amphibians and reptiles including two species of sea turtle, and the filtration systems that support their lives. This includes 18 exhibit tanks (including a 60,000 Indo-Pacific Reef tank and a 220,000 Caribbean shark tank), 44 fish quarantine tanks, and more than five reptile/amphibian quarantine tanks.

Summer Internship:

College credit required. Internships generally run 40 hours per week for 10-14 weeks. Work hours are from 7-3:30 daily and days off are Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Aquarium department interns are directly involved with daily duties and activities and they will have an opportunity to either perform or observe all of the duties listed below. They will also be asked to participate in special projects as they arise. Interns will learn aquarium set-ups ranging from basic to the most complicated. Interns will leave our program knowing how to keep fish, corals, etc., set-up and maintain their aquariums, and keep them looking like exhibit quality. The Aquariums department performs up to three shows daily including a dive show in our coral reef, a shark tank feeding presentation, and a coral reef shark feeding, all of which our interns participate in. We prefer interns to be SCUBA certified as they will have an opportunity to dive in our 60,000 gallon Indo-Pacific reef tank to help maintain it as well as doing dive shows as they become comfortable.

Duties to include:

• Prepare daily diets.
• Perform basic tank checks (temperatures, water levels, animal checks).
• Participate in daily shows.
• Feed animals.
• Perform water changes/siphon as necessary and as directed by aquarists.
• Scuba diving for shows and cleaning (requires scuba certification).
• Learn fish IDs.
• Life support maintenance.

For more information, please contact:
Internship Coordinator, Human Resources
13000 Zoo Boulevard, Apple Valley, MN 55124
E-mail: Human.resources.mnzoo@state.mn.us
Fax: 952.431.9211
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