Edinburgh Zoo Virtual Class Trip!
We have the fantastic opportunity to take a virtual trip to
Edinburgh Zoo! If you click on the link below it will take you to
the map for the virtual tour:
https://www.thinglink.com/card/1329025429536768001
You will notice there are 3 types of glowing/flashing icons.
These are the ones you need to click on to follow the tour.
This is the Fact File icon; clicking this will reveal all the
fab facts Edinburgh Zoo have included about the animals in that
exhibit.
This is the Webcam Feed where you can see videos from the live
webcams for certain exhibits. If you click and scroll down, you
will see the video feed for that area. (Don’t click on any of the
other available animals from this menu or it will ruin the route
through the zoo!)
This is the Interactive Game icon; clicking this will reveal a
game for you to play relating to the area of the zoo you are
currently in!
Now we know what the icons mean, we can explore the map in more
detail and set off on our Edinburgh Zoo Tour! I hope you enjoy the
tour I’ve designed for you!
Follow along if you’d like; or explore in your own way. (I’ve
added lots of fun tasks for us to complete as we travel through the
zoo so make sure you take your thinking cap with you!)
To follow my tour, you’ll have to pay close attention to the
complete map and not just the icons you click on. We might not
visit every exhibit on the tour, so make sure you write down which
ones we didn’t make it to! (You can visit them by yourself at the
“Free Time!” spots.)
I HOPE YOU ENJOY!
1. Time Tracking!
Before we get to the zoo, we need to check the opening times!
Below you will see the zoo’s opening times based on the seasons
they run:
What time does the zoo open for us in June and what time will
the zoo close? How many hours altogether will we have in the
zoo?
Now we know when we can arrive at the zoo, we enter through the
Zoo Entrance.
2. Feathers and Fur
Immediately, we have 2 different exhibits straight ahead of us.
One is a bird and one is a mammal; but they both live in large
groups or families. Both animals have vastly different appearances
too! Can you describe each animal in 5 sentences? (Use their Fact
Files to help you!)
Next, we head North to meet a very shy creature – the Red Panda.
They usually live in very cold areas of the world, so it maybe
doesn’t feel too out-of-place living here in Scotland! Which
continent would you likely find this animal in the wild? Can you
draw a sketch of this animal using one of the lovely photos from
their Fact File?
3. Wild Wingspans!
We head West now to reach the waterways where the Eastern White
Pelican lives. These large water-birds have an impressive wingspan
and could beat almost anyone in an eating competition! Using the
information in their Fact File, can you work out the difference in
wingspan between the smallest span recorded and the largest span
recorded? What operation would we have to use to work this out?
(Can you also work out the difference in bill length and
weight?)
Keeping in a North-West direction, we’re moving towards our
first live webcam exhibit. Before we get there, we must walk past
some very cheeky animals!
4. Clashing Climates
Although these two species live in separate continents, they
both inhabit similar habitats. Which habitat do they live in and
can you explain the differences in climate between their wild
homeland and their home here in Scotland?
(Think about the typical weather and temperature as well as any
seasonal changes or plant and animal life you would expect in these
areas.) You can use the Fact Files to help you or research these
habitats using books and/or the internet.
There is also an Interactive Game here which you can play before
moving on.
We’ve now made it to our first Webcam Feed site – Penguin Rock!
There are 2 different feeds here; one that shows the regular
“Penguin Cam” and one that shows the “Rockhopper Penguin Cam.”
Enjoy watching the camera feeds if you’d like. How many penguin
species do you know about? Can you name any of them? There are 17
penguin species in the world!
Once we’re ready to move on, we head North again to reach two
more exhibits with some four-legged creatures. One is the Malayan
Tapir and one is the Greater One-Horned Rhino.
5. Which Nose Would You Pick?
Both magnificent creatures have very strange noses. If you had
to have either a trunk or a horn, which would you pick and why?
Think about the benefits and the setbacks each of them would
give you. (You could create a table showing the pros and cons!)
6. Feeding Time Frenzy!
It’s time to head East now across our map – to the Grasslands
Restaurant – and stop for a bite to eat. They have their lunch menu
displayed on the board outside:
Lunch Menu:
Sandwich options:
cheese, chicken, ham, tuna mayo, peanut butter, cucumber,
turkey, coleslaw, jam. ~ £2 each (extra fillings 50p each).
Drinks options:
coca-cola, lemonade, diet coke, fanta ~ £1.75 eachfruit shoot,
apple juice, orange juice, milk ~ £1 each
water ~ free
Snack options:
ice-cream, ice-lolly, pick n’ mix ~ £2 each
crisps, cookies, fun-size chocolate bar, muffin ~ £1 each
fruit box, carrot and cucumber sticks, rice cakes, yogurt ~ 75p
each
Pick your lunch from the options above and calculate the total
cost of your meal! Did you think about how much your meal would
cost or how healthy your meal would be? Did that affect what you
chose?
7. FREE TIME!
It’s time to do a wee bit of exploring by yourself now! You can
choose from any of the following exhibits to visit whilst we wait
for everyone else to finish their lunches:
· Banteng
· Chinese Goral
· Southern Cassowary
· Egyptian Vulture
· Gelada Baboon
· Vicuna
· Giant Anteater
This would also be a great opportunity to catch up on any of the
games we’ve passed too!
Now that everyone has had their lunch and ready to continue,
we’re going to head right up to the North-East corner of the map.
Up here, we can see a beautiful view of grasslands and open space,
but some monochromatic grazers catch our attention! These
incredible animals have some funky patterns to their skin – sadly
making them extremely desirable to poachers and hunters in their
native wilds…
8. ‘Prevent Poachers’ Posters
Using the information provided in their Fact File, can you
create a poster to help discourage the illegal poaching and hunting
of this animal in the wild? Remember to include key information and
facts; use bright and bold colours or lettering to captivate your
audience; and make sure your poster has a clear message!
We’re heading South now, to our next Webcam Feed! This time we
are looking at the Giant Pandas. (As these creatures are primarily
nocturnal and very, very shy, they may not be out in their
enclosures when you open the feed. Keep checking back if you didn’t
get the chance to see them!) What do you notice about their
enclosure? Think about where their food is placed and any built-up
areas. Why do you think this is?
We’ll move West now, to see another two Webcam Feeds – one is
for the Sumatran Tiger and one is for the Asiatic Lion. Both large
cat species are called Apex Predators; this means they are the top
of their food chain in their native wilds. (Apparently the Tiger
can also be very elusive, so check back here too if you don’t
manage to catch them!)
9. Food-chain Fun
Can you make a food chain for either/both big cats? You can
either start from the top and work your way down (or start from the
bottom and work up!) You may need to use a fact book/the internet
to help you. Think about where they live in the world and what
their prey would most likely be.
Our next stop on our tour is to visit a rare breed of cat found
in our very own country! They may look like your usual pets, but
they have distinct features which help single them out. Using the
Fact File, can you locate the features which separates this species
from a normal domestic species? There is also a wee video which
highlights the land which these beautiful endangered cats live.
10. FREE TIME!
It’s time to do a wee bit of exploring by yourself now! You can
choose from any of the following exhibits to visit whilst we wait
for everyone else to gather their belongings after a toilet
stop:
· Swamp Wallaby
· Rainbow Lorikeet
· Koala (Webcam Feed)
· Chimpanzee
· Buff-Cheeked Gibbon
· Ring-Tailed Lemur
This would also be a great opportunity to catch up on any of the
games we’ve passed too!
Now we’re going to head South again to meet up with a bear
species who, apparently, enjoys the Summer weather! This rare bear
species has an incredibly long tongue that it uses to help reach
it’s favourite meals.
11. Made to Measure!
According to Edinburgh Zoo, the Sun Bear’s tongue can reach 25cm
long! Using a ruler, can you find 5 items in your house that are
the same length?
How long do you think your tongue is? If your tongue were as
long as a Sun Bear’s, what would you use it for?
We are now ready to reach our final exhibit – South-West of the
Sun Bears – with a type of aquatic mammal. They may not be the
biggest of their species, but they are arguably the cutest!
12. Super Synonyms
The word ‘pygmy’ means that the animal is a small species. Can
you think of any synonyms which also match the size for this
animal?
An antonym is the opposite of a synonym, so can you think of any
antonyms to describe the size?
Before we head home again after our amazing trip, we make a
quick stop through the gift shop. If there was one thing you could
buy from the gift shop, what would it be and why? Would it be a
type of stationery? A cuddly toy of one of the animals we met? A
snack designed especially for the zoo? Or maybe a model or figure
to display in your home to remember your trip?I hope you had a
magical time at the zoo with us on our Virtual Tour! Maybe you
could tell your next teacher all about it after the Summer
Holidays?