When the day came to visit Auckland Zoo, we were all excited to have an opportunity to learn about all the animals there.

We hopped on the bus and traveled to the zoo enthusiastic about what was to come during the day.

The information about the seven R’s was really interesting. The R’s stood for: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Rehome, Replant, Recycle, and Rot. They all stood for different things. Some were about reusing and recycling things, while others were about giving things a home. 

The zoo worker, who was a kind man, told us about the zoo, what they were doing to help the environment, and their connections with animals. The amount of sustainability of the zoo surprised us. They were working on a big problem that is going on around the earth. Plastic. The zoo was reusing plastic for their enclosures, like the plastic made into domes and plastic made into tracks around the ape’s obstacle course.

We got to touch a beautiful turtle shell, which was a great experience. We also got to see plastic that is usually found in innocent marine animal’s stomachs. It was stored in a jar, and got passed around the class as we all gaped in shock. 

The zookeeper showed us some different kinds of feces (which were coated in resin) and it got passed around the class too, some smelling it and some just refusing to touch it. There was some elephant poo (which was NOT covered in resin) too, and it was suggested that we could touch it (with gloves obviously). I could tell that the class ‘loved’ touching the elephant poo. The people who sat out were disgusted with how many people stood up. Soon enough, the talk ended and everyone was ready to explore the zoo.

The animals were the best part of the zoo trip by far. From squawking flamingos to sleeping lions and spider monkeys fighting over kumara, the animals amazed us all. The South East Asia Track tempted us in as we eagerly went to see the tiger. Sadly, she was in her bamboo hut so we couldn’t see her. But a T.V showed us her actions and what she was doing.

Next was the orangutans. A large, orange orangutan sat under a teal blanket covered in fur in a large flax cocoon. At first we thought it was fake but a kind zookeeper told us that the orangutan was indeed real, and it was hiding or sleeping. Most likely sleeping. Then the zookeeper let us hold some of the orangutan's hair, which felt like a horse’s. After that, we were going to the next animal when we saw a siamang swing above our heads. He had such grace and balance as he quickly swung to his destination. Then there was the highlight of the day, seeing the spider monkeys being fed. Everyone gathered around to see a zookeeper give information on the spider monkeys while the other zookeeper brought out a bucket full of fruit and vegetables. She threw some kumara into the rainforest-like habitat. It took a few minutes for the monkeys to realize there was food but finally, a spider monkey jumped out of the tree and snatched the kumara. Swinging out of a tree, his friend came up to him and they started fighting over the piece of kumara. We sat outside the enclosure and gasped when a spider monkey dangled off the tree branch at a frightening height. Everyone was so focused on the monkeys' plight for food, that we completely forgot about the other zookeeper trying to tell us information. After the feeding, we walked around trying to see the animals that we missed.

The zoo trip was so fun. We learned so much from what elephant poo looked like, to what lizard eggs felt like. Everyone was so amazed by the size and weight of the tortoises. Did you know that the Galapagos tortoise can weigh around 240 kgs? Each group found a stop to eat in different places around the zoo. We had an amazing lunch listening to the parakeets and Tui flying around freely. We had a fun bus ride home listening to classic kiwi music. Overall we had an amazing time at Auckland Zoo and we would definitely go again.

By Amina Zhang, Lucy Issac, Isla Malem, and Ava Turner (Rm 30)