Zoo+Challenge

  B.P. ZOO CHALLENGE

[|Zoo Challenge Winners]     Ruffed lemur from google It is not every day a Gisborne child gets to help out a southern white rhino or ruffed lemur, but a group of Gifted and Talented Education students are doing exactly that.

Nearly 20 children were picked from schools here to take part in the national BP Zoo Challenge 2008 through the Turanga Gisborne GATE Programme.

They were required to work in teams from each school to design and create a "behavioural-enriching toy" for a kea, southern white rhino, or a ruffed lemur.

This provided the 18 boys and girl one of their first and hardest challenges, said Motu Primary School principal Paul Cornwall.

"Actually choosing which animal they were going to build an enrichment toy for was hard for them," he said.

Once decisions were made, students went on to design and construct their inventions.

"They have gone home and worked on it. . . for boys in particular it's pretty neat that their dads and granddads wanted to do it with them without actually taking over," said Mr Cornwall.

Four days on and the group have a handful of colorful inventions to enter, including a wooden feeding machine designed to pour food into a dish at the push of a paw or foot.

Food, or rather the way an animal gains access to food, is a major component of behavioural enrichment, according to Challenge organisers.

Presenting food in a way that makes animals search, forage, climb, jump and co-operate, stimulates them, which in turn leads to animals having fewer physical problems, more successful breeding, and a longer life span.

The Challenge is designed to encourage animals to use their natural abilities, increase their activity and allow them to make choices, giving them new experiences.

The GATE students will make final adjustments to their creations before entering them next week.

Prizes range from $1000 to $300 and will be awarded for the best designs, which will go toward school resources.

 We thought you might like to get an opinion from students that went to the B.P Zoo Challenge so we decided to interview students from Mangagapapa School : Lyndon and Mikaere.  Interview with Lyndon:   What was the purpose of the B.P Zoo Challenge? To learn about our own animals and how special our animals really are.

What types of things did you learn about the animals?

We learnt about their speed how smart they are and how strong they are.  Interview with Mikaere:  How did the B.P Zoo Challenge come about? To challenge students and to help Hamilton Zoo to make a toy for the animals to make the animals have more fun.

Did you enjoy the B.P Zoo Challenge why or why not? I very much enjoyed it, because it challenged our brains and taught us a lot of things, for example how to make things with basic stuff lying around the house.



INFORMATION HELP FROM THE GISBORNE HERALD