ELLLO Views #1313 The Zoologist

Ana: Hey, Michael. I heard your mom is a zoologist. What is it exactly?

Mike: A zoologist. Well, that's true. She is a zoologist. So a zoologist is someone who studies animals.

Ana: Oh, interesting. So does she study all animals or does she focus on a specific animal?

Mike: Well, she's worked at universities studying animals for a long time. So she's worked on many different kinds of animals. But at the moment, she is studying South African tortoises.

Ana: Oh, interesting. Do you have any tortoises in your house?

Mike: Yeah. Actually, we have more than 40 tortoises in our garden.

Ana: More than 40. Wow.

Mike: Yes. People are always very surprised when they visit and they see all our tortoises.

Ana: So, do you know a lot about tortoises as well?

Mike: I don't know very much about them but I mean, my mom has always got them around at the house or she's often busy with some sort of tortoise's related activity. And so sometimes, as a high school kid, I got home and she would have a tortoise that – a pregnant tortoise, a female tortoise with eggs inside. And in order to monitor these eggs, she would have it in a bath of water with an ultrasound scanner and a screen up on the dining room table.

Ana: Wow. That is really interesting.

Mike: I had a very interesting childhood with all of these animals and things around the house.

Ana: Oh, that's great. Did you have any other pets?

Mike: Yes. We've always had a couple of dogs and I like cats. So I've got my pet cat at home.

Ana: Wow. That's really interesting.