Zoo Trip

It was a beautiful sunny Wednesday morning. Our class had filled up the marble jar with all the marbles and our reward was to go to the Hamilton Zoo.

When everyone had arrived, we all split up into our groups and started to explore. My mum had helped with the transport so she was going to take the people who were in our car around. In my group, there were four kids including me. They were Charlotte, Quinn and Laekin.

At the spider monkey’s cage, there were thick green ropes everywhere. There were also wooden poles in every direction, but some wooden poles were standing straight up. While we were watching the little light brown monkeys, they were showing off their skills and jumping from the highest pole and onto the wire. They also swung from rope to rope.

After we got bored with watching the monkeys swinging and leaping about, we moved on.

We had gone past a few animals when we came to the meerkats' enclosure. There was a tall boy meerkat standing on a large wooden log in their enclosure and another tall girl meerkat standing behind the log on the sandy ground, then we noticed that there were four grey, white and black tiny baby meerkats all trying to dig down into the ground but they couldn’t, sadly, because the sand was too hard for them, so they scurried here and there trying to find a place where they could dig down. In their enclosure, there were large rocks for them to stand on and dig underneath.

We moved onto the next animal - the giraffes. Charlotte was a HUGE! fan of the giraffes. She had a woollen giraffe hat on which she didn’t take off all day. We were all excited to see the giraffes, especially Charlotte. 
As we walked down the stony hill, we all talked excitedly about our zoo trip so far, then, in the distance, we saw our first glimpse of the long skinny necked orange giraffes.

When we got to the bottom of the hill, I took out my ipad and took a video, of the giraffes. In the video, one of the giraffes came up to the fence and bent its head down towards us. In their enclosure, there was dust and big poles for the giraffes food. There were some other animals in the enclosure like zebras and cantaloupe and there were two ostriches.  

After a little while, we started to head back up the hill so that we could get to the classroom in time because the classroom was all the way at the other side of the zoo.

We got there in good time because we still had a few minutes until it was our turn to go into the classroom. We waited for a few minutes then our whole class was called in. Inside, there were animal bones and skins. Matt told us that the animal skins and bones were once alive, thousands of years ago. Matt told us all that we could have a good look around so we all got up and started to explore.  

In the room, there was a glass window, and, behind it, was  a tuatara. There were bones from almost every animal and, in a glass case, there was a display of lots of bird eggs. There was also a dead scorpion and crocodile. Matt said that we could touch the crocodile if we liked.   

I thought it had been a lovely day and I can’t wait till next time. 
  
IMG 1335 from Pam Thomson on Vimeo.

The Zoo Trip

One sunny afternoon, a little girl, the age of five, called Catherine, was experiencing her first zoo trip. She had come with her big brother, Benjamin, who was ten, and her parents.

Catherine wanted to see all the animals but there was one that she particularly wanted to see, and that was the lion cubs.

After a little while, Catherine's mum and dad said that, if Benjamin wanted to, he could take her to the place where the lion cubs were.

Catherine was so excited that she ran over to Benjamin and said, jumping up and down, "Please, please, please, take me to see the lion cubs!”

“Alright, alright, I will, but only if you calm down,” laughed Benjamin.

Benjamin and Catherine walked side by side half of the way, then Catherine started to complain that her legs were sore so he gave her a piggyback the other half of the way.

Soon, in the distance, they saw a little wooden enclosure and they could hear, very faintly, little meows.

There was a zoo keeper waiting patiently outside the door and she beckoned them to come over.

When they stepped inside, the zoo keeper closed the door behind them and told them, “I’m just going to get the food for them.”

“Ok” answered Benjamin.

When they turned around, they were facing the cutest little lion cubs they had ever seen and they looked so soft and cuddly.
“They look so cute,but look at the one at the back. It looks like it is digging underneath the wire,” said Catherine, in a frightened voice. 
Benjamin looked at the back of the cage and he, too, saw the cub digging. He thought quickly, picked up the special gloves and wrapped his hands around the waist of the cub. He gently put him up on the shelf where there were beds for them.

Just then, the zoo keeper returned and said, “I’m back with the food for the cubs. Is everything alright?”

“ Yes, everything is ok, thank you,” answered Catherine, in a chirpy voice.

What they didn’t know was, that while Catherine and Benjamin were asking the zoo keeper questions, that little cub was digging under the wires again.

When they turned around to say their goodbyes to the lion cubs, they weren't there any more. At the back of the cage, there was a hole under the wires where the cub had been digging, but there was one little cub, the youngest, named Sunny, fast asleep upon the shelf where the beds were. 
“Oh no!” cried the zoo keeper. "Two lion cubs have escaped."

Soon, there was a message going around to the zoo keepers, saying to come to the lion cubs' enclosure at once. The zoo keeper in charge of the lion cubs explained what had happened and told them all to get some special gloves and look all around the zoo in every bush and tree.

The zoo keeper asked Benjamin, "Could you help us look  for the lion cub?”

“Of course I will,” so Benjamin jumped up and grabbed some special gloves and started looking.  

“What about me?” asked Catherine, in a confident voice.

“ I have a very special job for you to do.”

“Really! What is it?”

“Can you look after Sunny, that little lion cub, over there for me?”

“Of course.” 
So Catherine put food and warm milk in all of the bowls. Afterwards, she chose the smallest pair of gloves and picked up Sunny and put her in her lap. She gently stroked the soft golden fur until it sounded like there was a little motor inside of the little lion cub.

Sunny looked so peaceful that Catherine started to feel sleepy herself and she must have drifted off because, when she woke up, she saw her parents, Benjamin and the zoo keeper all staring down at her.

She then noticed something. Her mum and dad were each holding a lion cub.

Catherine asked, “Did you find the lion cubs?”

“Yes, we did, thankfully,” said the zoo keeper.