On Wednesday, Team 3-4 were very lucky with the weather and got to go out to McLeans Island to visit Orana Wildlife Park.

The purpose of our visit to Orana Park was to explore a wide range of animals from around the world faced with extinction. We got to identify threats to animals in the wild, explain how living things become endangered or extinct and discover what they can do to help protect them now and in the future.

The children were so excited to see the Giraffes, Gorillas, Cheetah and Tigers to name a few.

Orana Wildlife Park is home to New Zealand’s only gorillas! The group consists of three males – Fataki (a 190kg silverback), Fuzu and their half-brother, Mahali. All of the children (and adults!!) were amazed to see these big boys and had lots of questions to ask about them.

An interesting fact we learnt was that one of the most dangerous things effecting gorillas are cellphone. Did you know that some of the metal in cellphones is found where gorillas live. We are destroying their habitats to get to this. Orana has teamed up with Vodaphone, Spark and 2 Degrees to collect any old phones and have them refurbished so we reduce the need to get more metal from the gorilla's habitats. See the photo below to find out more information.