Posts Tagged ‘alligator’

Ten Fun Facts by the Numbers

Posted by in Animal Fun Facts

Liberty, our Bald Eagle

Liberty, our Bald Eagle

10
A wild piranha can get as long as 10 inches, although they are sometimes bigger in captivity.

9
A young orangutan will stay with its mother up to 9 years to learn how to survive before going off on its own.

8
A Komodo dragon’s egg takes 8 months to hatch.

7
All mammals, from the tiniest bat to the tallest giraffe, have 7 vertebrae in their neck.

6
An American alligator will make a nest of plant material that can be up to 6 feet across.

5
A bald eagle does not get its distinctive white head and tail until it reaches 5 years of age.

4
A female cassowary lays 4 eggs in a nest, but the male cassowary sits on the eggs and raises the babies.

3
A tapir has 3 toes per foot, which makes it a relative of the horse and the rhino.

2
There are only 2 groups of animals that maintain a constant internal body temperature: birds and mammals.

1
All big cats except the lion are solitary, so the most common group size is 1.

Can I call you Tamz?

Posted by in Animal Fun Facts,Featured,Zoomobile

One of my Thank You drawings

One of my Thank You drawings

As an education specialist at the Zoo, I teach classes on and offsite.  With the Zoomobile, we bring programs to schools, churches, community centers, festivals, camps, you name it.  I have taught just about every age group you can imagine too.

Yesterday I did an all day Zoomobile program at Regina-Howell Elementary in Beaumont.  I had about 120 second graders throughout the day, and they were just about the best group of kids I’ve ever had.  Great questions, silly stories, and to top it off, they wrote me thank you letters complete with illustrations! 

One of them began her letter with, “So, can I call you Tamz?” Sure, why not?  Other letters described in detail how much they enjoyed seeing the American alligator I brought, or meeting the kingsnake, or sniffing the ‘smelly’ ferret.  Whenever I tell kids that you’ve brought live animals, their eyes light up with excitement.  They write in their thank you’s that they can’t wait for you to come back next year.  And they will remember you the next time.  It’s great to know that you’ve not only made an impact on their life, but you made learning fun too.  So much fun that they feel comfortable enough to call you Tamz.