Bored kids can take a virtual field trip via zoo websites
Spring is the time for school field trips and outdoor activities — but maybe not this year. How to replace those favorite activities for the kids while they’re on their extra-long “spring break”?
One idea comes from zoos around the country.
Kids can take a virtual animal safari via various zoos’ animal cameras and participate in their online animal activities.
Start close to home with the penguin and cheetah webcams provided by the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, and then move on to offerings from zoos around the country:
Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden
While the grounds are closed temporarily, zoo patrons can stay connected to their favorite animals through Home Safari Facebook Live sessions, to be offered 3-5 p.m. weekdays starting today. Each session will highlight an animal and provide an activity to do at home.
The first safari will feature the zoo’s popular hippo, Fiona.
Details: cincinnatizoo.org or Facebook
Georgia Aquarium
The Atlanta facility is home to a variety of animals whose homes are in the water, from alligators to whale sharks. The website features webcams offering a live look at beluga whales, California sea lions, jellyfish, piranhas, puffins, sea otters, an Indo-Pacific barrier reef and the ocean floor.
Details: georgiaaquarium.org
Houston Zoo
You can go big or very small with the live cameras at the second-most visited zoo in the United States. Live cameras are trained on tiny leafcutter ants as they go about their work and at the elephants as they roam their expansive yard. Also on view are the chimpanzees, gorillas, giraffes and rhinos.
Details: houstonzoo.org
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Monterey, Calif., the aquarium offers 10 live-streaming cameras from both inside the facility and in the nearby ocean waters. Take a look at resident African penguins, sharks and other fishes, jellyfish, sea otters and aviary birds. Other cameras are trained on the open sea, a coral reef and a kelp forest.
Details: montereybayaquarium.org
San Diego Zoo
The Southern California animal park has a website just for kids, featuring animal profiles, fun facts, stories, videos, activities, games and conservation information. Among current features is “A Tall Tale: Giraffe BFFs,” a story about two young male giraffes. Both were born with health problems, but with special care, they’ve grown up strong and healthy and are thriving in the larger zoo population. Craft activities include instructions for making sock puppets, animal figures, a pinata and more.
Details: kids.sandiegozoo.org
Zoo Atlanta
Roly-poly pandas and their antics are a perennial animal-lover favorite. The zoo website has a panda page with a live camera, information on a panda keeper’s job and regular panda news updates — like behaviors, the differences between red pandas and giant pandas and how keepers tell individual pandas apart.
Details: zooatlanta.org
Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley by email at smcmarlin@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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