CHILDREN MEET ANIMALS FACE TO FACE AT JUNIOR SAFARI CAMP ZOOFARI SNOOZE INCLUDES LEARNING ABOUT NOCTURNAL BEASTS.Byline: Angie Valencia Staff Writer MOORPARK - Lizzi is a red tailed boa constrictor boa constrictor largest of all snakes; squeezes its victims in a deadly grip. [Zoology: NCE, 317] See : Deadliness that can eat food three times the size of its head, and Bugs, the bunny, thumps thumps exaggerated expiratory movement and effort without necessarily any increase in respiratory rate nor evidence of dyspnea. diaphragmatic thumps see synchronous diaphragmatic flutter. its feet when it gets frightened fright·en v. fright·ened, fright·en·ing, fright·ens v.tr. 1. To fill with fear; alarm. 2. . They are a couple of the animals children met at the America's Teaching Zoo junior safari camp presented as part of a zookeeping program at Moorpark College Moorpark College is a California-state funded community college located on a 134 acre (542,000 m²) property reclining on a hill in Moorpark, a town in Ventura County, California. . The camp, offered in connection with the college's Exotic Animal Training and Management program, ran weekly from June 21 through Friday ``Kids don't have fear,'' said Mary VanHollebeke, junior safari counselor. ``They want to touch everything.'' Using the zoo compounds as their classroom, children - ranging from first- through eight-graders - handle, feed, clean and observe the training of wildlife throughout the summer. ``They learn how it would be to work with animals,'' VanHollebeke said. Los Cerritos Middle School student Meghan Mann, 13, said coming face to face with a seal was one of the highlights. ``It's really a good opportunity to see animals,'' she said. ``Not many people get to do it.'' Christie Fudurich, 13, has been a regular in the program for years and says she has recruited several of her friends since first joining the camp. ``This is a learning experience,'' she said. While at camp, the children also encountered a pregnant sand boa Sand boas are small, stout bodied snakes of the subfamily Erycinae of the family Boidae. Recent taxonomic reclassification has assigned two genera which are commonly referred to as sand boas: Eryx and Gongylophis. due to give birth in a couple of weeks to an expected eight to 12 little ones young children. See also: Little . In addition to the junior safari camp, a sleepover with games and pizza is scheduled for Aug. 20 at the zoo. The Zoofari Snooze will give the children and their parents a chance to learn of the activities of nocturnal nocturnal /noc·tur·nal/ (nok-tur´n'l) pertaining to, occurring at, or active at night. noc·tur·nal adj. 1. Of, relating to, or occurring in the night. 2. animals. For more information, contact the zoo at (805) 378-1441. Angie Valencia, (805) 583-7604 angie.valencia(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Brittany Tisinger explains some of the traits of a sand boa snake to parents during America's Teaching Zoo safari camp. Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News |
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