Zoo animals interest children

“Eeewww”, “Aaaawww” and “Eeeeekkk!” were the sounds the children made Saturday morning at Landmark Park as each new animal from the Montgomery Zoo was uncaged.

“I liked the flying squirrels the best!” said Brooks Andrews, 8.

“I thought all the animals were really cool!” said Lance Pickett, 10.

Both boys’ parents heard via the local media that the zoo animals were coming to Dothan this weekend and thought it would be a productive way of passing the morning.

“It’s a great educational experience,” said Mark Andrews of Dothan who also brought his younger son, Cooper, 6.

“Landmark Park always has the best programs and things that are awesome to do,” Joan Pickett of Dothan said.

Within an hour’s time, more than 60 children and adults had heard the stories of Amelia, Earhart, and Wilbur the flying squirrels; Gizmo the brown rat; Shakespeare, the barred owl; Louie the black king snake, a box turtle, a gopher tortoise, and a black vulture.

It was a learning experience for everyone, as adults asked as many questions as the children did and learned:

—That a flying squirrel has an extra flap of skin from its wrists to its ankles that enables it to glide.

—That a tortoise lives on the land and a turtle lives in the water.

—That a rat can be as cuddly as a dog or cat and can make a great pet.

—That a snake can survive in the wild by eating just three times a year.

—That an owl eats its prey whole and coughs up the undigestibles like fur, bones and teeth.

—That a vulture defends itself by vomiting on its attackers.

Jennifer Murphy, education curator at the Montgomery Zoo, located at 2301 Coliseum Parkway, said there are 580 different species of animals at the zoo. And when the children can’t come to the animals, she and other staffers take the animals to the children.

“It’s important for them to be able to see an animal and be close to it,” Murphy said. “It’s not the same as seeing them on TV or in a book.”

The program, “Alabama Wildlife with the Montgomery Zoo,” is part of Landmark Park’s educational science programs offered every Saturday in August. Next Saturday’s program, “The Secrets of Chemistry,” is a demonstration of the properties of chemistry with Wallace College professor Tony Holland.

Admission is $4 for adults and $3 for children ages 4 to 15. Park members and children under the age of 4 get in free. Programs begin at 10 a.m.

For more information about the August science programs at Landmark, call 794-3452