810-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 20, 2002
Kids Korner
Kids Meet Real-Life Animals From Rain Forest
LOU ANN GOOD
Food And Family
Features Editor
LITITZ (Lancaster Co.)
Sure, the rain forest is located in
places near the equator, and Li
titz is far from the countries fa
mous for rain forests.
But on Tuesday, kids gathered
at Esbenshade’s Greenhouses,
546 E. Division Highway, to meet
some animals that come from the
rain forest and to learn about the
tropical place where trees grow
20-25 stories high.
Claire and Brian from the
Philadelphia Zoo presented a
rain forest program that in
trigued kids of all ages despite
the humidity and heat inside the
greenhouse structure.
The rain forest can be divided
into three sections. The bottom
layer is called the rain forest
floor, where it is muddy, dark,
and covered with rotting leaves,
and other decay. The middle
level is where bushes and flowers
grow, and where monkeys and
snakes live in the trees. The top
level is where the tree tops end
and birds such as parrots watch
to capture food below them.
Living on the rain forest floor
are red-footed tortoises. Claire
brought along a red-footed tor
toise to show the children what
they look like.
To determine whether a tor
toise or turtle is a girl or a boy is
very simple according to Claire.
Turn it upside down. Girls have
flat shells on the bottom and boys
have a curved bottom shell.
“The tortoise doesn’t move
This chart shows that the rain forest has three differ
ent levels where many kinds of animals, insects, birds,
fast, so how do you think it can
get its food?” Claire asked the
children at the greenhouse event.
Some children answered cor
rectly that the tortoise waits until
food falls off a tree.
“Perhaps a messy monkey will
drop its food, and the tortoise is
glad to claim it. The tortoise eats
meat and food that rots. It is like
the garbage man of the rain for
est floor,” Claire said.
The tortoise doesn’t need to be
fast to escape from its enemies.
Whenever the tortoise is frighten,
it simply needs to tuck its head,
arms, and legs inside its hard
shell. Then it is hard as a rock
and very unappealing for dinner.
Thirteen children volunteered
to help introduce an Asian rain
forest visitor a 15-feet long
Burmese python.
“If Tony was walking in the
forest, he wouldn’t see this snake
because it blends in with the for
est floor. The snake would jump
out and wrap around him more
and more until Tony couldn’t
breathe and then swallow him in
one gulp,” Claire said.
She also introduced the chil
dren to a Rainbow Boa Constric
tor that lives in the trees. The
snake’s tail helps him hang from
a tree and catch food such as
birds, mice, tree frogs, and lizards
passing by. It is difficult to see
the snake when he is in a tree be
cause his body looks like a vine
attached to the tree.
Another interesting animal
from the middle level of the rain
forest was the kinkojoue often
called honey bear.
Claire from the Philadelphia Zoo introduces a red-footed tortoise to attendees at the
Kid’s Day sponsored by Esbenshade’s Greenhouses, Lititz.
The klnkojoue is a good climb
er, which looks like a monkey but
isn’t. The honey bear has a long
tongue so that he can stick it into
a honey nest and eat honey. His
thick hair protects him from bee
stings when he is stealing honey.
The final visitor was from the
upper level of the rain forest. The
Macaw is the largest parrot. It
uses its beak and feet like a hand
to peel apples* crack peanuts,
and other things. -
“It could crack my finger, so
that’s why I always use a pole to
handle the Macaw,” Claire said.
The parrots wings are clipped
so that he can not fly away and
be exposed to harsh winter
weather where he couldn’t sur
vive.
“Clipping his wings is just like
clipping your fingernails,” Claire
said. “It doesn’t hurt a bit.”
The Macaw imitated some of
the actions of Claire such as
spreading his wings when she
stretched out her arms.
The Macaw can live to be 80
years old so it can be a lifetime
pet.
Rain forests in Africa, South
America, Asia, and Australia are
often in the news. Some people
are concerned that the rain for
ests will disappear because too
many trees are being chopped
down. Although trees will grow
again, Claire said that whenever
a tree is chopped down, animals,
insects, and bugs that live there
lose their homes.
The rain forest is important be
cause it provides Brazilian nuts,
vanilla, chocolate, bananas, and
rubber to make tires. Also one
fourth of today’s medicine is
made from plants growing in the sponsored by Esbenshades in*
eluded snacks and other kid-re-
rain forest.
The annual kid’s day event lated workshops.