Friday, March 15
Animal Hour is a weekly science program suitable for people of all ages. This program is an opportunity to talk with our animal exhibits staff directly to learn about WonderLab’s animal ambassadors and what it takes to care for animals from around the world. During this program you can have the opportunity to meet snakes, lizards, insects, arachnids and more up close and out of their habitats.
We humans are global citizens not just with fellow humans, but with every other living creature on the planet. We can sometimes forget we are animals too so our Animal Hour aims to remind us of that by creating a space where you can engage with the animal ambassadors and explore what we have in common first hand. This program will also investigate the habitats the ambassadors represent by providing a guided tour of the WonderLab’s biome focused thematic areas Hidden Life of Deserts and Wonder Under the Waves. We will learn how the environment can influence the evolution of all us living creatures by looking at some of the animal ambassadors’ adaptations they have evolved to their specific environments.
Understanding the interrelatedness of an animal’s ecology and their evolutionary success is foundational to beginning to understand the importance of protecting the health of our environment. Using interactive demonstrations and experiments this program will illustrate some of the challenges the environment faces and encourage people to work together to be good stewards of Earth by brainstorming collectively ways we can minimize our impact in the future while coming up with solutions to the problems we have now.
Activities may include:
- Observing an animal ambassador feeding
- Viewing an animal enrichment activity
- Touring Wonder Under the Waves or Hidden Life of Deserts led by an Animal Care team-member.
- Watch or participate in demonstrations and experiments
- Get hands on by touching shedded snake skins, tarantula molts, and more
Program details are subject to change as the needs of the animal ambassadors warrant.
3 – 4 p.m. EST
Topic: Animal Engineers
Location: WonderLab
Masks Optional
Cost: Free with Admission