Zoo Excursion

The silent hiss of a snake rang throughout the reptile house as everyone froze. I turned my head slowly and everyone looked at the ferns rustling behind me. Out of the green folds of the plants emerged a snake at least 6 metres long, its scales glittering against the glass. It was absolutely enormous, the largest snake I had ever seen. It slithered towards me like a brilliant colourful ribbon all the while keeping its eyes fixed on me. Then with its powerful body muscles, it rose up and stared me straight in the eye. All I could hear was my heart beating in my chest. The snake stared at me for a long time before it finally, silently slithered back down into the ferns.

Yesterday the classes of 4/5/6 O’B and 4/5/6 T went to Melbourne Zoo.

We went to the zoo to try and help its expensive energy problem, where the zoo spends too much money on energy and needs a sustainable way to power the various enclosures and buildings. My group leader was Bee Sensei, our Japanese teacher, and together with my group, Mia, Sam, Tarrin, Jesse, Brody and Lenny had a great time at the zoo.

The entire group went through the gates and had a fruit snack at a pavilion near the northern end of the zoo with a couple of other schools. And then with my group, we headed off to see the Malayan Tapir and Collared peccary before heading to the reptile house. The reptile house is my favourite area at the zoo and my favourite animal is a snake. This is where I saw the python. It was a truly memorable experience, and one I will never forget. I just love reptiles, all types, from the smallest lizard to the tallest turtle and from the shortest snake to the longest crocodile. I just love them all. Finally, after the unbearable pain of having to take my eyes away from the house, we headed down to the lemurs and the gorillas. The lemurs were very cute as always and were a joy to watch. The gorillas were also good to watch and very active. We also had a keeper talk on them. After that, we kept on going through the walk, through hippos and cassowaries and through the monkeys and tamarins (which I absolutely adore) until finally, we got to the end of the walk. After starting on the next walk we headed towards the elephants for our special talk about electricity. When we got there for our talk we met our keeper and sat down for the talk.

Electricity is a big problem for the zoo. All the buildings and enclosures that make the zoo an awesome place use up a lot of electricity. And it’s becoming very expensive. Our keeper, Gerant sat us down in the elephant hall and we had a really interesting talk about how to make electricity. We then walked down to the butterfly house and looked for all the energy sources that building would use and let me tell you-we found a lot. The talk has given me a lot of ideas and inspiration on how to create clean energy.

12.00. Time for lunch! I...was...STARVING! We rushed through the rest of the walk until we got to the pavilion. Never have I been happier to see my lunch box. Never. So we had lunch and then headed off for the wild sea walk. The seals were ever-present with their beautiful, elegant twisting and turning. The penguins however proved to be elusive. The Australian walk was really fun with a maze, giant aviary, and good views of Tasmanian Devils. The Last walk we did (after we saw the giraffes, zebras and baboons) was the predator's walk. This was a really cool walk due to lions, snow leopards, wild dogs and tigers. I especially loved lions because they were cuddling each other in the sun. I wanted to lay there with them in the sun but I knew that if I did that I’d probably be in a lion’s belly by now. Just before we left, we saw the meerkats foraging for grubs in their enclosure. Then we departed from the zoo and caught the train back to Lilydale.

All in all it was an absolutely fantastic trip and one I’ll certainly never forget.

...by Ryder

4/5/6 Go to the Zoo

The class got on the train in Lilydale, it was so cool! But we were going to the zoo to find out how we could use movement and turn it into reusable energy.

I went to the seal enclosure. There was a generator. So when the seals move through they glide and twist. I wonder if I can turn it into reusable energy?

...by Paddy

4/5/6s Zoo Excursion

The tiger came out of the bushes and ran towards us. Stopped only right in front of me. His breath smelt deadly and his fiery eyes wouldn’t tear off mine. But it is still tempting to reach out my arm and brush his glossy orange fur.

On the 18 of May, the 4,5,6s went on an excursion to Melbourne Zoo. The 3 grades went on that excursion to learn about the kinetic energy at the zoo and how to capture it and then use that energy to power the zoo. For example, The zoo uses so much electricity and they are running out of places to put solar panels. The reptile house uses a lot of electricity for the heat lamps and the water pumps so the classes had to try and use kinetic energy made at the zoo to power some of the supplies that need electricity to work.

We were split into groups of 7 or 8. Then we all went looking at the animals and good examples of kinetic energy. One of my favorites was the tigers. The tigers were separated into 2 cages. One near the otters and one near the monkeys. The tiger near the otters didn't do much. But he was really close to the window! The tiger was sleeping on some hay near the window! The other tiger was in the bushes so you couldn't see him. But then, The tiger came out of the bushes and ran towards us! The tiger then stopped at the water’s edge and had a drink.

We also had a little class with a keeper and we had to find some things in the reptile house that uses electricity. Then we made our way to the zebras and giraffes. We had to look for kinetic energy made by the animals. We came up with all different ideas. We also talked about how we can capture that energy. Some people said that we can capture it in a battery, while other people disagreed.

On the 18th of May, 4,5,6s went on an excursion to the Melbourne Zoo. We had lots of fun and learned lots of things. We hope that Melbourne Zoo won’t have to use as much electricity anymore.

By Makayla

Foundation and Year One Incursion with Emma from the Library