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| Rhino Our group met Wildlife staff members Brian and Richard at the Rhino night quarters, where we watched these huge animals enter the preserve for the day. Before the male, Buck, went out to join the rest of the herd, we watched him go into the chute and get weighed (4300 pounds!). Then, our whole group, along with counselors and staff members went on the scale. Groups 2 & 3 (pictured here on the scale), accompanied by several education staff members and a keeper, weighed 2650 pounds! The keepers told us lots of interesting information about the southern white rhinoceros, and then we were able to pick up shovels and brooms and help clean the rhinos' sleeping quarters. Later, we made a rhino craft and played a rhino game. |
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The education staff led us in making enrichments for the cockatoos and other parrots, then we went to Safari World where education staff members Joe or Aaron showed us CiCi the sulfur-crested cockatoo, and we also stopped by to see Casper the umbrella cockatoo (who was recently featured on an episode of Animal Planet's Pet Psychic). We learned all kinds of information about these birds, such as their diets, natural predators, and adaptations. We also candled eggs, held baby chicks, made a cockatoo craft, and played a bird game.
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Joe or Aaron brought out Clymer, the Solomon Island prehensile-tailed skink, and we were even able to hold her for a photo! We learned all about this largest of skink species and came away with a greater appreciation for reptiles. We also made skinks in craft and played a game about reptiles.
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| Vet Keeper Dr. Rose, veterinarian, and Vicky (vet tech) showed us all kinds of stuff that they do to help keep our animals safe and healthy. With a display board, they pointed out a number of animals that they have helped. Then, they showed us some x-rays of some of the animals here, and used a plush duck to demonstrate how they take an x-ray of a bird. A volunteer was able to use a special machine to listen to the heartbeat of Dr. Rose and of Tish the tortoise. Then, using a big plush elephant, Dr. Rose demonstrated how she would use special darting equipment to give an injection to one of our larger species. After this, we went to the Wildlife Complex, where we met Marsha the registrar, who told us all about how she keeps the records of all the animals. We even made a craft about being a veterinarian! |
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| Spiders First, we read a pop-up book about spiders, then we used our observational skills to locate various spider webs. We also were able to view a tarantula shed courtesy of Lori from Wildlife. Group 8 made a giant paper-mache spider and a rope web for Wildlife to give to the chimps. And, of course, we also made a spider craft and played a spider game. |
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