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Year 4 visit Craven Museum
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It was with some trepidation that we all set out to visit the Zoo Lab at the Craven Museum on Tuesday because we were due to meet and handle various marvellous mini-beasts from the far corners of the world. We were ushered into a large room downstairs and saw a number of intriguing boxes and containers on the side tables. We wondered what could be inside. We didn’t have to wait long before the Ranger Charlotte introduced us to ‘Simon’ the snail.
‘Ah!’ I hear you say! Actually Simon was rather a large mollusc. An African snail capable of growing up to 30cm in length!! Some of the children wanted to hold him, so he was carefully passed around the group in order that he could have a little crawl over their outstretched palms.
Next we met a LARGE cockroach! He was a fascinating chap, aptly named Colin, who engagingly waggled his antennae at the children as he walked along the treadmill of their fingers as if out for his afternoon stroll. Soon after Colin we met a hairy creature that, I am glad to report, stayed well and truly in her container. She was a rather splendid Tarantula displaying spinnerets, fangs and eight legs. We learned that she catches her prey when they inadvertently wander into her silk lined burrow and get trapped.
The next animal was a scorpion who was also firmly ensconced in his cage and who looked reassuringly like a plastic model - until he moved! We learnt that he catches his prey in his pincers in order to eat it and only stings if he is being attacked. The next impressive animal was a beautiful tree toad from Africa who was quite small and rough skinned. He catches his prey on his tongue!
To our amazement the Ranger then reached into a large container and pulled out a SNAKE - a six foot long SNAKE! It was a beautiful American Corn Snake. It was the colour of ripened corn and had the most remarkable markings. Many of the children were afraid to touch him but the Ranger gently encouraged them to overcome their fear. The children were all amazed to find that the snake was warm, dry and soft to the touch! The snake had the smallest head and his tongue was constantly darting in and out because that’s how he smells. We found out that he is capable of dislocating his jaw bone and can swallow a creature the size of a mouse before pulling his jaw back into position.
The last animals that we met were called Sharon and Ozzie! They were a pair of rats! They ran down the arms of the ranger as if they were performing in the circus. They seemed to enjoy the exhibitionism. They were twitchy-nosed and attractive much to most of the children’s surprise. They also have partially prehensile tails that gently wrapped around the ranger’s arm to help them balance. Many of the children decided to touch Ozzie despite him being quite large.
There were lots of questions and stories to exchange. I’m sure we could quite easily have stayed for another hour.
Whilst we were at the museum we also had the opportunity to think about the history of the animal kingdom and we were able to ‘excavate’ various amazing fossils and then we had a go at making some fossils of our own!
The children were amazed to find out that a person who studies fossils is called a Palaeontologist. Perhaps we have some budding palaeontologists and naturalists amongst the children of Year Four?
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