Day 13 :: 3rd Grade Fieldtrip

Today's outing seemed to call on my more 'mature' side. Which, as many of you know, is a bit of a stretch for me. I volunteered to chaperone for a field trip that Addie's 3rd grade class was taking. The destination was the Wildlife Science Center in Forest Lake.

I arrived much earlier than needed. I thought the class was leaving at noon, so I arrived at 11:45. The class didn't depart until 12:25. The upside was that I really got to observe Addie in her class setting. It was fun to see how she interacts with the other kids. I don't really have anything profound to say about it, but it was a proud moment for me, and quite enjoyable.

We eventually made our way to the busses, and journeyed up to the Wildlife Science Center. Because the entire 3rd grade was on this trip, we split up into four groups. Each group went to a different 'station' and rotated. The stations were; 1. raptors (specifically, owls), 2. misc. mammals, 3. inside talk about misc. mammals, and 4. outside wolves. Our group went in that order.

The time spent talking about owls was pretty fascinating. The woman speaking really had the kids attention and taught us things like... 1. owls, like most birds, have hollow bones, 2. owls eyeballs are almost a third of their head size, 3. a long-eared owl only weighs 3/4 of a pound, 4. an owl can rotate it's head almost 270˚, and so on.

We then moved on to the second station, but as we walked from point A to point B, we walked past what seemed to be a scene from a horror movie... we walked by a gated area, where the gate slowed squeeked open... and on the other side... not a pile, but a mass, of dead deer carcasses. It was fairly grotesque, and instigated many screams and gasps from the unexpecting group of 3rd graders passing by.

We checked out the coyotes, the grey fox, the porcupine, and the two mountain lions. Other than the sleeping grey fox, the animals were quite animated and provided plenty of entertainment for the audience.

The next station brought us inside for a 25-minute interactive talk providing some history of the wolves, and some general information about the three north American wild canines: 1. foxes, 2. coyotes, and 3. wolves.

The final station was a tour of the wolves on the property. Apparently, we witnessed some unusual activity during this phase. We got to witness the two Mexican Wolves eat a fresh carcass, and demonstrate the dominant behavior of the Alpha over the other wolf. The second wolf neared the carcass with hesitation and it's tail between it's legs. As the Alpha ate first, it would often growl and bear it's teeth as the second wolf neared.

We then moved on to the Tundra Grey Wolves. This Alpha pair of male and female apparently don't squabble, but have a mutual respect for each other. However, in this particular case, the male didn't seem to have much of an appetite as the female crunched through the ribs of the deer to get to the heart.

The next two wolves were red wolves. They are very near extinction and there are only a few left in the wild. The two on exhibit were a male and a female, but the female apparently hasn't found this male very fetching, and has turned down any of his advances. Because the Center is trying to produce cubs, they may swap out the female with another.

The final group of wolves was a pack of grey wolves generally found in northern Minnesota and other nearby states. They seemed to be the most active, and they were quite large - 80-100 lbs each.

I've actually been to the Center once before, so not much of this was brand new to me. However, going as chaperone and seeing it through the kids' eyes was the new experience. They were so fascinated by these majestic animals. I've asked Addie many times in the past what she wants to be when she grows up, and she just always says "I dunno." However, today, on the way home, she announced without prompting, "When I grow up, I want to work with animals, and be the person who teaches other people about them." Ah, another proud moment. The highlight of the trip.