At the end of the Lent term, the whole of Kindergarten visited Hamerton Zoo near Sawtry. The zoo stretches over 20 acres so there were lots of different wild and domestic animals for our youngest children to explore, from looking into the eye of a tiger to venturing into cheetah country, as well as giant anteaters, wallabies, Corsac foxes and the more familiar donkeys, rabbits, sheep and alpacas. The children's zoo experience was made more memorable with a hands-on workshop where they got close to and handled different small animals.
Other groups of animals included: big and small cats, primates, ‘Down Under on your Doorstep’ Australian birds and animals and male tiger quolls, mainland Australia’s largest surviving carnivorous marsupial. The children were intrigued by the red-handed tamarin that actually had yellow-gold hands, as well as the hanging sloths, cheeky meerkats and furry camels.
The children were lucky enough to receive an animal talk from zoo experts where they could handle different animals, feel their skins and learn how to group animals into categories: mammals, birds or reptiles. They also learnt about their diet, habitat, how animals adapt and how certain animals use colour and camouflage for survival. The children enjoyed handling giant snails, real snakes and an owl called Twizzle who lives with one of the zookeepers! One child enthused, "I learnt that the owl had three ears, two on his head and one lower down. He must be able to hear his prey really well. I didn’t know there were so many different types of owls." One of the many highlights was touching the skunk and the children were fascinated to discover that when a skunk sprays, this is the animal’s defence to protect itself from predators such as coyotes, wolves, badgers and any other natural predators. Another child said, "When I felt the snake’s dry scales it felt like they were waterproof."
