Site guide 101

Dear readers.

It is once again time to start with something new and it's called site guide.
This includes game drives, bush walks and knowing a whole lot when it comes to animals,plants and insects.

We started the week off by having an ice-breaker to describe yourself in the letters of your name. This enabled us to get to know each other better and it gave Salaminah, our mentor, a chance to see what type of people we are.
We set up a few of our own ground rules as well because we know what goes wrong in class and what does not work. A few of these rules are:

• Respect each other
• Do what is expected of you
• Always be punctual
• Dress appropriately

We had to get started as soon as possible with our prescribed work and so we started with mammals. Things like their habitat,gestation period, behavior and interesting facts about them. The most difficult part was thinking of a story about each animal that you make up to keep the guests interested because we thought of things like the leopard was jealous of the dalmatian and the lion watched Grease to much thats why he has a permanently teased mane!
We also started to get to know the different orders that there are when explaining the taxonomy of an animal. I have a rhyme to remember the taxonomy outlay:

• Ratse     : Rykdom
• Fanus     : Filum
• Kan       : Klas
• Ons        :Orde
• Familie   : Familie
• Gaan      :Genus
• Se          : Spesie

We think of ways to make it fun and then remember better. Now for a bit of did you know  0(",)0

1. The Impala releases a scent from the glands of their heels when escaping from predators. This enables them to stay together when they are threatened.
2. The duiker is the only antelope that eats meat and plants.
3. When a male Nyala is juvenile it looks like a female. This is because the male only allows females in the heard and would kick it out if he knew.
4. The warthog has warts on the face and that is where the name comes from. But the female has 2 warts on her face and the male has 4. These warts are used for defense and as fat storage.
5. The blesbok has a black face when juvenile and it becomes white when it ages. This is because the baby blesbok  needs the heat and therefor the dark face.
6. All zebras have a coat unique like their own fingerprint.

And that's just to name a few! It's really interesting and very knowledgeable.

Until we read again!

Species care*

Dear readers.

We started with species care and unpacked the unit standards like a puzzle... It's interesting to see how things fit and link to each other to make a bigger picture.

We started off by getting to know the place, where everything is and we were told what is expected of us. We are an all girls group so the tasks that were given were done very quickly and easily. We made tag teams with the preparation of food and milk and we can now even do it faster then the 2nd years!

We learn't how to determine an animals mood and how to react on the behavior of an animal. This was really nerve wrecking because of course now they had to do the wrong things to show us what will happen... A hissing caracal 10 feet away from you in the same cage is no joke!  Even the lions, if they pull back their ears and you don't stop you better have an escape route that will save you from those deadly teeth.

It's not all bad once you get the hang of it though. Max and Lex will back off when running back towards them making your body big and tall and if they bite, which they usually do, you simply in a deep strong tone of voice say LOS! and hit them on the nose and you will live. Just be sure to keep an eye out for both of them at all times because the one will make you soft and the other will jump on you from behind!

We took them for a lion walk the other day and they loved it! You can really see their natural behavior coming out when you give them a bit more space to roam and play.Another important thing about them is that they have a gap between the teeth in front so when they bite you you can place your fingers there and it wont hurt.

Minke the mongoose! She is our newest arrival and she was given to us first years so we can learn how to handle a new baby. We give her 4ml milk every 3 hours and we have to stimulate her after every feed. This means you have to wet a piece of cotton with luke warm water and rub her vagina and anus so she would then give off feces or urine or both. She is really noisy and so we couldn't take her home because she will attract the others and then we will have a mongoose infestation on our hands!

I learn't first hand what hard labor means! We dug out the tree roots sticking out on the surface in the pathways for two days and we dug out the sunken rocks that indicate the pathway. Our bodies really hurt and we could proudly say we got it all done and that we won't be visiting a gym very soon!

We are learning about animal enrichment and what it contributes to the animals well being. We are currently busy with a project where we compare the cages of different servals and then make a few changes to make their environment as close to their natural habitat as possible. We now know the difference between a zoo and a rehabilitation center

My next course is site guide. This is in a nutshell the game drives. What it in tales is having the knowledge of  the animals and knowing how to drive a jeep... I don't have a license which does create a problem though.

Until next time!