Hey there, art friends! Teryn and I just finished a funny and cute art lesson that we’re excited to share with you! This time, we’re teaching you how to draw a mythical red panda – a funny combo of a red panda, mermaid, and unicorn! It’s a fluffy cute red panda with the tail of […]
Desert Animals
Discover a wide variety of desert species from around the world at our park. Our collection includes desert species belonging to bird, mammal, reptile and invertebrate classifications.
Science
Adaptations
- By observing our animals and their enclosures children can find out about the basic survival needs of animals and consider the adaptations desert species at our park have developed to be able to meet these in the harsh environment of their natural habitat.
- Watching our animals and seeing their adaptations can also lead children to consider and discuss how adaptations can lead to evolution by drawing comparisons.
- Visit species which are adapted to tolerate a range of habitats such as pumas, porcupines and caracals which can all call the desert home as well as forests and scrubland.
- Discover that every plant and animal is perfectly adapted to live in its own particular habitat and then use this information to consider what happens when that environment changes. Children can learn about natural changes vs man-made changes throughout our park, particularly in Rainforest SOS and during talks. This will help them to recognise that environments can change for a variety of reasons and that these changes can pose a danger to living things.
Geography
Desert species worldwide
- Visit species indigenous to the Patagonian, Simpson, Atacama, Colorado, Kalahari, Sonoran and Namib deserts amongst others.
- Children can learn about the countries and continents that our desert animals are native to using signs available on their enclosures.
Physical geography
- Students can discuss the features of this environment and how this varies from other environments using signs available about habitats to develop their context knowledge of the locations of globally significant places.
- Children can interpret a range of sources of geographical information including maps, aerial photographs and a written natural history of each species using these to name and locate the World’s seven continents and five oceans.
PSHE
Human responsibility
- Develop an understanding that humans have a responsibility to care about our impact on the environment.
- Understand the difference between the things that are needed for survival and things that we just want.
Teaching outcomes lead to being able to…
- understand that there are many different deserts, and each one is home to its own unique species.
- identify adaptations that desert species have developed to help them survive in their harsh environment.
- name several deserts and identify which continents they can be found on.
- understand threats facing desert species.
This self-guided tour is one of a series of itineraries we have prepared for schools. The Desert Animals adaptation highlights the following exhibits and species.
- Meerkats
- Flamingos
- Scorpion
- Leopard gecko
- Porcupine
- Caracal
- Puma
- Cheetah
- Giraffe
- Penguin
The best place to start your desert animals tour is with our meerkat mob not far from the entrance. From here it is easy to access our walk-through Chilean flamingo enclosure followed by our Reptile House. The Reptile House is home to a number of species which live in the desert including our Arizona Desert hairy scorpion and leopard gecko.
After exiting the Reptile House please head towards our African crested porcupine enclosure. These porcupines are impressively tolerant of a range of habitats including deserts, mountains and forests and next door to them is our caracal, Mya. If you continue to follow this path around the top of the lake you will pass our lions and jaguars before reaching pumas, Binx and Lola and then Kikay the cheetah.
Next, head towards our giraffe House which is one of our newer areas at the bottom of Rainforest SOS. Along this route you can read a range of information about deforestation which provides a good opportunity to discuss that deforestation can cause desertification. After you are all done watching the giraffes make your way to your final stop on this itinerary, the penguins where you can discuss their interesting nesting habits.
Some interesting facts and learning points:
- Deserts aren’t always hot and sandy. In fact, the largest desert on Earth is a polar desert, the Antarctic. While the largest subtropical desert is the Sahara in northern Africa.
- Some animals such as our pumas can be found in a range of habitats. So, while they will be found in the Patagonian Desert they can also thrive in any kind of forest or scrubland too.
- Every continent is home to at least one desert.
- Despite inhabiting shallow brackish marshes, lagoons and shallow freshwater lakes, the Chilean flamingo can be seen in the driest desert on Earth, the Atacama Desert.
- Meerkats have dark circles around their eyes, these act like sunglasses and deflect the harsh rays of the sun so that they can see their surroundings more clearly. The tear marks which run from the corners of a cheetah’s eyes to the mouth do the same thing- reduce the sun glare.
- Some species which live in and around deserts can be very surprising. The Humboldt penguin, like those at our park, nest on the edge of the Atacama Desert on the coasts of Chile and Peru.
After every school visit we ask a teacher from the group to fill in a short email form about their day with us. We are always looking to improve the experience for the kids as well as the teachers and helpers, so please do take the time to fill one of these in if you decide to join us for a day with your class. Here is what some of our past teachers have said about a school visit to Wingham Wildlife Park!
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