Excursions;+ZOO

=Royal Melbourne Zoo=

On Friday the 14th, the 5/6’s went to the Royal Melbourne Zoo. We traveled by train and arrived very early. Four teachers came with us. They were: Mrs Pepi, Mrs Charuckyj, Rowena and Sengul. I was very excited and couldn’t wait too see all of the animals. Everyone put their things down in the pavilion that was ours. Then we went off to see the animals!

There are some animals that I will definitely remember. The Meerkats were the cutest. They had light brown fur and beady little eyes.

The Snow Leopard would pace up and down staring at us. It had a long, fluffy tail that made me want to reach out and touch it. It had spots that were black and all different.

I wish I had brought my camera so I could take pictures of the animals. When my grade went to the zoo school, it was really cool. We had a zookeeper that was with us and taught us about the endangered animals of Sumatra. We got to see the Orangutans again. They were very big and smart. The most important thing that I have learnt is about Palm Oil plantations. The Orangutan habitat has been cleared to make way for palm oil plantations. 50 orangutans die every week because of this! We want to help by not purchasing products with palm oil in them. But if we want to stop buying them, we need to know that it is in the product. But right now, palm oil is listed as Vegetable Oil. We want it to be labeled as palm oil so we are going to fill cards to help it. It is not only the Orangutan that are affected but also the Sumatran Tigers that are one of the most beautiful animals to me. They are endangered for similar reasons. We listened to a tape that was talking about man and Sumatran Tigers. I personally thought that the Sumatran tigers were one of the best animals. They had a great place to live in, it had a water fall and lots of space to run around. At the Zoo School we also saw the Gorillas. We got to go through the secret gate so we could see the special gorillas. Gorillas are also endangered. Their habitats are being mined for the Coltan ore that is used in mobile phones. What we can do is recycle our old mobile phones to help.

I feel angry and sad because these 3 animals might not even be here in the next 100 years! And the biggest cause is HUMANS! We created mobile phones and we planted palm oil. SO please try not to use palm oil. This is important to me because I would love to see these animals be around for much, much longer. In the wild there are not many left!

I got alot better at spotting animals that were hiding in the trees. The Tree Kangaroo and The Red Panda were running around in the trees. I was surprised that they didn’t fall out. I would have liked to see a black and white Panda at the zoo. They are my favourite animals.

The best part of this is being able to see and learn about our animals. Especially about the Endangered animals. I learnt heaps about the animals from the zoo school and reading things. I have leant that the Royal Melbourne Zoo was built in 1927 and that the cages for the animals use to be tiny! It didn’t look their habitats at all. But these days, it is against the law for an animal to live in the zoo without a place that looks like home. It needs too be comfortable for the animals too!

The baboons were quite memorable. They had big bottoms sticking out. They were very Red, and some had more colours on it. But, the bigger and redder, the better! I will always remember going to the Great Flight Aviary. There were 3 floors. The cassowaries were at the bottom. Parrots stayed in the trees. Squawking away. Ducks swam in the water at the bottom. And some birds were right above us. It was big and beautiful. There were so many types, I can barely remember. It was the highlight of my day.

The butterfly house was hot and smoky. Butterflies flew everywhere and some even chose to land on us. Their wings came in every colour imaginable. Even though it was hot, I still loved it.

In the reptile room, it was a little dark. Lots of lights lit up the place. There were lizards and snakes that had patterns on their skin. My friends and I took photos of each other in the reptile house. I looked very closely at all of the reptiles in the room, hoping they wouldn’t escape!

I had the best day ever at the zoo. It was very entertaining and I learnt so, so much that I could write forever, but I have to stop now.

By: Anna Louey Room: 9 Grade: 5