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?