Teaching Point, Click, Zoo

I am so excited about a new opportunity that we are offering here in the Education Department!

My favorite class to teach is Point, Click, Zoo, our beginning-level adult photography class.  Last fall I trained all of my coworkers on the program so they could start teaching it as well.  I can now reveal the reason for this: Point, Click, Zoo, part 2!

That’s right!  Starting this year we’re offering an addition to our photography class lineup.  The first class of this new program will be on Feb. 25th.  Since it is part 2, we are assuming a certain level of photographic knowledge, particularly how to use the manual settings on your camera, but we’re not requiring participants to have joined us for part 1. 

This time, we’ll spend most of our time out on grounds, discussing some of the exhibits that present challenges for our photo-minded guests.

Want more information about either the original Point, Click, Zoo or the new Point, Click, Zoo, Part 2?  Check out www.houstonzoo.org/teensandadults!

Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed by Mo Willems

I know when you think of cold weather the last thing on your mind is naked mole rats. Some of you may even ask yourself “What in the world is a naked mole rat?” That’s all okay because for this story “You only need to know three things: 1. They are a little bit rat. 2. They are a little bit mole. 3. They are all naked. All except Wilbur…” Want to find out why Wilbur likes clothes so much? Well join us for Story Safari to find out! (hey, maybe he’s cold!)

Armadilly Chili by Helen Ketteman

During the entire month of November we will be reading the book Armadilly Chili by Helen Ketteman, a Texan tale of Miss Billie Armadilly. “A blue norther’s a-blowing’” and Miss Billie makes hot pot of chili to warm up during those cold desert nights, but despite its savor, the chili taste “flat as a Texas prairie”. Want to find out what is missing from her chili? Join us for Story Safari everyday this month at 10:30a.m. & 11:00a.m.!    

“There’s a wolf in the woods and everyone says, “She’s big, she’s bad, she’s old, and she’s HAIRY! Best leave her alone, she is mean and scary. But we wanted to know, so we crept a little bit closer…” 

Want to know what happens next? Come find out with us! We’ll be reading “What’s the Time, Grandma Wolf?” by Ken Brown each day during Zoo Boo – October 14^th – 31^st. Hope to see you there!

Dought and the Education Department in our usual form

The Education Department was fortunate enough to have Dought Nkomo from the Painted Dog Conservation Project in Zimbabwe visit with us for a week. When we knew he would be spending time with us after working with the Facilities Department it was time to pack his schedule FULL of fun, educational Houston Zoo experiences.

Dought came over to our department from March 18th-March 24th. Over the course of the week he experienced many of our programs. The first day we took him around the Zoo to show him how some of our on-grounds tour programs work (Wild Wheels, Senior Safari, etc.) he even got to go on one of our Wild Wheels programs!

Dought and Elizabeth holding Makobe-a leopard tortoise after Wild Wheels

That same day he received a one-on-one training in Interpretation Skills from our Senior Education Specialist. As we do with anything we celebrate, we decided to have a potluck lunch to welcome Dought on his first day. Unfortunately he was feeling a little under the weather from all of the travel and new food so we kept it simple-corn casserole, mac and cheese, rice-the basics.

Dought then got to visit with our Wild Winks specialists and learn what we do during our overnight programs. Learning about this program was of increased significance since the kids sleep over at the Bush Camp in Zimbabwe for 4 nights.

Our ZooMobile program is one of our most well-known educational programs, and we thought it would be fun for Dought to tag along on one. He went with an Education Specialist to Lonestar College to teach college freshman about adaptations. He also spent some time with Bennett-our Interpretive Programs Supervisor to learn about theatrical programs on Zoo grounds (Story Safari, Zooper Challenge, Zoo Adventures).

Dought and DeAndra on a ZooMobile with a volunteer docent-Bonnie

Finally, we wrapped up his visit with a trip to the Texas City Prairie Preserve, a free field trip that we conduct on land owned by The Nature Conservancy. This program is very similar to the Bush Camp program in that kids study a local ecosystem from the bugs to the water and develop an appreciation for declining flora and fauna in the area. Dought had the chance to sweep for Texas insects, go seining in Moses Lake, learn the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken mating dance and test the quality of water in the brackish habitat. He said he really enjoyed seining and that he usually doesn’t like water because he can’t swim (Zimbabwe is a land-locked country) but he walked along the bank and used a net to catch some fish!

Dought and Bennett conducting a Zooper Challenge in the Children's Zoo

At the end of his stay Dought took home certificates to certify that he completed training in Community Outreach, Interpretation and Curriculum Design and Instruction. PHEW…not bad for a week! We hope Dought enjoyed his visit as much as we enjoyed having him here. It’s not every day you get to learn from such a well-spoken, friendly and knowledgeable conservation hero. It seems as though he learned quite a bit from his visit to Houston, but he may never know how much we learned from him.

To learn more about Painted Dog Conservation visit our conservation website: http://www.houstonzoo.org/painted-dog-conservation/ or visit the PDC website: http://www.painteddog.org/.

If you’ve enjoyed reading about Dought and Xmas you can read more about them on our main Zoo Blog and Conservation Blog: http://www.houstonzooblogs.org/zoo/ or http://houstonzooblogs.org/wildconservation/.

Learn more about zoo careers at our Teen Career Conference!

One of the things about the Zoo that intrigues people are the people that work here.  That may sound odd, but consider this.  Keeper Camp is the summer Camp Zoofari topic that sells out the fastest.  Zoo Careers is our most popular home school series.  We get lots of requests for career day speakers and many letters asking us about working at the Zoo. 

It’s understandable that people are interested in careers at the Zoo.  There are many people who want to work with animals, and most people don’t know a zookeeper or other Zoo staff person to ask.  On February 27th we are offering an awesome opportunity for teens to explore this exact topic!

Our first annual Teen Career Conference is from 1pm – 4pm on Feb. 27th!  We have a lot of exciting things planned.  Five of our animal department staff are scheduled to present about their careers and how they got into them.  These speakers include two keepers, a supervisor, a curator, and a veterinarian.

Zoo Crew is a great option for teens who want to volunteer at the Houston Zoo. Learn more at our Teen Career Conference!

We’ll also have conservation organizations from around Houston as exhibitors, to share information about careers and volunteer opportunities.  Local universities will be here as well, to discuss their programs and application processes.  Our Volunteer Programs Coordinators will be presenting about our Internships and Zoo Crew programs for teens here at the Zoo.  There will also be some folks here to help with resumes and applications! 

If you know a teen who’s interested in pursuing a career in an animal-related field, encourage them to attend our Teen Career Conference!  More information and registration is available online.

We're playing a fun sorting game with the spots of different cats!

It may not feel like it outside, but spring has arrived in the Education Department.  At least our spring programs are here!  Safari School was scaled back a bit in the fall but we are excited to say that it has returned full-force for the spring.  What is Safari School, you ask?

Great question!

Safari School is a program for our preschool-age friends (3 to 5 years old) and their favorite adults.  Each week we focus on a different animal.  The class includes a short, kid-friendly lesson, an animal-related craft, and an animal visit, as well as a variety of other fun activities.  Depending on our topic, the visit might be an animal coming to the classroom or a trek out into the Zoo to see the animal in its exhibit. 

Making a cool leopard craft by adding spots!

For spring, Safari School returns to a twice-weekly schedule; the same topic is offered on both Wednesday and Saturday.  We have some cool animals coming up this semester, including chimpanzees, parrots, porcupines, and otters.  Want more information?  Check out our website!

Taking a class at the Zoo this spring sounds like a great idea, doesn’t it?  Even if you don’t have a convenient preschooler to accompany you to Safari School, we have lots of other classes kicking off in February.  Wild Wheels for kids up to age 3, Senior Safari for adults 65 and up, Home School Series classes and Wild Winks overnights are all available this spring.  We’re even hosting our first annual Teen Career Conference in February!  Explore our Education page for more information about all of our exciting programs.

But every once in a while, the animal decides not to show up.  Maybe it has a vet appointment, or the weather is too cold, or the keepers need to do maintenance on the exhibit.   Maybe the animal just feels like hiding in the back corner and taking a nap.  Whatever the cause, it is then up to the presenter to make it work.

Giant Eland at the Houston Zoo

This was the case for my Wild Wheels yesterday.  The cassowary was our first stop, and he had come to the front just long enough for everyone to see him.  But then we got to the giant eland exhibit.  There were zebras and nyala antelope, but no giant eland.  At that point I realized that I should have stuck some zebra stuff in my cart (the zebra are almost always out) but I hadn’t and now I had to talk about eland with no eland to see.

Fortunately, I always bring a picture of every animal I plan to visit on our tour with me.  This is mostly for the littlest ones, who often have a hard time noticing an animal if it isn’t moving.  I said something along the lines of “Uh-oh, it looks like the eland are still inside” and showed the kids the picture of the eland.  I wanted to include these animals mostly because this was the stop with the best biofact: horns!  Everyone looked at the picture, felt the horns, and learned that eland are the biggest antelope in the world. Then we moved on, hoping for better luck at our next exhibit.

Against all odds, we did have luck.  The next stop was the one I was the most concerned about: the giant anteater.  Our anteaters are often not visible at all, or are moving around, barely visible, at the back of their very large exhibit.  Yesterday, though, one of our anteaters was right up at the front, enjoying a snack from an enrichment tube on the front fence.  We got to see her giant claws, her long but very narrow mouth, and the tiny nose on the end of her elongated face.  We watched her for quite a while before we moved on to a few more exhibits. After that up-close adventure, the sleeping grizzlies and placid Komodo dragon were a bit anticlimactic. 

When the animals don’t participate, it is still possible to have a teachable moment.  Depending on the group, I have used these moments to teach about animal care or to describe natural behaviors such as sleeping or hiding.  I’ve subbed in pictures or puppets for the actual animal, and for summer camp I’ve taken my class to an exhibit as many as 3 times on different days to try to find an animal.  As unpredictable as live animals can be, I wouldn’t want to leave them out of a program or stop teaching at the zoo.  Unlike a museum exhibit or a handling animal, our exhibit animals provide us with both the possibility of seeing nothing and the opportunity to see something amazing.

We watched the lorikeets at Wild Wheels on Thursday

If I asked you to list the age groups that our education programs target, you’d probably think of school-age kids, maybe preschoolers, possibly even adults.  But do you realize that we also offer programs for infants and toddlers?

I know, you’re probably thinking, “Really?  Infants and toddlers?” but the answer is a resounding yes.  During the school year we offer a program called Wild Wheels, for kids up to age 3 and an accompanying adult.  Based on our attendance, it is definitely a popular program.

We all take turns teaching our classes, and I taught Wild Wheels this week.  We talked about animals that live in trees, specifically hornbills, howler monkeys, tamarins, clouded leopards, and fruit bats.  For each program we tour the zoo, looking at the animals that fit the day’s theme and interacting with biofacts like feathers, skulls, and puppets.  We finish up in the BEC, with books and toys and a live animal to touch.  This week we met a dove up close and personal. 

We cover each topic for a week, once on Tuesdays and once on Thursdays.  As Wild Wheels is a program you can register for on the day you attend, I never know how many to expect until we start.  On Tuesday, I had 11 adults and 13 kids, but on Friday I only had 3 and 3.  It is very different, teaching 24 vs 6!  It is a fun class no matter how many we have and the kids seem to enjoy it.  Of course, how much they get out of it depends a lot on how old they are, but smiling babies and laughing toddlers are clearly enjoying themselves.  The adults usually enjoy themselves, too!