FLA attends "EdZoocation
January 14, 2008
Twenty-nine members of the Future Leaders of America took part
in the
Henry Doorly Zoo's EdZoocation program on Jan 11, 2008. The
overnight experience had the campers taking an evening class with a
night hike and a morning class and hike.
The FLA students were led by zoo volunteers and played
"underwater Jeopardy" and "Trash or Treasure" identification games.
The weekend ended seeing the IMAX 3-D movie "Sea Monsters".
Henry Doorly Zoo's emphasis was on the environment and preservation of animal life. Kids attended a living classroom learning about abolone, coral, barnacles, blowfish and horseshoe crabs. Some key points the students learned are as follows:
- Henry Doorly Zoo has a living reef tank which has the last legally taken coral from the Florida Keys.
- The students learned that coral, at it's fastest, grows 1" a year, but on average coral grows 1" a decade.
- The students that horseshoe crabs have blue blood and they're related to the tick.
Another point of emphasis is called the "Amphibian Crisis". There
are approximately 6,000 species of amphibians and third of these
are threatened by extinction! Each FLA student received a
t-shirt and a poster about this
movement. 2008 is the "Year of the Frog" at Henry Doorly Zoo.
