Renhika Group

DAV School- a Tiger

Puchika School on namimg leopard cub

The golden Juble year of celebration for Wildlife Week wasin a different note. The weekdays were celebrated fordifferent species. This time the lesser-known species likeVulture, Turtle and Bats formed the major species forconservation education. Fact sheets on these animals andZoo Ethics are given to each participants. Two hundred andeighty five school children from 9 schools, 10 graduatestudents from Department of Forestry and 20 teachers wereparticipated in the endeavour. The artist of the Zoo drewdrawings of animals in front of enclosure and taught themhow to draw animal sketches. The masks, placards, rakhitying was enjoyed and appreciated by all. The T-shirtprovided by Zoo Outreach Organization was awarded towinners of Quiz competition and naming competition. Whatsteal the show was naming of tiger cub and leopard cub.The Zoo had 4 tiger club and one rescued Leopard cub.Students were asked to provide names to the cub, thewinner was to be photograph with the cub. What was mostrevealing is that two of the names selected was the nameof the boys themselves. It was touching that they identifythemselves with the cubs. Rhishi was given by RishipalSingh while Sitesh was given by Sitesh Kumar Behera fornaming the cubs.

The students were educated about the conservation effortstaken for the endangered species by the State. The statusof various schedule animals as per classification of IUCNin our country was explained to the participants. The role ofzoos for housing and captive breeding for criticallyendangered species was given due thrust. “Extinction wasforever” was explained by citing example of three species oftigers from the earth in the last century. The paucity insighting Vultures in and around in the recent past is aglaring example how common species can becamecritically endangered in a short time which the studentsrealize on their own.

The endeavour for showing students about Bats hasresulted in identification of cave dwellings for insectivorousBats in the Zoo. One at Bear enclosure and other atentrance of Lion Safari. Similarly during explaining aboutturtles and tortoises it was found two are actually Elongatedtortoise which is a different species altogether from that ofStar Tortoise. The ecological role of scavengers was

50th Wildlife Week Celebration - 2004 at NandankananManoj Mahapatra*

highlighted, which are thought provoking for students. Thevery purpose of sensitizing students was fruitful throughanimal exhibits, interactions, educative kits by Zoo OutreachOrganisation.

Ruehika School winner on Oral Quiz test

* Assistant Director, Nandankanan Zoological Park,Bhubaneswar - 751 007, Orissa

Entrance for Nandankanan ZooDaruthenya School on Zoo Patrol & Primate Primer

DAV. School on Tiger Winnerof naming tiger cub& written Quiz in English

St. Xavier on Bats

Rinehika School on Primate

Conservation Himalayas, Shimla celebrated the 50th

anniversary of the “Wildlife Week in India” onOctober 1, 2004 jointly with Shimla Y.M.C.A. Theprogramme was held in the programme hall of theY.M.C.A at Shimla. Forty students of 9-12 standardclass and six school teachers representing sixdifferent schools in Shimla (GSSS, Tutu; GSSS,Mashobra; D.A.V. Sr. Sec. Public School, LakkarBazar; Laureate Public School, Bharari; J.C.B. Sr.Sec. Public School, New Shimla; and KendriyaVidyalaya) participated in this three-hoursprogramme. Prof. S.P. Bhardwaj, AssociateDirector ( Res. & Ext), Regional HorticultureResearch Station at Mashobra, was the Chief Guestfor this programme. The theme of this indoorworkshop was “Endangered Wildlife (Bats, Tigersand Primates) & Community Role.”

The programme was divided in three parts: LCDPresentation on bats, tigers and primates by Dr.Santosh Kumar Sahoo; Interactive question-answersession with the students; and workshop groupactivities on tigers. Before starting the programmethe students were asked to make five animalgroups (Jackal, Wolf, Hen, Crow and Tiger) bychoosing their group members through thecorresponding animal vocalization. Each group hadeight members. Students remained in the samegroup throughout the programme session. Sincealtogether it was a novel type of exposure for theparticipating students to know about bats, tigersand primates. Everybody participated with keeninterest to know about the bats, tigers and primates.During the workshop session, our attempt was toconvey the message to the students that theyshould not only accelerate their knowledge aboutthe endangered wildlife, but they should also beinvolved in the wildlife conservation programmedirectly or indirectly in one context or another. TheLCD Presentation on bats attracted manyparticipants who vowed to do their best to protectthe existing habitats of bats. The LCD presentationon tigers surprised everybody as all of themadmitted that they had never imagined that the

REPORT OF THE WILDLIFE WEEK CELEBRATIONA Brief Report from ShimlaSantosh Kumar Sahoo*

about 95% of the tiger population had disappearedfrom the tiger range habitats and the remaining 5%population lives under threatened conditioned. Asthe presentation highlighted about the tiger body parttrade as “Number-one threat” to the remaining tigerpopulation, the students reacted emotionally andpledged that they will spread this message toeverybody they meet, discourage any one who usesor is trying to use any product made from tiger bodyparts.

The students participated in “Fix the Tiger RangeMap” workshop activity. At the end of theprogramme each participant was given three setsof Educational kits (Primates, Tigers and bats) ofthe Zoo Outreach Organization along with thecertificates, ZOO posters on Bats ‘n’ Rats ZOOcalendar and LTM poster of the ConservationHimalayas.

* Chairman, Conservation Himalayas, VermaNiwas, New Mashobra, Shimla 171 007,Himachal Pradesh

The Golden Jubilee celebration of Indian Wildlife Week 2004, agrand finale, to reiterate the need of conservation of wildlife notonly for the ecological balance but also for the life on earth.With the main objective is to associate our young generation inthe wildlife conservation campaign, the week long activitieswere design to have active participation of students in everyevent with the help of educational kits procured from ZooOutreach Organization, Coimbatore. We lay emphasis onteaching them in a fun loving atmosphere about the variousendangered and threatened species in our planet.

Inauguration Programme:-Wildlife Week Celebration was started on 1st Oct 2004 with the“Modeling of Wildlife Animal” at the Albert Hall Museum, RamNiwas Bagh, Jaipur. The programme started with the unveiling ofspecial poster on wildlife conservation by Justice R.P. Saxena,Patron WORLD. The programme was modeling show organizesfor the wildlife animals. The students walked in the costume ofvarious animals like tiger, lion, bear, monkey, etc. during the showeach one was giving message to the masses to get associatein the conservation drive. Our Project officer Punita recited thestories on the monkey, tigers. She explained the students abouttheir basic food habits, behaviors and their correlation with otheranimals and forest Punita read out and explained the PrimatesPackets and Tiger tool kits material to the students & interactivesession for the students to encourage their queries on theconservation of forest and wildlife.

Our honorable guest Shri V.K. Gupta, Zonal Manager, PunjabNational Bank was welcome+d by the students by tying Rakhi.The students tied Rakhi to the Media Person to emphasize theimportance of media in the era of information technology in wildlifeconservation. Media person along with the students took oath towork with devotion and dedication for the conservation of Wildlifein the Country. In the end Capt Manish Saxena Director World,spelled out the vote of thanks to guest and Ms. Neeta Nawlakha,Principal Bright Horizon; Ms. Malti Gupta, Principal, Rainbow Kids;Ms. A. Lobo , Principal , St. Paul’s School, Durgapura for theircooperation and participation in the programme .

2nd Oct 2004On the second of wildlife week celebration, WORLD hasorganized the group activities for the students of Ryan internationalSchool. Our team under the leadership of our Project officerPunita Mathur along with volunteers presented a skit on “the vitalrole of Bats on the earth”. Honorary Wildlife Warden Shahid Khanexplained the importance of Bats with the help of material to thestudents. Student then participated in the activities like thememory game, counting of Bats, etc. Students enjoyed theactivities and were highly engross and keen to know more aboutthe conservation of the endangered species. The teaching facultywas also enthusiastic to be associated with unique learningprogrammes for conservation of wild animals.

3rd Oct 2004: -Third day celebration was the wildlife education programme forthe National Cadet Crop Cadets of Rajasthan Battalion. OurProgramme Manager, Manoj Singh gave the educational lectureto the cadets on the “Role of Cadets in the conservation ofWildlife”. Essay competition was organized for them. Justice

Ranveer Sahay Verma, Retired Judge, Rajasthan High Court &Lt. Col Anupam Sinha, C O, NO. 1 Raj. N.C.C. Battalion gaveaway the gift Hampers and Certificate of Appreciation to theCadets.

4th Oct 2004WORLD has organized the “INTER SCHOOL ON THE SPOTPAINTING COMPETITION” for the students. Before the paintingcompetition, our team organized an Educational interactivesession based on the Kits “Dare to Care for Bears” for thestudents. Students were divided in four groups as per the categoryof bears, category wise their habits and habitat were explainedto the students. After that students groups participated in the“One Minute” game. Then students participated in the paintingcompetition. The students from St. Paul’s Schools, C- Scheme;St Paul’s School, Durgapura; Vidyashram School; S.V. PublicSchool; Ryan International School; participated in the competition.The best painting was selected and invited for the prize distributionto be held on 5th Oct. 2004.

5th Oct, 2004On the fifth day of the week, WORLD has organized large numberof programme. The programme began with the “Deep Prajjawlan”by our distinguish guest “Shri V.K. Gupta”, Zonal Manager, PunjabNational Bank. Young students of S.V. Public School presenteda skit on “Vanya Jeev Jeevan Ka Aadhar” {Wildlife: the base oflife}. Young students as wild animals and Adhivasi gave a highlyintrospective depiction of the relation among human beings, wildanimals and forest. Students were divided in two groups- senior& junior group for the “Vanya Jeev Daud” [Wild Animal race]. Itwas a lovely moment to see wild animals running on the track ,as if the jungle has come down to the city. Winners were giventhe certificate of appreciation by WORLD Organization. Thenthe time came for the “Jungle Panchayat”, a meeting of all thewild animals, to present their current agenda to the human beings.The young children below the eight years of age participated in it.Each animal presented its views and current need of conservationnot only to the judges but also to large gathering of students,media person and parents. The appeal of young students’touched the hearts of everyone . Chief Guest Justice AnshumanSingh, Former Governor, Rajasthan and Gujarat, addressed thestudents and motivated them to join the conservation drive runby WORLD organization. He stressed that each students shouldact as a catalyst in associating at least five people in society towork for saving the endangered species. He then gave away theprized to winners of different activities organized during the weekcelebration. Shri M.L. Mehta, (Patron WORLD) Former ChiefSecretary, Government of Rajasthan appreciated the studentsand motivate them to work as active member for the conservationof wildlife so that we could gift the earth as beautiful as we gotfrom our father and fore fathers Capt Manish spelled out thevote of thanks to Shri Anshuman Singh, Shri M.L. Mehta , ShriV.K .Gupta, Lt. Col Anupam Sinha, ;Shri Upendra Kaushik,Principal Vidyashram School; Ms. Rita Taneja , S.V. PublicSchool; Ms A . Lobo, Director; St. Paul’s; Ms. Mohini Bakshi,Seedling School; parents, students and media persons.

6th Oct, 2004The programme began with plantation by the Eco Club Membersin N.K. Public school. Our volunteers gave a small skit underlining

World Wildlife Week Celebrations by Wing Of Research in Local Development (WORLD)Manish Saxena*

the importance of plantation for the conservation of wildlife andlarge number of endangered species in the earth. On the spotquiz competition was organized and eco members were giftedwith T-shirts procured by Zoo outreach Organization.

7th Oct, 2004:-Indian Wildlife Week came to an end with the workshops on “Roleof People Participation in wildlife conservation” for the Principals,

eco teachers and eco Members of the World Eco Clubs in Jaipur.The workshop was presided over by Justice R.P. Saxena.

The participants were given the education material, camp reports,posters and calendars procured by Zoo Outreach Organization.Our eco teachers and members took oath to work actively forthe conservation of wildlife on the Earth. Justice R.P. Saxenaasked the eco members to work as alert soldier to save our planet

and its beings.

.*Director, Wing of Research in LocalDevelopment, 1-GA –12, JawaharNagar, Jaipur- 302 004 Rajasthan, E-mail: <world_in@rediffmail.com>

Group Photo

Students with animal costume

Students engaged in painting competition

Inaguration, an a welcome to Punjab National Bank Manager

Rakhi tying

Wildlife Week -2004 Programme Report at IA & BWS - GutturG. Manjunath*

Our IA & BWS-Guttur, Adrsha S.P.C.A-Gorantla celebrated50th Wildlife Week from 1st October to 7th October 2004inviting students from 15 schools and two junior colleges andone Degree college at Penukonda, Gorantla and KalyanaDurgam Mandals.

DAY ONE: 01-10-2004Seminar on wildlife welfare and wildlife crimesVenue: P.S.S. Junior College, GorantlaParticipants: MandaI, Veterinary doctor, Forest officer, Sub-Inspector of Police

We organized one seminar on wildlife welfare and wildlifecrimes. It is inagurated by Sub-inspector of police and Mr.Ravikumar, Forest officer being the chief Guest. A briefnote about wildlife welfare and wildlife crimes explained bythe MandaI Veterinary Officer, Gorntla and Sub-Inspectorof Police. Mr. Ravikumar, Forest officer explained theimportance of Wildlife welfare with the using flow charts.Mr G. Manjunath Special Police officer of A.P stateexplained different types of wildlife trades and methodsused by wildlife butchers to kill wild animals. He alsoexplained about endangered species using slide show. Heexplained student's role to stop wild crimes and conserveendangered species. At the end of the seminar a culturalshow was played by the college students using animalmasks. A story was prepared by the Mr G. Manjunath.

Day Two : 02-10-2004Essay writing and Electoral CompetitionVenue: P.S.S.Junior College, GorantalaParticipants: 8 different school students (30 students foressay writing, 25 for electoral)

A totally 55 students of high school students and collegestudents participated in the essay writing and electoralcompetitions. Mr. Basheer, our Society EducationalOfficer and other school teachers (our Kindness clubsco-ordinators) conducted this activity. Following were thethemes for the competitions that was limited to 500words (both essay writing and electoral competition).

Population growth and wildlife consarvationWildlife Trade productsWhat children can do to stop Wild Life Trade? Theparticipants could choose anyone of the topic. At the end ofthe competition the essay were collected by the teachers andalso distributed the prizes to first, second, third for girls andboys totally six prizes for essay writing winners and six prizeselectoral competition winners

Day Three: 03-10-2004Drawing CompetitionVenue: Z.P.H. School –Kalyana DurgamParticipants: 35 students for 7 High SchoolsA total of 35 students of 7 schools participated in the pencilcolours competition. Ms. K. Kavitha, Society Secretary and theschool teachers conducted this activity. The theme for thecompetition were as follows.

My favorite wild animalDifferent types of wildlife trade

Animal Planet

The participants were allowed to choose any one of the topic.At the end of the competition drawings were collected by theteachers and awarded 1st, 2nd, 3rd prizes. The Govt. Z.P.H.School Girls, Kalyana Durgam won all prizes.

Day Four: 04-10-2004Quiz CompetitionVenue: Z.P.H. School - GutturParticipants: 25 students from five schools

As it was the “World Day For Animals” we organised quizcompetition. At the begin of the competition our master trainerG. Manjunath explained about importance of Animal welfare androle of the students. He also explained the necessity of theanimals and their present, post, future conditions. Theparticipants age group of 9 to 14 years were grouped into fiveteams namely “Karuna”, Gomatha, kamadenu, lion and parrotwith five members in each team. They had five round ofquestions all related to wildlife and welfare. S. Basheer societyeducational officer and K. Kavitha .society secretary co-ordinate this competition. The following rounds of questionswere tried:

10 multiple choice questions on bear, bat, frogs and animalplanet / single question / showing the charts on Indian wildanimals.

Day Five: 05-10-2004Workshop with school and college studentsVenue: Gnana Bharathi Engg. Medium School-gorantla

G.Manjunath, Animal Welfare Board of India explained aboutdare to care for Bears and different types of bears theiridentification and their living systems, food systems and beartrading and also bear tracking. Finally he explained thestudents role to protect wild animals. He also explained abouttrough, untruth things of bats. And also trading of bats. He alsoexplained Tiger importance and types of tiger and livingsystems and tiger trading things. He explained all wildlifecrimes and products made from wild life through slide showwith colour pictures. Finally he explained the Indian Wildlifeprotection Act, 1972 with section wise and schedule typesanimals. He also explained the role of the students on wildlifeprotection

Day Six: 06-10-2004GamesName of the Venue: Z.P.H. School - GutturParticipants: 45 students from 9 schoolsOur educational officer conducted the following games forschool children

How many bears can fill in one T-shirtFind your raky partnerDancing Bears with masks

Men x Gun = Men, Tiger x Gun = Gun, Men x Tiger = TigerWheel chair, Just a Line

Day Seven: 07-10-2004

Drama show on Importance of Wild Animals Venue: Sri Venkateswara Cinema theatre – Guttur

The secretary of our society Ms K. Kavitha prepared one storyon wildlife welfare and importance. She gave training to 15school children to wear wild animal skeleton and to play likethose animals. (lion, bear, monkey, tiger, rabbit) and theirfeelings, their sufferings. Their enjoyments at jungle. Thisdrama is very interesting. About 500 students watched thedrama

*International Animal & Birds Welfare Society, Guttur 515164, Anantapur (Dist.)

Dancing programme T-shirt game

Rakhi tying

Participants photo Quiz programme

This is to thank Zoo Outreach Organisation for the wonderfulconservation education material provided by your organizationfor the Wildlife Week Programs at Kota. The material wasproperly distributed after making the participants aware aboutthe problems faced by the wildlife. The material has beenappreciated by the participants, their teachers and parents.

During the week long celebrations this year painting, essay,fancy dress and quiz competitions were organized. Thestudents were taken for field trips to Darrah and JawaharsagarSanctuaries. A rural program for the school children of Udpuriavillage was also organized. Some of the material is being usedat the Interpretation Centre started at the zoo recently.

*2 P 22, Vigyan nagar, Kota 324 005, Rajasthan, Email:<lanceroswindmills@yahoo.com>

Wildlife Week Programs at Kota ZooRakesh Vyas*

Photographs taken during Wildlife Week celebration

INSONA (International Society of Naturalists) had announcedan informative interactive program on Bats with the primaryschool children of various schools in Vadodara and theundergraduate students of The Maharaja Sayajirao Universityof Baroda. The students were to be quizzed regarding themyths and facts about bats, so they were asked to beprepared for such an interaction. They were also asked togather any information on bats in the form of play cards or puton T-shirts or any garment on this aspect. The idea was tohave fun, or do some kind of an intellectual experienceconnected not just with learning but in the process make theyounger minds imbibe the values of conservation andpreservation.

The event was co-ordinated by Dr. Sapna Surendran, INSONAvolunteer and Ms. Leontien Rosenmuller, AIESAC trainee fromThe Netherlands, under the guidance of Prof. G.M.Oza(General Secretary, INSONA) and Mrs. Premlata Oza (JointSecretary, INSONA). The program with the University studentswas divided into two phases: Day 1 was a very intensiveclassroom discussion on the different species of Bats, theirhabits and habitat and the myths and facts. Day 2 was a fieldtrip to a bat colony amidst the hustle bustl of Gorwa main road,

Report of the Bat Education Program conducted by INSONA, October ­November, 2004G.M. Oza*

4kms east from the Vadodara railway station. This Banyan treesupports more than 250 Pteropus maximus, the Indian FlyingFox (photo attached). Our talk attracted a lot of local childrenfrom the neighbourhood who were also taught few snippetsregarding the bats. The second program was done with theprimary school children of various schools of Baroda at theMotibaugh Palace Compound, the office of INSONA. Thechildren had done their homework well enough and were veryenthusiastic in answering the queries put forth. All of them hadput on bat badges and tattoos made by themselves. Theeducational kit on bats provided by the Zoo OutreachOrganisation was distributed to the participants which provedto be of great value in terms of giving information onconservation of the Bat species.

Thus the interactive program was very educative and a positiveapproach towards the awareness of Bats and their habitat waslaid thereof in the minds of these youngsters. This shall go along way in taking care of the Bats for human well being.

* General Secretary, International Society of Naturalists, C/o.Oza Building, Salatwada, Vodara 390 001, Gujarat, Email:<insona@123india.com>

The First year undergraduate students of M.S.Universitywith the local children who participated in the Bat

Education programThe Giant Banyan tree which roosts more than 250

Pteropus maximus at Gorwa

The school children with masks provided by Zoo OutreachOrganisation and bat badges prepared by themselves

The quiz program on Bats with the school children ofVadodara. Also seen in photo Mrs. Premlata Oza, Prof. G.M.Oza

and Ms. Leontien Rosenmuller

BackgroundSchool children’s are very keen target group for creatingawareness about conservation issues. The idea of learningwith fun has always been successful with the school children.Our country has history of organizing big events like melas,fairs, festivals where people living around a place are involvedin the event. These events are aimed at fun and enjoyment.Many are associated with festivals and nowadays these aremore towards commercial consideration. The opportunity ofmela blended with education and fun could be very effective incommunicating messages.

Keeping this in mind, Centre for Environment Education (CEE)has organized a Wildlife Mela at Lucknow Zoo for schoolstudents and visitors during the Wildlife Week (First week ofOctober). The mela was aimed to educate students andvisitors about importance of wildlife and its conservation. Themela was organized on 4th October (Monday) at Lucknow Zoo.

Objectives of the ProgrammeFollowing objectives were kept in mind while organizing theprogramme:

• To organize conservation education programme focusing onmammals (Tiger, Bear, Primates, Bat) with school studentsduring Wildlife Week using educational materials provided byZoo Outreach Organization and CEE own publications likeAmazing mammals (English), Endangered Elephants,Standhari Parichya Pustika (Hindi) and several othereducational materials.

• To orient teachers of a clusters of schools about providinginformation to school students about mammals and itsimportance in our ecosystem

• To motivate students to know more about the mammals andspread the message of conservation among other students.

Target GroupThe target group selected for the programme was the studentsof standard 5-9 from a school of Lucknow. CEE’s network ofschool eco-clubs set up under the National Green Corps(NGC) scheme of the Ministry of Environment and Forests,Government of India are participating in the event. Around 50schools were invited to participate in the programme.

PreparationThe preparation of the programme was done 15 days aheadwhere CEE’s NGC school network was invited to participate inthe programme. The involvement of schools was planned in away where there were two parts – pre event and the event-‘mela’. The idea behind the thought was that the studentsprepare their material prior to the event and during theprogramme they should enjoy the mela.

A students competition was announced in the schoolsincluding poster, collage, model and slogan writingcompetitions on the themes like Wonderful and FascinatingWildlife, Wildlife in our lives, Threats to wildlife and

Conservation of wildlife. Schools have conducted thesecompetitions in their schools with full enthusiasm.

The Programme

The Exhibition DisplayThe day began with grand exhibition of material prepared bythe school children posters, collage, model and slogansdeveloped by school students on the themes like Wonderfuland Fascinating Wildlife, Wildlife in our lives, Threats to wildlifeand Conservation of wildlife.

The day of mela began with arranging the mela stalls. Thevenue allotted to us was a central place of the Zoo calledBaradari which is a historical monument structure based onpillars. The posters, collages and slogans were put up on thepillars in three corners and models were kept on one corner.After setting up things, it became a wonderful sight of student’sexcellent presentation and their hard work. Around 100students participated in the competitions while around 200students and visitors have visited the mela. Everyone wasastonished with the work of students.

Activity CornersApart from the students preparation CEE N has planned thefun part of the mela in the form of EE activities at each corner.These corners were designated as: Khel-Khel Mein Sikho(Games Corner), Boojho Main Kaun Hoon? (Guess Who Am I?Corner), Prakriti Bhramar Avam Karke Dekho (Nature Trail/Perform It Yourself Corner) and Mukhonto Ka Sansar (Mask &Thumb Print Corner). At each corner various activities wereconducted related to wildlife where students as well as visitorsand teachers had great fun. The programme involvededucation and fun stalls where games, puzzles, plays, makeyour own animal masks etc. type of activities were going on.

Games CornerThe games corner included variety of activities, which made ita corner like by everyone. The activities conducted were:• Jigsaw puzzles: Puzzles of wildlife animal’s & birds wasprepared. Everyone had fun with lots of excitement ofcompleting the puzzle on time.• Compare your height: In this activity a height chart wasprepared where animals of particular height were marked onthat chart. Students loved to compare their height with animals.• Heavy weight champions: A weighing machine was kept witha weight chart. The activity brought laughter to every one’sface.• Wildlife Games: Games like web of life, Oh! Deer, Preypredator etc. were played with children to make themunderstand the intricate relationship among animals,importance of resources like water, food and shelter andstruggle for survival.

Vanya Jeev Mela (Wildlife Mela), Wildlife Week Programme Report,4th October 2004Sonal Rathore*

* Project Associate, Centre for Environment Education­North, 19/323, Indira Nagar, Lucknow 226 016, Uttar Pradesh, Email :<ceenorth@ceeindia.org>

Displaying models­posters­sloganDrawing

Prize distribution Ram Boojh addressing students and teachers

Guess Who Am I? CornerVarious guess who am I? cards were prepared on animals,their appearance, food habits, sizes, actions etc. Initiallyactivity was conducted by CEE representatives later a group ofschool students were conducting the activity.

Nature Trail/Perform It Yourself CornerA nature was conducted for students in batches of 15-20children where a resource person from CEE accompaniedthem. Students asked their queries regarding animals, zoosetc. to the resource person. Simultaneously students weregiven a performing art script “Gajraj Ka Nyay” (Animal Court)with in half an hour.

During all these programmes a questionnaire was alsodistributed among students to find out the opinion of childrenabout zoo, its facilities their liking about the zoo, animals, etc.

Mask & Thumb Print CornerThis was the hit corner among small children they had fun withcrayons colouring the masks of various animals. On the stallphotocopies of masks and elephant mask preparation materialwith thumb print cards was kept for students.

In these stalls everyone either a child or and adult were takingpart and having fun.

Competition JudgingAs Mela was going on Judges were doing their difficult jobs ofdeciding the prizewinners. The judges were from Ministry ofEnvironment and Forests, Regional Office – Dr. Abhiraj Singh,Director and Prof. P. K. Mathur from Lucknow University.Students explained and presented their work to judges. Thejudges were very impressed with student’s hard work,presentation of the idea and strong view for conservation.Every judge was having difficulty in deciding the first secondand third prizewinner.

Prize DistributionA prize distribution function was organized where prizes andcertificates were given away to students and schools for theirparticipation in the programme. There were exciting prizes onthe wildlife for participating in games and other activities. Theprogramme was organized in association with Lucknow Zoowith the support of educational material from Zoo OutreachOrganization, Tamil Nadu.

The day ended with great joy of learning. Around 300 studentsand 200 visitors have enjoyed the mela and took message ofconservation with them.

Joy of learning Guest of honour

Student displaying poster Students displaying models

Press reports about the programme

Students displaying models

A section of the student participants

Studnets explaining models

Students joy of learning

Teacher explaining the poster

Kutta –Wildlife Week Program. On 2nd of Oct 2004CEE – Virajpet had weeklong Wildlife Week celebrationsspreading over all the five taluks. It comprised of anentourage, of a team of student and teachers, performing astreet play depicting the plight of Indian wildlife. Theinauguration was held at in the Jyothi Cinema theatre where500 children from various schools of Coorg had gathered. Mr.Poonacha President of the Coorg Wildlife Society inauguratedthe function and flagged off the Jatha. It was followed by theinaugural show of the street play. Later gave Mr. Manu made aslide presentation on the Western Ghats the Biodiversityhotspot. In the post lunch session at the Coorg Club there wasan activity based ‘Save the bear’ session by Mr. Kishen Das ofMysore Amateur Naturalists. After the distribution of thematerial, the Jatha team left to perform and Srimangala to befollowed at several schools and public places.

Programmes for students of various schools inThadiyanda molOn 1st and 2nd of October 2004, The International Academy forMountaineering and Allied Sports (IAMAS), Mysore hadarranged a wildlife week Camp at Thadiyanda mol in SouthCoorg for the students of Mysore. Mr. Govindaraju, veteranMountaineer and Mr. Solanki, secretary requested the RMNHand MAN to conduct the Nature related activities for the 50 kidsin the camp. In the two-day camp, Bird watching-slides show– Nature trail- Tiger tool kits-high altitude forests –habitats weresome of the topics dealt with apart from the actual trek. Mr.Mohan and Mr. Nagesh of Kokkare Bellur were the resourcepersons.

Viveka Tribal Center for Learning – Just Bats about BatsDate: 9th October 2004 it was a beautiful morning, When weIeft towards the fringes of Bandipur and Nagarahole NationalParks. We traveled by a Govt. Bus, which will shuttles justtwice a day. It was noon by the time we reached thedestination, in the fringes of N. Begur forest. It is the uniqueschool for the children belonging to Kadu Kuruba, Jenu Kurubaand Soliga tribe. Vivekananda Tribal School is situated nearHosahalli with a backdrop of the dry deciduous trees. TheNorth east monsoon had blessed a few showers and theforests were in its emerald glory.

The daylong programme was conducted by Mr. Manu. K andMr. Mohan of Mysore Amateur Naturalists. It was all about bats,‘Just Bats about Bats’ for the students of high school. Seventy-five students and six teachers participated in the programmethat went on in two sessions. The first session was a slideshow on Bio-diversity of Western Ghats. Apart from dealingwith habitat types and wildlife in them the central focus wasupon conservation of small mammals. The duration of the slideshow was about an hour and a half followed by interactionconcerning the topic.

The post-lunch session being activity based, the students werecalled on to the playground. The theme was bats and activitiesrelated to its understanding were in line. It began with a few

energizers and some explanation on the anatomy, life style andimportance of bats in our ecosystem.

The students were grouped into four and were used to showthe percentage of bats among the mammals. Later they wereexplained the functioning of the sonar and the radar in ears andnose of bats. A few kids were made to hang up side down to atree and parallel bars in order to experience the feel the worldupside down. In a moment, the students also realized thedifficulties in hanging on for long. The situation was used toexplain how a bat manages to do the same all day long.

Green gate junior school –Tiger toolkitOn Monday 8th of Nov 2004 the outreach programme wasconducted in the Green gate junior school, Mysore. This was adifferent programme where was used a puppet to compare. Atfirst we started with a slide show on Indian wildlife that wasnarrated by a puppet by the name “Mr. Darwin” performed byMr. Manu. Through out the show children were inquisitive andasked many questions. The setup was made in such a waythat, the room was totally dark and only the narrating puppetwas illuminated by a spotlight.

The slides show impressed the kids. Children were takenoutside the classroom were they were given the tiger tool kitfor exploration. The kids tied the ‘raakis’, put on the masks, andenacted as tiger cubs. Some of the typical tiger expressionswere demonstrated by Mr. Mohan that was faithfully followed bythe kids. In a short while the little campus resounded theroaring cubs. The final call “let’s save the tiger” came out witha roar.

Certificates were then distributed to all the kids. Mr. Anilsecretary of Green gate institution was also present during thisprogramme. Program was a great learning experience, as thekids came looking (with in the baggage) for ‘Darwin the puppet”as the organizers started packing.

Vijaya Vittala Vidya Shaala High School – Primates in PerilOn the 30th of Oct 2004 “Primates in Peril” programme wasconducted in Galaxy Nature Club of Vijaya Vidya Shala. Thirtystudents participated in the programme in which Mr. Manumade a presentation on evolution of primates. He explainedhow the tree shrews chose an arboreal life and graduated torule the forest are facing. In order to stress the fact thatevolution is a unidirectional phenomenon and the individualscannot adapt to the fast change of the environment caused byHumans, an activity was performed. The kids wore themonkey masks and gave a hand to pick up and eat groundnutsthrown on the ground the ground, without using their thumbs. Itwas indeed a difficult task for most; one or two who had abetter control over their fingers managed to munch a few nuts.

Report of Wildlife Week 2004 celebrations in and around Mysore by RegionalMuseum of Natural History and Mysore Amateur Naturalists® for the ZooOutreach OrganizationS. Sethuramalingam*

* Scientist­in­charge, Regional Museum of Natural History,Siddarth Nagar, Mysore 570 011, Karnataka, Email:<rmnhsethu@sancharnet.in>

Apparently, primates and wildlife are in a alike situation findingit hard to cope with the changing environment.After that, usage of palm, leg and tails in primates wasexplained. In addition, the usage of tools was demonstrated. Anactivity was conducted to demonstrate the use of thumb inperforming jobs. Here students were asked to collect and eatgroundnuts, which were thrown on ground. Where they have toopen it with the help of the thumb.

After that ‘Primates in peril’ kit was distributed to the students.The students were told to open the kit at a time and to ware themask, then made them to find their groups. Some of the groupactivities/games were played. Finally, there was a photosession followed by certificate distribution.

In this program all school staffs were participated includingHead Madam Mrs. Rajini and Mrs. Anuradha, in-charge ofNature club.

Vijaya Vittala Vidya Shaala High School – Bats ‘n’ Rats.On 7th of November 2004 the students of Galaxy Nature Club ofVVVS (HPS) were participated in the Bat ‘n’ Rats programme.This was conducted by the members of Regional Museum ofNatural History and Mysore Amateur Natural History. About 25kids participated including five teachers. Mr. Manu briefedabout the Natural History of Bats and Rats. Mr. Mohanexplained about the role of Bats and Rats in the ecology. ThenMr. Nithin spoke about the population dynamics of both thespecies. He compared the other mammalian orders with theorder Chiroptera. Finally, kids made to understand theimportance of Bats and Rats, and scope for studies on Batsand Rats in their future. Kids were distributed with the Batsand Rats kits. They played some activities on flight andhanging of Bats. The posters and the kids were displayed onthe notice board to reach out to other students in the school.

Kids with Tiger masks

Outdoor programme about bats

Students with Rat masks

RMNH Education programme on Bats

Primates in peril ­ Students with masks.

All about bats...

ZOOS' PRINT, Volume XX, Number 7, July 2005 (RNI 6:10)

Angels of the Dark -- ZOOWATCH watches bats in Thiruvananthapuram ZooLatha Thamphi*

On April 5th the captive wildlife welfare organizationZOOWATCH conducted a workshop on bats in cooperationwith the Thiruvananthapuram Zoo at the Museum Audi-torium,Thiruvanathapuram Zoo. The title of the ZOOWATCHworkshop was: “BATS – ANGELS OF THE DARK”. This was aone-day programme aimed primarily at teachers andenvironmental volunteers in the Thiruvananthapuram District.Mr. Raajkaran Aravind conducted the workshop.

The registration formalities were followed by the inaugurationand a talk by the Director Mr. Yalakki. Mr. Raajkaran began theworkshop with an interactive session during which theawareness of the participants about bats as well as the localsuperstitions and attitudes of the general public werediscussed in detail. From 11.45 – 12.30 Mr. Raajkaran used aPower Point Slide Show pres-entation using materialsgarnered from various sources to demonstrate the participantsthe fact that bats, far from being vermin, actually play a crucialrole in the environment.

Unfortunately, bats as a species have a very negative image.They are usually regarded as either a nuisance or as a dangerto human beings. For this reason, they are frequently huntedand killed, with the result that many species are nowthreatened and also face loss of their normal habitats. TheZOOWATCH presentation stressed the fact that bats are notpests or vermin. Bats play a crucial role in our naturalenvironment, since they act as pollinators and also help tocontrol pests. In this way, bats help our forests to survive. Forexample, without the humple fruit bat, cross- pollination wouldsoon end and our forests to and harvests would suffer.Insectivorous bats eat mosquitos and crop-destroying pests.Without them, our health would be endangered by a sharpincrease in harmful insects. The aim of this ZOOWATCHworkshop was to educate the educators and also the generalpublic on the essential ecological role that bats play in ourenvironment.

After the presentation Mr. Gangadharan, Education Officer,summarized the basic facts about the role of a modern Zoowhich is no longer to provide entertainment but to promoteconservation of endangered species and education of thepublic on important issues affecting wildlife and theenvironment. Following lunch provided byThiruvananthapuram Zoo, workshop members were taken tovisit two major bat colonies inside the Zoo. The maincharacteristics of Chiroptera were pointed out and this becamea golden opportunity for the workshop delegates to observebats and study at first hand their behaviour in a naturalenvironment. On returning to the auditorium the posters andkits supplied by Zoo Outreach Organisation were distributedand discussed in detail. In addition, data on amazing factsabout bats were handed out.

The workshop came to a close with the members expressingtheir appreciation of the unusual and fascinating information onbats provided by ZOOWATCH and the ThiruvananthapuramZoo in the course of this one day programme. They also

expressed their interest in attending other similar workshopsand in spreading the message about the positive role of batsamong their students, neighbours and friends.

The coverage by the press was also quite extensive, both inthe English language dailies and the Malayalam papers.The success of the ZOOWATCH programme was indicatedwhen we received a follow up request by one of theparticipants to conduct a similar workshop, this time for schoolchildren

Shri Sebastian, who had attended our workshop, is a teacherat Kiriroor Government Higher Secondary School. On April 12,2005, Shri Sebastian brought a group of school children -- 26pupils in the age group of 8 to 12 and four teachers. Mr.Raajkaran Aravind (Assisted by Mr. Palalayam Babu and Mr.Praveen Murali of ZOOWATCH) conducted a programme onbats for this group. Mr. Gangadharan, the Education Officer ofthe Thiruvananthapuram Zoo began the programme with anexplanation of the role of modern zoos and the importance ofconservation efforts. At 11.30 am, Mr. Raajkaran ofZOOWATCH used a slide show to conduct an interactivesession during which the importance of bats was discussed indetail. Subsequently the necessity of protecting bats wasfurther stressed by the distribution of the bat tool kits suppliedby Zoo Outreach Organisation and the tying of rakhis by theschool children as a pledge of their willing-ness to disseminatethe message about bats – the angels of the dark. Thenchildren were given a tour of the Zoo and could view forthemselves the two large bat colonies which are thriving in thisprotected area.

Mr. Raajkaran used these colonies to point out the majorcharacteristics of the order of Chiroptera, the techniques of batcounting, how bats use echolocation to fly at night, etc. By thetime the programme finally concluded at 5.00 pm, these schoolchildren had absorbed a great deal of valuable informationabout the essential role played by bats and about the functionsof a modern zoo.

We at ZOOWATCH would like to express our special thanksto the Thiruvananthapuram Zoo authorities, Director, Mr.Yalakki and Education Officer, Mr. Gangadharan, for their helpand cooperation. These two programmes are proof of thesurprising success that can be achieved in public educationwhen the staff of the zoo and an animal welfare organizationwork together to achieve a common goal.

We would also like to thank ZOO for the materials providedwhich were were sponsored by Chester Zoo, UK, Flora andFauna Intl. UK produced by ZOO and CCINSA.

* Vice-President, ZOOWATCH, T.C.14/1028, Voltas Lane,Thiruvananthapuram - 695 014.