An Amazing Trip to the Zoo

Do you remember singing, "The wheels on the bus go round and round?"  We didn't actually sing that on the bus, but the wheels were going round and round, all the way to the Auckland Zoo.  Upon our arrival, we were greeted by two zoo educators (Laura and Richard), who were assigned to educate us further about endangered species. 

Prior to our visit, room 5 learnt about Maui's dolphin and how it is becoming endangered because the water is getting polluted.  We also developed new vocabulary about animals in general.  For example, a mammal is a warm-blooded animal that gives birth to live babies.  A reptile is a cold-blooded animal that lays eggs.  Amphibians can live on both land and on water, like frogs and salamanders.  We also learnt about their natural habitats and how animals are able to camouflage themselves so they don't get attacked.

Anyway...back to the zoo.  Inside the Rakau Room with Richard, we were taught about how stoats eat and kill kiwis.  We learnt how to stroke a bearded dragon - you must use two fingers (second and third fingers) to gently stroke the lizard's back.  The lizard's name was Banjo and his skin felt hard and scaley.  Did you know, that Kiwis have the shortest beak in the world?  Scientists measure beaks from a bird's nostril to the tip of their beaks.  However, a kiwi's nostril is right at the tip of the beak, that is why they have the shortest beak.  Wow!  That's amazing information.

We also watched a kiwi hatch from its' egg.  A baby kiwi finds it difficult because their beaks are in between their legs.  They wriggle themselves out until the shell of the egg breaks.  Sometimes, if they are hatching in a lab, the zookeeper helps them, but just a little bit.  The baby kiwi is very strong to break itself out of the egg.

Walking around the Auckland zoo was exciting!  We visited Pridelands first, where we saw a tall giraffe, an ostrich, a rhinocerous, zebras and a springbok.  Here's some interesting facts about a giraffe:  a giraffe is a mammal; a giraffe has a long neck which helps them eat from a tall tree; a giraffe gallops by springing forward on its' two hindlegs, this makes a giraffe faster than a lion; they are born in Africa; a giraffe has the same amount of neck bones as a human; a baby giraffe is as tall as a man. 

So much information, but little space to write it.  Room 5 learnt so much from their visit to the Auckland Zoo.  Thank you to our parent helpers:  Mata (Hope Betham's Mum) and Vaiola (Ms Fa'avale's friend).  Tired and sunburnt (oh no!), we boarded the bus, but nobody had any energy to sing "The wheels on the bus go round and round."  The End.

 

This is Banjo the bearded dragon, or a lizard.

Room 5 under the corrugated iron elephant.

Stopped by the police for racing around the zoo in our white ute.