Wildlife Encounters: Earth Heroes!

On Monday we had a visit with Derek from Wildlife Encounters! He came to talk to all of second grade about animals who help shape the earth and make it such a wonderful place to live. 

The first animal he brought out was Sid, who is a Moluccan Cockatoo with a LOT to say! Cockatoos and other birds help to shape the earth by planting the seeds they eat. After they eat, cockatoos fly about avoiding their predators, and they drop seeds along the way. You know what they say--what goes in must come out!

Derek also taught us a rhyme to help us learn about which animals are predators and which are prey:

Eyes on the side, I like to hide

Eyes in front, I like to hunt

Next we met an animal who definitely likes to hunt! Derek brought out a Small American Alligator. While he isn't very big yet, this alligator could grow to be 19 ft long someday and already has about 700-900 lbs of pressure in his jaw alone! While they may seem terrifying to us, they actually do quite a bit to help our environment. They feed on invasive species, which can cause a lot of damage to wetlands by eating the vegetation, and they also tunnel deep depressions that provide reservoirs during droughts. These "gator holes" can be a source of lifesaving water for fish, birds, turtles and other creatures.

did you know that Alligators and Crocodiles have very similar DNA to birds?

The next animal Derek shared with us was a Coatimundi, which is native to South America. The Coatimundi is an omnivore (eats both plants and animals) and it is diurnal (awake in the daylight). This animals helps the environment because it too spreads seeds like the cockatoo, and it also digs up the dirt looking for bugs and insects which makes it easier for the seeds to grow (fun fact: 1/3 of living creatures on earth live in the 6-10 inches of soil that cover it!)

The next animal Derek shared with us was a Bennett's Wallaby named Savanna. Wallabies are a type of kangaroo that live in the grasslands of Australia. They are grazers, which means they have very sharp teeth for eating grass so they only eat the blades without disturbing the roots, allowing the grass to grow back. They too spread seeds like the cockatoo and coatimundi and they actually plant their seeds in the ground by jumping on it and pushing it into the soil! All types of kangaroos live in groups called "mobs" which means lots and lots of planting happens in one space :)

After Savanna hopped back into her pouch, Derek had an audience volunteer help him show us some Masdagascar Giant Hissing Cockroaches. While you may not want to find these in your house, they are a great help to the plants and soil outside. They eat decaying plants and animals, break them down, and leave the soil rich with nutrients.

The final animal we were introduced to was a Chinchilla named Sir Poops A Lot!! Native to the Andes Mountain Range, these animals are their own farmers! They have the ability to grow their own food! Living in a volcanic habitat, their food source is often wiped out by lava flow. To rebuild their home, chinchillas hop down the mountains, eat plants, hop back up the mountain, poop (up to 300 times a day!) and use their large back feet to "plant" the discarded seeds in the piles. The roots of the plants that grow are strong enough to break up volcanic rock to turn it into soil, so these animals play a big part in helping areas hit by volcanoes come back to life.  Pretty impressive for little balls of fluff!

After the show, Derek let us pet Sir Poops A Lot and the cockroaches, and all of the giraffes took turns petting them both! Thank you to Wildlife Encounters for another wonderful animal experience, we can't wait to see you again in the spring!