Emily Merola can relate. The Hooper native and psychologist is Hogle Zoo’s primary reptile keeper. She takes care of 52-year-old Kronk, a huge Aldabra tortoise that sometimes follows her around like a puppy during feeding time, Bill and Hillary — the crocs, not the political couple — and an assortment of snakes, lizards, turtles, tortoises and amphibians.

"You have to work with reptiles to really appreciate the grand scale of them," she said. "They are unlike any animal that I have ever worked with before. They are kind of a challenge. You can’t read them like an ape or a giraffe. They don’t have facial expressions. They are the most laid back animals you could ever work with, and the most difficult."

Merola began her Hogle Zoo career volunteering and then serving an internship. She became part of the staff called Eco Explorers that took live animals or exhibits around the grounds and interacted with visitors. She took a seasonal position and, two years later, earned her way into the reptile supervisor position.