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For this week's mammal day, we studied the squirrel monkeys and spider monkeys in Safari World. First, one of the education staff members led us in making enrichments for the monkeys. Then, we met a primate keeper at the squirrel monkey exhibit, who had an enrichment waiting for us! So that we could understand how monkeys look for special treats, the keepers had hidden tokens inside of a sandbox. We had to feel until we found a token, and then the keeper exchanged the token for a piece of candy. The keeper then gave the enrichments we had made to the monkeys, and we watched them interact with these enrichments. We played a monkey game and made a monkey craft later in the day.
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We met one of the keepers out on the preserve, who brought the ostriches right up to our van! The keeper told us all about these animals, which are the tallest living birds. They don't fly, but they can run very fast. And we held an ostrich egg (which is the size of 2 dozen chicken eggs). We made a special ostrich craft this day, too. And we visited the petting zoo, where we candled the eggs and held the baby chicks, too.
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An Education staff member brought out Clymer, the Solomon Island prehensile-tailed skink, and some of us 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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An education staff member led us in making enrichments for the parrots. Then we met a bird keeper, who led us in cleaning the macaw exhibit. Then, the keeper taught us about positive reinforcement and how the parrots are being trained to do certain behaviors such as showing a foot or opening their wings. The keeper then gave our enrichments to the parrots, and we observed what they did with them. We made a special bird-related craft at craft time, too.
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We met an education staff member at the Animal Theatre, where we learned about two rainforest animals. We learned how important this biome is, for housing a diversity of plants and animals. Some of us even had our photo taken with one of the rainforest animals. And we made a rainforest-related craft at craft time.