The Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association (GLAZA) is hosting a volunteer training programme, starting in October, to provide comprehensive training for adult docents who will serve as volunteer teachers and guides at the zoo.

Open to anyone aged 18 and up, the scheme requires no previous experience and will be carried out over a 23-week period. Weekly classes begin in October and focus on taxonomy of both the plants and animals at the zoo as well as ecology and conservation.

Docents will share their knowledge of the zoo and its flora and fauna with adults and children through touring, use of biofact carts, and numerous educational programs and classes.

The scheme has proved successful in the past, with GLAZA's volunteers topping 800 people and contributing more than 74,000 hours in time to the zoo in 2013. Many volunteers – who range in age from 18 to 90 – have provided more than 45 years of service single handedly since the zoo opened in 1963.

An information meeting regarding the scheme will be held on 19 July at the Los Angeles Zoo's Witherbee Auditorium. Applications are being accepted from now until 12 August with more information available at www.lazoo.org in the "Volunteers" section.