Students at several local schools received a lesson in conservation last week.
The students learned about wild animals from Canada and other parts of the world through a presentation by Earth Rangers, a Woodville, Ont.-based conservation program aimed at kids.
The organization’s rangers will travel to 600 schools across the country during the 2014-15 school year to spread their message of wildlife habitat conservation.
Last week, they did a number of presentations at schools in the Nicola Valley, thanks to a sponsorship from Teck.
To illustrate their message, the presenters brought some animal ambassadors with them.
Crimson the red tegu brought a gasp from the crowd of students at Lower Nicola Band School on Thursday.
Red tegus are a type of lizard native to South America. They use their forked tongues to smell, and the audience got a better look at Crimson’s flicking tongue via a camera projecting her image onto a screen at the front of the gym.
The students also heard a red tegu can drop its entire tail if a predator catches it, and then grow a new one.
Linus the Harris hawk drew another collective “ooh” from the students.
Left: Earth Ranger Becky Young holds Crimson, a red tegu, as she tells a rapt audience of students at the Lower Nicola Band School about the South American lizard. Earth Rangers is an Ontario-based conservation program aimed at kids, which sent two delegates to present in Merritt and area schools last week on a sponsorship from Teck. Emily Wessel/Herald
Harris hawks live and even hunt in family groups in order to take down larger prey than they could individually, such as jack rabbits.
Students also heard about adaptations to their natural habitat — which is hot and dry — that Harris hawks have developed.
For example, they have a ridge above their eyes that acts as a sun visor, and their feathers stop well above their yellow feet.
“That’s sort of like he’s wearing shorts,” presenter Becky Young told the audience. “That helps to keep him nice and cool in the hot weather.”
Timber the American marten was the next animal ambassador the students saw.
As a type of weasel, martens use their scent to mark their territories.
Martens live all across Canada in both tall trees and in underground tunnels. Students got a demonstration of Timber’s jumping ability (after some gentle encouragement from presenter Laura Huculak) between two platforms.
The grand finale was Finn, the red fox in his first week of training to participate in Earth Rangers presentations. He was the understudy for Sonic the barn owl, who made an appearance at some of the other local schools.
The presenters also spoke about habitat conservation for four animals facing threats in Canada: the Western screech owl, Eastern wolf, bobolink and swift fox.
While not much is known about Western screech owls’ habits and habitats, it’s estimated there are only about 500 of the small owls in the wild in southeastern British Columbia.
The Eastern wolf, which is related to but much smaller than the grey wolf, is facing habitat loss and is considered a species of special concern in Canada.
The bobolink is a small black and yellow songbird that migrates to South America in the winter and back to Canada in the summer to breed.
The swift fox is the smallest North American wild dog, and resides in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan.
After Merritt, the Earth Rangers took their message of conservation to schools in the Ashcroft area and then to Kamloops.
Earth Rangers has approximately 40,000 student members across Canada, who have raised over half a million dollars for animal habitat conservation.
