Zoo Trip Recount

Some excerpts from our recounts of our trip to the Auckland Zoo.

Yesterday, the entire Middle school drove in a bus to Auckland Zoo.We went there to learn about animals and animal classification.

When we arrived we went in a room to learn about animal classification. We sat on beanbags and we had to find an animal hiding in the picture. We found a tiger. Next John showed us some dead skin off a lion, birds and a kiwi. 

After that we went outside and we saw the monkey. It was a cotton-top tamarin. It's name was Santos. It was showing its tail and wriggling like a tame puppy. Santos had a long tail to balance on branches.

Next, a lady brought a ghecko into the classroom. Ahaana named it Greg. Did you know that a ghecko eats plants, big insects and fruit.  After that, Levi brought around a rough rhino horn. Next Fabian brought an elephant horn. It was a little smooth and it felt like plastic. The elephant's tusk is made out of ivory and the rhino's horn is made out of hair.

Later we went to the giraffe feeding time. When we were patiently waiting a zoo educator was telling us all about giraffes. Mehar had a turn pulling the tongue out of a giraffe puppet! Eve said the tongue of a giraffe is 44cm! 

When the line moved up we had to feed the giraffe carrots and celery. I saw a long, long tongue that was longer than our tongues. It licked my hand. I fed the giraffe a piece of celery then I dropped the piece of celery. Then I picked it up again. A man said that a giraffe has a blue tongue. It is like sunblock because when the giraffe puts his tongue out to eat the sun shines on it.

When we finished feeding the giraffe my group went to see the seals diving in the water.We saw some baby penguins swimming in the water. After that we raced to see the seals up top. One seal was sitting on a rock and other one was diving.

After that I went in the meerkat tunnels. When we got there it was pitch black. I saw bowls and a ladder next to it. I climbed up and saw nothing. I wasn't surprised. Here is what I learnt. Meerkats are mammals so they are warm blooded. Mammals are vertebrates so they have backbones. Meerkats eat berries and meat and they have fur. They are small and hairy. They live in a dry place like a desert.
 
After that we saw the cheetahs. Cheetahs are fast runners. They are meat eaters.

Later on of the areas we went to was the spider monkey area. Did you know they put water around them because they have a fear of water! The spider monkey is a black and white monkey and they are very good at climbing. The spider monkey is a vertebrate, a mammal and a herbivore.
 
My favourite part was the rhino. Rhinos are giant animals. Rhinos eat leaves and plants so they are herbivores. Rhinos live in Africa in an area of grasslands. When rhinos swirl around in the mud that means they are bathing in the mud.

I enjoyed looking at the orangatans because they make a lot of noise. There was a really noisy monkey called a gibbon. It was the noisiest monkey ever. 

My favourite part was probably the tiger but it was a little sad that it was camouflaged. I could see a little bit of it just like in the classroom.  A tiger is a mammal. They have very sharp teeth.

My second favourite thing was seeing a real live kiwi. It walked right in front of our faces. It was pecking at the ground so we guessed it was looking for food. Kiwis are birds because they have feathers and lay eggs. Kiwis are vertebrates. They have brown feathers and eat insects. They are flightless birds and have long beaks for looking for worms.

My favourite part was seeing an alligator. An alligator is a reptile, a carnivore and its a vertebrate. 

I would like to go to the zoo again and would definitely recommend it to others.