Aja Pendergrast, Auckland Zoo
If you could design the best habitats for wildlife, what would you consider?
Our partners at Mazda recently ran a competition for school kids to win one of 16 amazing learning experiences at Auckland Zoo. To enter teachers submitted a 1-2 minute video of their class, telling us how they would build the best home possible for an animal of their choosing.
From all of the entries, 16 classes were chosen to receive a once-in-a-lifetime tailored education session with a focus on modern Zoo design.
Our overall winners were Piwakawaka Hub One from Reremoana school who put their thinking caps on and got to work designing several creative animal habitats: a panda palace, sea aquarium and a mad house for monkeys. Every aspect of these habitats was carefully considered to reflect each species unique characteristics.
As well as winning an education session, they also got to journey behind-the-scenes of our South East Asian Jungle Track development for an exclusive tour with Peter Wolfkamp (from TV’s The Block NZ) to learn how Auckland Zoo is designing a state-of-the-art home for Sumatran tigers, orangutan, Sunda gharial crocodiles and Asian small-clawed otters. They even got prepare and put out lunch with our ungulates keepers for our rhino to enjoy!
Our zoo education sessions provide interactive and hands on learning for all age ranges, where students will come away with knowledge about our animals at the zoo and understand their importance in the world. Book your session here!
