Zoolab visit Loughton's year 6
Today, in year 6, the children have enjoyed a fun-packed session delivered by Zoolab. Claire spoke to all of the children about a range of different animals – which the children got to see, stroke and in some cases, hold. She discussed how each of these animals have adapted to survive in their current environment and how they have evolved over time, building on from what the children have learnt through our Evolution and Inheritance science topic.
The children learnt about how giant African land snails have existed for over 550 million years but have had to adapt to live in fresh water and on land. They can grow to the size of a small football and have four tentacles which can help them sense their environment. ‘Slimy’ – who the children got to handle – was only a baby!
‘Turbo’, a Madagascan hissing cockroach, does just that! She hisses through the holes along her back to scare predators away.
‘Willow’, a tarantula, has hair on her body which she can flick to deter any predators. We also learnt that female tarantulas can live up to 12 years, whereas males generally live for 2, are a lot smaller than the females and often get eaten after mating!
We were introduced to an Asian forest scorpion named ‘Snippet’ and learnt that scorpions use their pinchers to grab and dissect their prey. Another fun fact was that they glow florescent green under UV light.
Our last visitor was Pudding, an inquisitive corn snake, who does not have eyelids or external ears but tastes and smells using his tongue! Corn snakes are incredibly strong creatures; they have 3000 bones and 1000 muscles!
The children had a fabulous time and have described the session as having ‘memorable moments’, being ‘fun yet educational’ and a ‘once in a lifetime chance to see and handle these animals.’