Day Camp 2005 - Week 3

Chimp This week's mammal was the chimpanzee. An education staff member led us in making enrichments for these primates. We visited the chimp night house, where the keepers challenged us to use tools (like a chimp might use) to try to retrieve treats. We could also try to use our arm muscles to climb up a rope like a chimp. Unfortunately, we learned quickly that chimps are much stronger than we are! A big highlight was when we made our handprint and put it into a special folder next to the handprint of one of the chimps, Bashful. We also made a special chimp craft during craft time.

Amazon Parrot First, we made enrichments for all the parrots under the supervision of an education staff member. Then, we visited the Animal Theatre, where another education staff member introduced us to the two amazon parrots, Eddy and Twizzler. Eddy is a double yellow-headed amazon, and Twizzler is a blue-fronted amazon. Some of us had our photo taken with Twizzler. After that, we candled eggs with another education staff member, and then held the baby chicks. And at craft time, we made a parrot craft to take home.

Iguana This week's reptile was the iguana. We met one of the education staff members at the iguana moat and learned all about these fascinating reptiles. We watched them eat, and we were able to touch the realistic iguana model which looks and feels like the real thing - without the sharp claws! We made our own iguana to take home during craft time.

Commissary Keeper The commissary keeper prepares the diets for all of the animals in Safari World and Las Pampas (the first section of the preserve). This keeper also cleans and feeds all of the education animals in the commissary building. So, we helped to clean the exhibits of the chinchilla, ferrets, ball pythons, and skink. At craft time, we made a special craft to remember our keeper day.

Butterfly We took a walk to look for butterflies, and our counselor told us about metamorphosis - how a butterfly goes through 4 different stages: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly. We also made a cool butterfly craft to take home.