On Wednesday 2nd September, the Level 3 Biology students went to Orana Park for their Human Evolution topic.

The students met with Toby, an Educational Instructor at the Zoo, who discussed features of primates with students. Afterwards, the students measured and studied features of various primate skulls (including the human skull) before heading out to observe some primates in action! The students observed behavioural and structural adaptations of the Spider Monkeys (primate type = New World Monkey), Gibbons (primate type = Lesser Ape) and Gorillas (primate type = Great Ape). Lastly, students got to observe and study skulls from our own human ancestors, such as Homo habilis and Homo neanderthalensis! This was an incredible experience and there are not many places in New Zealand that have a full collection of skulls from the human evolutionary history!