American Museum of Natural History excursion:

May 5, 2023

For this excursion, we traveled to Washington DC and visited the National Zoo. In the zoo, we visited many exhibits, but two are highlighted below. One was self-guided, and one was guided by Dr. Merck.

Zoo Buildings:

Small Mammal House: The displays in this house were definitely aimed towards all ages, even little kids, with different angles to see the different animals. At some exhibits, the window would be at a low spot for little children to see the animals easily. The text on the panels would not only be text, but would also have many pictures, probably for younger kids that cannot read. It would also be placed at a fairly low height, probably for kids to read. I definitely saw younger kids taking advantage of the lower placed windows. Fennec Fox - Big ears for hunting prey - Ears can even hear animals buried in sand - Found in deserts in Africa - Smallest of the dogs, wolves, and foxes Chinchilla - Endangered - Found in mountains in South Africa - Population decline because of habitat loss and mining - Grows 60 hairs from each follicle Sand Cat - Live in deserts that are 125 degrees in day and 0 degrees at night - Furred feet don’t leave prints - Found deserts/arid regions in Africa and Asia - Unique pattern of whiskers Red Ruffed Lemur - Most endangered group of mammals - Found in forests in Madagascar - Has a call members can hear more than half a mile away

Amazonia: This building was definitely for kids in middle school and up. I think this because of the free roam section upstairs. It is often hard to get little kids to keep their hands to themselves or not run around, so I don’t think it would be the best place to bring them to. They could disrupt the animals and their habitat. I also noticed there were less pictures on the plaques here, so it might not capture their attention for long enough. Also, many tanks were open at the top, so a kid could easily reach into habitats. Guinea Pigs - Guinea pigs can have up to five litters a year - Found in South America - Domesticated guinea pigs descended from Montane guinea pigs Oscar - Ferocious predator - Feeds on smaller fish/insects - Spots near tail looks like eyes, allows them to escape from confusing predators Arapaima - One of the few remaining species in ancient group of fishes - Being overfished for food - Only large one breeds Redtail Catfish - Finds almost anything tasty to eat

Education:

The zoo had a lot of laboratories that looked like it was for research purposes. These laboratories are probably used to help the animals with rehabilitation and to learn more things about species. This research is probably released to the general public, so the zoo definitely helps in pushing out new information, especially on endangered species. Another thing they had when we visited was people from USGS. Although this is probably not everyday, there were many people standing at tables, having you answer questions for free stickers or other items. It is a good day for people to indirectly learn something, and definitely aids people in learning little tidbits about animals.

Animal Mental/Emotional Welfare

In many of the habitats, there are things hanging, interactive toys, or different places to lay that allow the animals to do more than just sit in their space. I often saw animals moving around to the different places layed out for them or playing with something left for them in their enclosure. Another thing I noticed was that the animals were not required to be in the space we can see from outside. In many of the areas, there are tunnels that seem to lead to more hidden spaces that we cannot see. It is definitely a good way to allow them to destress in case the animals are overstimulated from people looking at them all day. It also gives them a nice, bigger enclosure to reside in.