We‘re going to the zoo zoo zoo, you can come too too too.

I know you‘re singing it, don‘t worry I was too when I heard I was taking my Year 8 science class. Ok, you can stop singing and read the scientific bit, I mean, you didn‘t really think it was just a year 8 ”wee trip to the zoo“.

The theme was habitat (No Miss Brown not that one) adaptation and the threat the animals face in their natural habitat (more on that later)

The girls were taken to the Zoo in the minibuses, and arrived there at about 10 o‘clock, where their first stop was a look at farm animals and a smell of the farm animals. Some of the classes at this stage were fortunate enough to be joined by the rung tailed LEMURS. They really knew how to POSE!

Once the girls had a good look at the farm animals they were taken to a classroom for a talk on ”that scientific bit“ by zoo keeper Mr John Fisher.

The walls of the classroom were painted to represent various habitats; the Geography department would have loved it! There were tropical rainforests, woodland, savannah (with trees), desert tundra and polar ice caps!

John talked about these various habitats and what animals preferred to live there. He went on to talk about the dangers the animals faced in the wild stating that almost all the animals in the zoo are endangered in the wild, either by poachers or the destruction of their natural habitat. The girls listened and interacted with interest.

John concluded his talk by bringing out a wide range of creatures, you know the kind the ones you would hate to see on your own.

Tarantulas the size of your hand, big stick insects, huge slimy snails, a brown frog that turned green when frightened, ooh and I nearly forgot….a four foot python. There was a cute white hedgehog that didn‘t seem to mind being stroked by 20 adoring year 8‘s who just wanted to take it home.

After the classroom activity, the girls had a picnic lunch, talk about feeding time at the zoo!

After lunch the girls were split into 3 groups and set off to study twelve of the zoo animals focusing on their habitat, adaptation and threat, using the Survival booklet.

I‘d forgotten how steep the hills were (Note to John, any chance of a cable car). Seriously though, I trekked my group of 8M up to the top to see the Sun Bear. John ad told us earlier that it had been beaten and tortured being forced to dance and perform until it was rescued and brought to the zoo. So if you weren‘t sure about keeping animals in a zoo, the Sun Bear was certainly a positive.