©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Zoo guests learn compassion, thanks to Hill ‘docent’
by PAULA M. RILEY

Marilyn Hill, docent at the Philadelphia Zoo, stands in front of the brand new Big Cat Falls with two female African lions, Vinkel and Jezebel. African lions, Hill explains, often sleep up to 20 hours a day. (Photo by Paula M. Riley)

This is the 12h in an ongoing series of articles by Paula M. Riley on Chestnut Hill volunteers.

Though she will scream if a garden snake slithers across her backyard, Marilyn Hill of Chestnut Hill laughs as she tells how she helped hold a python while volunteering as a docent at the Philadelphia Zoo.

Serving the Zoo for the last 13 years, Hill has held much more than a python. She has balanced many different responsibilities and has made significant contributions to the Philadelphia Zoo.

Hill has planned and delivered numerous tours and worked at Just Ask Carts, the mobile stations located throughout the zoo where docents engage visitors and share information on animal adaptation and conservation efforts.

Conservation is very important to Hill; she believes it all begins at the zoo: “You have to first get children to see and know many animals. They will then care about animals and become conservationists in the future. The only way they will support conservation efforts financially and legislatively as adults is if they have compassion for animals. That begins by giving them opportunities to see all types of animals and, over time, to come to love them.”

This is why zoos are so important, according to Hill. They allow people to experience many different animals and make connections with them in ways that simply reading about the animals would not provide. When asked about the controversy over the living situation for the elephants, Hill comments, “I know the zoo is investigating options for new homes for the elephants.” (Ed. Note: The San Francisco and Detroit Zoos recently closed their elephant exhibits and moved the elephants to huge sanctuaries, where they can have a much more normal life. The Philadelphia Zoo has come under much criticism for the tiny living spaces that elephants are forced to endure.) Much attention now at the zoo is focused on the new Big Cat Falls, the new home to lions, tigers and other endangered big cats. Docents can be found giving talks to visitors in the three pavilions.

Docents (derived from the Latin word docere — “to teach”) are trained volunteer educators who give tours to school children and adults covering a range of topics on adaptations, habitats, conservation, horticulture, art and architecture. Philadelphia Zoo boasts a team of 200 dedicated docents who lead tours or are positioned throughout the zoo displaying artifacts and answering visitor questions.

“The zoo provides docents with many tools to help them become wonderful educators,” says Hill. In addition to their 18-week (one day a week), intensive training course, docents have at their fingertips extensive resources and invaluable artifacts and biofacts to help illustrate their teachings. “When an animal dies naturally at the zoo,” explains Hill, “we always preserve something from the animals to assist with our education effort. For example, I was just giving a talk on penguins, and I had a penguin pelt which the children loved to see.”

Zoo tours are not just for children. Hill’s favorite tour is “Up Close and Personal” which, like most tours, was created through collaboration of docents and zoo staff. This tour is for those 18 and older, as it graphically describes the various mating habits of zoo animals. Most popular during Valentine’s Day season and delivered to students studying human sexuality, this tour offers a fascinating perspective on dating and mating.

The animals and their interesting habits are not the only draw to the zoo. Hill cannot say enough about the zoo’s beauty. She absolutely loves the flora, the fauna and the grounds. “It is so beautiful just being there,” she explains, “all that is troubling you goes away when you are in the zoo’s spectacular gardens.”

After retiring from her job as communications director for a large law firm, Hill was excited to pursue a position at the zoo. “I always thought that zoo jobs were the best there was, so I decided to become a volunteer docent.”

Her service to the zoo has spanned many areas including education, programs, and fundraising. As co-chair for the Friends of the Zoo Committee, she works with the 20-person committee to raise money for operating expenses. Partnered with a member of the board, she led the development and design of the membership levels for the zoo’s largest donors.

When she began her involvement with the Friends of the Zoo six years ago, they raised $200,000. Last year, the Friends raised $960,000 and hope to raise $1 million in 2006. Hill’s most challenging role was president of Docent Council, a two-year term she held in the late ‘90s. As president, Hill oversaw the many docent committees and is proudest of leading the complete transformation of the docent newsletter, “Docent Data,” which she has turned into a colorful, interesting quarterly magazine.

Kathy Wagner, Senior Vice President Conservation and Education at the zoo,, recognizes the valuable contribution of docents, saying, “They provide an amazing service for the zoo. They are our main education link with our guests. They allow us to be much more efficient in how we reach our visitors, and Marilyn especially goes above and beyond in her efforts.”

Hill’s grandson Taylor certainly thinks she goes far above. As a young boy in 1999, he was fascinated to learn that his grandmother was going to fly on a plane with a gorilla. He imagined the furry animal strapped in the seat beside her and told many friends of his brave grandmother. Though Hill was not actually seated next to the gorilla, she was very close.

The four gorillas and two orangutans were in the cargo plane headed for their home at the newly built PECO Primitive Reserve. Brought from zoos around the country to Terre Haute, Indiana, the animals were then transported to Philadelphia. As a tribute to the docents, the zoo president, Pete Hoskins (a Mt. Airy resident) invited the president of the Docent Council to accompany him for this special transport.

Hill is particularly thrilled to greet visitors in the newly opened Big Cat Falls, home to lions, tigers and endangered big cats including snow leopard cubs, puma kittens, and a black jaguar cub. “Isn’t this place just wonderful?,” she said. “I can’t think of a better place to volunteer.”

To learn more about becoming a Zoo Docent, call 215-243-5317 or visit www.philadelphiazoo.org and click on “Get Involved.”