This year, William's 6th grade class got to go to the Zoo for a week-long field trip*! I was able to chaperone on Monday and Wednesday.
Day 1:
We walked around the zoo while his teacher read some interesting facts about the animals.
The binturong was too far away for a good picture, so I took a picture of the sign instead!
The kangaroos were really active.
The zoo was all decked out for Halloween!
Emu exhibit.
More Halloween decor.
Penguin enclosure. It's probably still a little warm for them.
A wild bird visiting the penguins.
The bongo was very interested in what we were up to.
This bird (I think it's a turkey vulture) is the oldest animal in the zoo, at almost 20 years old!
They've taken out a staircase since the last time we were at the zoo!
Doppsey is the female rhino, looked like she was sunning, but each subsequent trip through the zoo she was in that spot. I hope she's doing okay. In one of the lectures, the speaker told us that rhinos are solitary animals, but she had a son that they've since sent to another zoo to breed, and I'm wondering if she's not a bit lonely.
The lion gave a 5 mile roar, then did a little bit of 'barking.' He seemed to really like the rock he's on in the picture. We learned that the two females who were with him in the enclosure died of cancer. I'm sure he's feeling pretty lonely.
The tiger just stared at us.
At the anteater enclosure, there were some bubble windows on the side, so I went around to wave at William. = )
Surreal colors on the berry tree!
Meercat exhibit.
Farmyard Halloween Decorations.
At the red panda exhibit, we learned that they hadn't had a baby panda in several years because the exhibit was too close to the snow leopard exhibit. Turns out, snow leopard is a natural predator of the red panda! But they moved them away and now there are babies! = )
They've added some cool art since our last visit!
The otter exhibit is always a favorite.
Painted rocks! Made me think of Grace. = )
My group, including William, headed over to the Cotton-top Tamarin exhibit. The screen flipped too quickly, so I ended up taking pictures. There were some gaps in information between what was on the screen and what questions they had to answer, so google gave us lots of Tamarin facts!
My favorite fact is that they have at least 30 unique calls in their language, and they've shown evidence of grammar!!! Super cool.
After our observation, it was time for a scavenger hunt. There were signs up all around the zoo, mostly historical, but some informational. We didn't finish, but got through several of them.
I took one quick picture of William in front of the wings as we headed back to the classroom to head out.
After I left the zoo, I ran to Aldi for groceries, stopped at Kroger for an online order, came home and put everything away, then rushed off to robotics with the twins.
Day 2 (for me, Day 3 for William):
On this day, they started with a full group meeting about the zoo. When the kids went back to their classrooms, the adults were given extra information about the rhinos. It was an interesting enough presentation that I wasn't desperate to get away.
Autumn is in full swing! After just a few short days the trees are bare, and the ground is covered in leaves!
William eating the extra lunch food he had me pack in my lunch.
These twin acorn caps fell, and bounced. At first I thought it was a frog or cricket! There were several twin caps, but not all of them were. I still haven't looked into how common they are.
After lunch, I was paired with a group that didn't have William, and it was back to the Tamarins for me. But, after Monday, and helping William's group with their poster, I felt pretty knowledgeable about them!
They live in Colombia, in the rainforest or forests in the foothills of the Andes Mountains. They live in groups of 2-20, with a life-long mated pair as the leaders of the group. The female releases such strong pheromones that the mated pair is the only pair reproducing. Each member of the group has a role, some of which are dedicated to raising the young!
Their tails are non-prehensile, but are longer than their bodies! They eat mostly bugs and fruit, but also sap and gum and occasionally small birds and spiders. Their main predators are raptors, large cats, and snakes. They only weigh about a pound.
I already mentioned their communication, but they've also been observed to make a clicking noise when presented with their favorite foods. In order to mark their territory, they pee on their hands and rub it around on branches. They spend their lives in the trees, rarely going to the ground, if ever. In the rainforest, they don't typically go to the tops of the trees, but rather live in the lower branches.
There are only 6000 left in the world (2000 in the wild, I guess the others are in zoos?) They are critically endangered, one of their main concerns is deforestation. There are currently efforts in place to fundraise funds to provide local governments with funds to restore their forests!
I'm sure there are other facts that I learned but didn't include, but they are cool little guys! It was a nice week, and the weather seemed to cooperate! There was some rain on Friday, but it had mostly tapered off by the time they were due to arrive at the zoo.
I don't have plans for the twins to change districts next year, so they won't be going on this particular zoo trip, though I'm sure they'll do something fun!
later days
*Once again, Avia generously stepped in to sponsor William's field trip (and a friend in need, at the discretion of the teacher.)
