On the 7th March, we attended Fota Wildlife Park in Cork. We left the school at around 7:30am and arrived at around 9:45am. When we arrived, we met our supervisors Clare and Caroline who outlined our day's activities. We then followed both women behind the scenes to an outhouse where we were split into our class groups and played a series of teamwork games like Chinese Whispers and a sheepdog/herding game where we were blindfolded and had to listen to a code. We then played a tangram game. We had to use the tangram pieces to make the shapes of animals which were shown on a screen. My team won overall and we were very happy as we had lost the other 2 games magnificently.
After the games, we began our tour around the park. We went to the giraffe house and the kitchen where the animals foods are prepared each day. We learned that giraffe's tongues are blue to stop them getting sunburnt when feeding. We also learned that the animals foods have to be measured exactly for their age, weight and dietary needs. This is to prevent weight and health problems. In the giraffe house, we saw zebra and ostriches. They were inside today as their paddock was muddy after the snow. After this, we saw many more exotic animals such as cheetahs, spider monkeys, wallabies, kangaroos and flamingos. We then stopped for lunch in a small café where peacocks and peahens were to be see wandering around freely. I must admit I was a bit scared of the peacocks as I'm not their biggest fan. I think it tried to change my mind by following me which I didn't like one bit.
After lunch, we continued our tour of Fota. In Irish style and misfortune, it began to rain. It was a light rain however and so it didn't really bother us much. However it did start to get a bit heavy for about 5 seconds which led myself and Rose to hide under Ms Murtagh's little umbrella. Quite a sight to be fair. We saw gibbons, black rhinos, tigers, lions and many other animals in the rain. The tigers were beautiful. They are one of my favourite animals. When they looked at us, it was hard to look away due to their golden brown or green eyes. We also went to a the tropical house where there were reptiles, fish and butterflies. The butterflies were really pretty. At one stage, one massive one landed on Ms Murtagh's jacket. On the way to the bison and Lechwes we came across some men doing some work on some of the new enclosures. Caroline made a joke that they were the 'human enclosure' This to us was very funny and the workmen played along with it making faces. We finished our tour of Fota at the meerkat house and were let go for a coffee and food in a little café before our talk on Irish wildlife.
Caroline met us in the far outhouse. She spoke to us about the endangered and common animals found on Irish soil. There were many stuffed specimens which Caroline picked up and brought around to us. This was quite interesting as many people hadn't seen some of these animals such as stoats and mink before. At the end of the presentation, Caroline showed us pictures of newborn otters, hedgehogs and foxes. These were very cute and a nice way to end the presentation.
We finished the day by going shopping at Mahon Point Shopping Centre and arrived home at 20:40. Overall I found the day very interesting and really enjoyed it. I would really recommend this to all TY's as you can learn a lot of things about animals that you didn't before.
After the games, we began our tour around the park. We went to the giraffe house and the kitchen where the animals foods are prepared each day. We learned that giraffe's tongues are blue to stop them getting sunburnt when feeding. We also learned that the animals foods have to be measured exactly for their age, weight and dietary needs. This is to prevent weight and health problems. In the giraffe house, we saw zebra and ostriches. They were inside today as their paddock was muddy after the snow. After this, we saw many more exotic animals such as cheetahs, spider monkeys, wallabies, kangaroos and flamingos. We then stopped for lunch in a small café where peacocks and peahens were to be see wandering around freely. I must admit I was a bit scared of the peacocks as I'm not their biggest fan. I think it tried to change my mind by following me which I didn't like one bit.
After lunch, we continued our tour of Fota. In Irish style and misfortune, it began to rain. It was a light rain however and so it didn't really bother us much. However it did start to get a bit heavy for about 5 seconds which led myself and Rose to hide under Ms Murtagh's little umbrella. Quite a sight to be fair. We saw gibbons, black rhinos, tigers, lions and many other animals in the rain. The tigers were beautiful. They are one of my favourite animals. When they looked at us, it was hard to look away due to their golden brown or green eyes. We also went to a the tropical house where there were reptiles, fish and butterflies. The butterflies were really pretty. At one stage, one massive one landed on Ms Murtagh's jacket. On the way to the bison and Lechwes we came across some men doing some work on some of the new enclosures. Caroline made a joke that they were the 'human enclosure' This to us was very funny and the workmen played along with it making faces. We finished our tour of Fota at the meerkat house and were let go for a coffee and food in a little café before our talk on Irish wildlife.
Caroline met us in the far outhouse. She spoke to us about the endangered and common animals found on Irish soil. There were many stuffed specimens which Caroline picked up and brought around to us. This was quite interesting as many people hadn't seen some of these animals such as stoats and mink before. At the end of the presentation, Caroline showed us pictures of newborn otters, hedgehogs and foxes. These were very cute and a nice way to end the presentation.
We finished the day by going shopping at Mahon Point Shopping Centre and arrived home at 20:40. Overall I found the day very interesting and really enjoyed it. I would really recommend this to all TY's as you can learn a lot of things about animals that you didn't before.