Disney's Dr. Mark works with wild animals at its parks all over the world. Here's what his dream job is really like.

• Disney's Animals, Science and Environment team oversees animal care, conservation, and environmental initiatives across Disney parks around the world.
• Dr. Mark Penning, who goes by Dr. Mark, leads this team and spoke to Insider about what it's like to work with animals at Disney, and look for new ways to make the parks more sustainable.
• Disney parks sent 32 million pounds less waste to the landfill in 2019 than they did in 2008.
• Each day, Disney World's animal nutrition center prepares 10,000 pounds of food for Animal Kingdom's more than 5,000 animals.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Born and raised in South Africa, Dr. Mark Penning — who goes by Dr. Mark — worked as a veterinarian specializing mostly in birds and reptiles before he started working at Disney seven years ago.

As the company's Vice President of Animals, Science and Environment, Dr. Mark oversees animal care, conservation, and environmental initiatives across Disney parks around the world. And though it's clear he loves animals, Dr. Mark says it's the people he works with who make his job so great.

"What I love most about my job is working with the most incredible people — really smart scientists, dedicated conservationists, engineers, entertainers and more," Dr. Mark told Insider via email.

While Disney parks are closed, Dr. Mark is giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at what he and his team usually do at work on his Instagram account. As you can imagine, a day at the office for Dr. Mark is anything but ordinary.

Dr. Mark, Disney's Vice President of Animals, Science and Environment, told Insider that no 2 days at work are the same

The mission of Disney's Animals, Science and Environment team is to protect the planet by reducing waste and emissions, conserving water, and protecting wildlife.

This goes way beyond caring for the animals at Disney's Animal Kingdom to include plastic-use reduction through the elimination of single-use straws and stirrers, planting pollinator gardens across the Walt Disney World property to support the bee, butterfly, and bird populations, and the addition of a 270-acre solar power facility that is expected to generate enough energy to power two of Disney's four Florida theme parks.

"My day-to-day life is always different," Dr. Mark said.

One day, he could be overseeing the team of more than 1,000 people who look after Disney's animal collection, which extends far beyond the gates of Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Florida. The next day, he could be working on a TV program or movie, or working on improving Disney's clean energy initiatives or how the parks can manage trash.

In an April interview with the podcast D23 Inside Disney, Dr. Mark said his team is also responsible for "the wellbeing of fish in a snorkel lagoon at Aulani, a stingray touch experience in the Bahamas associated with our cruise ships, and the hoses that pull the carriages through Magic Kingdom."

When Insider asked Dr. Mark about his favorite memory working at Disney, he told us of the time he joined Imagineer Joe Rohde on an Adventures by Disney trip to South Africa.

"I have some truly unforgettable memories of that trip, including seeing penguins in Cape Town and singing songs around the campfire," he said.

Dr. Mark's team cares for more than 5,000 animals at Animal Kingdom and across the Walt Disney World resort

This includes everything from nutrition, veterinary care, and making sure the animal's habitats are as close as possible to what they would experience in the wild.

"Our animals receive incredible attention from our animal care specialists. This ranges from a healthy diet, developed by our wildlife nutrition scientists at our Animals Nutrition Center, to providing special training that allows our animals to feel comfortable participating in their own medical examinations (including a baby porcupine's newborn checkup)," Dr. Mark said.

"We also provide our animals with special enrichment activities, including unique habitat characteristics and tools that allow them to practice habits and decision making they would exhibit in the wild," he added.

In fact, even the animals that are on display at Animal Kingdom, like those guests can see on the Kilimanjaro Safaris, can take a day off if they don't feel like seeing visitors.

"Even when our parks are open to guests, our animals are able to roam between both their on-stage and backstage habitats at Walt Disney World Resort," Dr. Mark said.

When these animals do need special care, they can visit the onsite veterinary hospital, but a few animals are just a little bit too big to fit through the doors.

"If an animal is too big to fit through the door of the hospital, the medical team is able to go out to the barns and perform medical procedures there. Working with big animals like giraffes and elephants requires empathy, creativity, and ingenuity," Dr. Mark said. "No matter where or how our animals need care or assistance, our animal care team is specially trained to interact and assist with each species at our parks to ensure safety of both our animals and keepers."

Heading up conservation efforts for Disney is no small task

As well as eliminating millions of pounds of waste and reducing greenhouse emissions equal to taking 10,000 cars off the road, Dr. Mark and his team have their sights set on a slew of other eco-friendly initiatives. In addition to doing away with plastic straws and stirrers, Disney is reducing plastics in its parks by offering reusable shopping bags at retail locations and switching to refillable amenities in hotel rooms.

Dr. Mark is also involved with the Disney Conservation Fund, which is celebrating 25 years of protecting wildlife and the environment and has donated more than $100 million to conservation programs around the world.

Within the parks, this fund supports a program that allows Brazilian migratory birds called purple martins to nest and raise their babies at Disney World before flying the 3,000 miles home.

Outside of the park, this fund oversees the sea turtle protection program at Disney's Vero Beach Resort and the effort to reverse the decline of the endangered South American Cotton-top Tamarin, and more.

Dr. Mark shared a couple of tips for Disney fans who want to promote conservation and environmentalism at home

"Two ways that I personally try to help support efforts from home is by planting pollinator friendly plants to attract bees and butterflies, as well as planting trees in my garden and neighborhood to help offset my carbon footprint," he told Insider.

In fact, Dr. Mark says he plants a tree for every flight he takes, which is quite a lot. If you're feeling inspired, you can learn how to replicate Dr. Mark's pollinator project at home, and you'll soon see more birds, bees, and butterflies enjoying the new habitat you've created for them.

Probably the most surprising aspect of Dr. Mark's job is that he has worked with Walt Disney Pictures to ensure the animals are portrayed correctly

"We work with the production teams on films and television shows that feature animals or nature to make sure that they are accurate and that they portray animals in a way that is consistent with our core values," Dr. Mark said. "We also have a person from American Humane on the set when live animals are present."

On D23 Inside Disney, Dr. Mark told the story of his work on the animated film "Zootopia."

"The crew came over and met a real sloth [...] They have these weird eyes and a very peculiar expression on their face, they look quite constipated most of the time. They move so strangely, they're very slow, and the film crew was just fascinated with this animal," he told the podcast. "They were filming it to see how the light reflects off the fur and that sort of thing but they were so enamored with actually seeing this animal right up close and being able to film it that that animal went to becoming one of the important players in the film."

Dr. Mark has also been able to help protect his favorite animal, the king cobra, as part of his work

We can see how it would be hard to choose a favorite when your whole life revolves around wild animals, but we couldn't let a lifelong animal lover get away without at least asking.

"This is an incredibly difficult question for me to answer as I truly love and am fascinated by all animals," Dr. Mark said. "While I can't say that I have a favorite at Walt Disney World Resort, my favorite animal in general is probably the king cobra. As a wildlife veterinarian."

Dr. Mark's position with Disney has even helped to protect king cobras in India. Through the Disney Conservation Fund, the Eastern Ghats Wildlife Society is protecting the king cobra and other threatened snake populations, including training local communities on how to safely share space with the snakes.

If helping to save your favorite animal isn't a pretty amazing job perk, we don't know what is.