A lot of the campers were thinking this would be a boring day. Well today just went to show that there are no boring days at Safari Day Camp! We met with Brian, a keeper, out on the preserve. With him he brough skulls of different types of animals. We learned the difference between horns and antlers. Then we walked around identifying different hoof marks in the wet soil. You can tell a lot from a foot print. Not only can you learn what species it is, but also if it is male or female and how old it is! Pretty cool. We then drove out on the preserve and Brian told us more about the other antelopes at LCS.


Everyone was looking forward to Lory day. We met up with an LCS keeper outside the Lory Feeding Exhibit. We learned about the lories...from the different sub-species to what they eat and their natural habitat. The we went inside and started to identify the different birds. The kids have nicknames for some of the birds like Bandit and Retro. Everyone was given feeding cups full of nectar and vitamins to give to the birds, which they all flocked to. It was tough to find a camper not covered in a bird (and a little spilled nectar). For craft we drew large lories (boys made one and the girls made one). We glued on feathers and tried to make it as accurate as possible. They girls decided to glue theirs onto cardboard and make a beautiful background, which is currently being displayed at the KOA. It looks great!


We met Linda and Aaron, Education Assistants, at the Animal Theater along with Clymber, a Soloman Island Skink. Another name for this type of skink is a monkey tailed skink because they both have prehensile tails, which means it can grab on to things and acts like a 5th limb. Besides Clymber there are 6 other skinks located in the reptile moat for all the visitors to check out. But be warned-- they like to hide in the trees so you'll have to look hard!


Today we spent and hour with Jen, a reptile keeper. We basically followed her around on her daily routine and assisted, as any Jr. Keeper should. We started over at Redman, the Aldabra Tortoise. We raked and cleaned his enclosure and fed him some yummy treats like bananas. Then we had to count the gators and make sure we had all of them. It is an imporant job for every keeper to make sure all the animals are accounted for. Then we fed the iguanas, turtles, and skinks their food for they day and made sure they had plenty of water. For craft we made minature reptile moats. Sure we only had plastic lizards in there, but if we made real ones, the reptiles would live like kings!


The day of creepy crawlies! Okay, so it wasn't as bad as it sounds. We started they day off with learning about different species of insects..from they flying kind to the jumping kind to the walking kind! Then we had a contest. Boys vs. Girls. For every live bug the kids got 2 points, dead ones got 1, predators got 1 point, and then Kate decided how many points shoudl be awarded for the prettiness and creepiness! In the end the end the boys won, but only by 4 points. If only they hadn't found this really creepy red and black furry walking bee type thing without wings. But man we had to give them creep points, even the girls admitted it!