The Zoo

As the following article describes, the whole of year ten went to the city zoo last Thursday. This article is going into next week's school newsletter. Writing articles for the newsletter is harder than one would think. But I managed this one:

On Tuesday the 8^th, all the year ten students boarded a fleet of buses and headed down to the city to go to the zoo. The point of the zoo trip was to learn about introduced and endangered species. We had a worksheet to complete and one session to attend but besides that, we were free to roam maturely around the zoo.

The session was mainly focused on endangered species of endemic birds in New Zealand, and how introduced species, including humans, have severely disrupted the ecosystem. The session taught me how unique and special the flora and fauna of New Zealand is; we were an isolated island 65 million years ago, and so our animals could evolve free of mammal predation and develop some very unique factors. You may realise that our country is home to things that are found no where else in the world.

Just wandering around the enclosures and appreciating the wonderful animals that the zoo has to offer was great. Seeing the tiger roll over and yawn like your pet cat never ceases to be amazing. Watching the chimpanzee, giant tortoise and tamarind monkeys up close is a really nice experience.
Being able to realistically apply ecology made the study more interesting and easier to grasp.

A big thanks to the teachers that organised this trip and the parents that came along, it was a really enjoyable day.