Junior Alex Jeffords’ interest in animal behavior took him just down the interstate last summer to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, D.C. 

While interning in the primate department, Jeffords gathered data for his research project involving a western lowland gorilla. Over multiple 30-minute observation periods, the behavioral biology and environmental science major recorded the gorilla’s behavior and surrounding conditions to seek an understanding of the frequency and context of the self-soothing ear cupping behavior she displays. 

Jeffords also cleaned enclosures, prepared food and enrichment, and observed orangutans who were using the O-Line, a 50-foot-high suspended cable that allows travel between habitats—activities that Jeffords is continuing this fall as a volunteer at the zoo. 

“I think that I finally understood how smart these creatures really are,” Jeffords noted in a social media post. “Watching the gorillas for so long really attuned me to all of their personalities and made them all very distinct.”