Thursday, January 28, 2016

Henry Doorly Zoo visits Exeter-Milligan

 Exeter-Milligan seventh grader Blake Meyer touches a snake held by Henry Doorly Zoo docent Alice.
 Alice, a docent from Henry Doorly Zoo, helps Exeter-Milligan seventh graders (l-r) Dylan Bonds, Jaiden Papik and Sean Gibson, feel the muscles in the belly of a Cave Rat snake.


 Exeter-Milligan kindergarten, first and second graders were impressed with the shell of a sea turtle that Peter brought with him from the Henry Doorly Zoo.

The Henry Doorly Zoo came to Exeter-Milligan on Monday afternoon, January 25.

The seventh grade class were guided by a Zoo presenter, Peter, in dissecting an albatross bolus.  This is the inedible items of an albatross.  They form into a large cylinder and the albatross regurgitates it similar to what an owl does with a pellet.  

The students found a variety of inedible items in their bolus including plastic packaging and squid beaks.

The seventh grade class also learned about a Cave Rat snake from a docent, Alice, who came along.  The seventh graders got to touch the different scales of the snake and then several of them got to feel the muscles in the snakes belly as it crawled along on their hands.

Later in the afternoon the kindergarten, first and second grade classes got to hear a presentation on animal superpowers by Peter.  Some of the superpowers the students were able to guess and try to imitate but they couldn’t seem to hold their breath for three hours like a sea turtle or sleep for 90 days like a black bear.  The students were impressed that the beaver could make it’s own lakes and the shark could regrow it’s teeth.


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