By Maddy Vitale
There weren’t any monkeys, giraffes, or tigers, but there was a skunk, a cavy and an alligator, some special guests that intrigued students at the Ocean City Primary School Friday at a special Parent Teacher Association-sponsored event.
“Eyes on sides, time to hide. Eyes in front. It’s time to hunt,” Kendra Verity, from the Cape May County Zoo said into a microphone explaining to children how some of the critters may be timid because they are prey animals.
The first creature to be introduced to the students was a ball python. When Verity took it carefully from its container, she warned that no one is allowed to touch the snake, which, she said fed on mice and other little things. Kids oohed and ahhed as Verity walked carefully in between the rows of tables, close enough for the children to get a good look, but not close enough to touch.
Then there was the blue tongued skink, whom zoo employee Nikki Licata explained uses its unusually-colored tongue to scare off predators.
“No one wants to eat that guy,” she said into the microphone to some chuckles.
Some kids remarked that the skink looked like a dinosaur.
And then there was Peggy, the skunk who couldn’t quite see in the daylight and opted to stay in her cage. Zoo employees explained that since she is nocturnal it is better she stays where she feels safe and secure.
Verity told the crowd, which included a good number of parents, that you don’t want to get a skunk angry.
“The first warning is they will stomp their feet. The next is they raise will their tail straight up in the air,” Verity said, adding the next step is a stinky trouble and you better back away and fast.
The American alligator, who was very small for now, had some of the kids wondering how big he would get.
He was going to be pretty large. But for now, the kids got a look at him when he could still be carried around. One kid said, “Wow. He’s cool.”
There was one animal that the kids weren’t quite sure what to make of him, except for the fact they thought he was really cute, judging by their oohs and ahhs. His name was Twix, raised by Verity.
He is a cavy, which a large rodent in the guinea pig family, and he eats peanuts with the shells on them.
But Verity said he is very timid, and after all, he is a wild animal and since he is a rodent, he is prey. When she put him on the floor, he appeared to be ice-skating, running in place because of the slippery floor. She quickly scooped him up to put him at ease.
Technology teacher Randy Kohr said the event which brought kids out after school, is a great way for children to get hands-on experience.
“This helps take what the students have done in the classroom and put it to real life,” Kohr said. “The PTA really does a great job for the kids. We are so grateful to have them.”
