There were so many amazing photos that came in, that we just had to name a runner up in the contest as well.  Congratulations to Sarah Hovey Bouvier for her photo titled “Emerald Eyes”.

Emerald Eyes - taken by Sarah Hovey Bouvier 2010

Below are more of our favorite photos.  A huge thanks to all who have participated.  We will be doing more contests like this in the future and hope for just as good of a response, if not better!

Pretty in Pink - Taken by Alicia Sundelin

Do you mind? I'm trying to eat here! - taken by Amanda DuClau 2011

Monkey Business - Taken by Amy Lavoie

Participants must be 13 years or older to submit your photo.  For our followers that happen to be under 13 years of age, don’t feel left out!  Just have a parent or guardian submit a photo for you.   However, to help keep things fair, participants are only allowed one (1) entry per household please.  Please include your name, the title you have given your photograph, the year the photo was taken, and please, no Photoshopping!  We want to see your photo taking ability… not your skills as a photoshoper! Also, this contest is for animals, so please no photographs of recognizable people (a person in the background is fine).  Finally, photos submitted must be of animals from our current collection.  For a list of the animals that we currently have, visit http://www.rogerwilliamsparkzoo.org/what_to_see/exhibits.cfm.   For a full list of the rules, please see below!

Happy photographing everyone!

And remember to “Share the Wild!”

Your Friends at Roger Williams Park Zoo

RULES:

No purchase necessary.

HOW TO ENTER:
Entry may be made only by emailing an attachment of the photo to wild@rwpzoo.org.  You must be 13 years of age or older to submit a photo.  Participants under 13 years of age must have parent or legal guardian submit a photo on the minor’s behalf. Limit of one entry per household. Obscene, provocative or otherwise questionable content will not be considered.  Photographs that have won any other contests or have been published in magazines and newspapers (except online) are not eligible. We define winning as having won a grand prize or 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place overall.   Images should be formatted to 72 dpi and no smaller than 450 by 338 pixels. Panoramic photos are not eligible. Images should be submitted in JPG (at high quality) or TIFF format. File sizes must be less than 500K per image. Images must be in natural color. Black and white, sepia tone, and duotone images are not eligible.  Minor digital enhancement is permitted, but images that have been significantly modified or appear unnatural will be disqualified.

• Not Permitted
  • No borders or frames may be added to images.
  • No watermarks, signatures, or copyright notices may be added to images. All winning images will be displayed with the photographer’s name.
  • Adding or replacing elements in an image is not permitted.
  • Artistic filters are not permitted.
• Permitted Modifications
  • Images may be cropped and rotated as necessary as long as the rectangular format is maintained and the size is within the specifications above.
  • Images may be resized as long as the aspect ratio is maintained
  • Red-eye removal and spot editing
  • One-step enhancement (such as “AutoFix”, “QuickFix”, “Auto Levels”, etc.)
  • Use of filters to sharpen, soften, blur, despeckle, or remove noise.
  • Use of corrective functions to improve the natural appearance of the image, such as levels, contrast, brightness, curves, intensity, tone, hue, saturation, lightness, value, color balance, and tint.

All entries must be received by 11:59 a.m. on Monday July 25, 2011. The information collected in the email will be used by Roger Williams Park Zoo / Rhode Island Zoological Society for administration of the contest; the information will not be shared with any third parties and entrants will not be contacted about the contest, except to inform the winner.

SELECTION OF WINNING NAMES:
A Roger Williams Park Zoo employee will choose one photo as the winners from among all the entries made by July 25, 2011. The staff member will be presented with the photos only and will be blind to entrants’ names or any other identifying information. Winner will be notified via e-mail on July 25, 2011. Winner will be announced to the public through a secondary blog post.

PRIZE:
Winner will receive family four pack of tickets to attend Cirque Du Soleil QUIDAM at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on Wednesday July 27, 2011.  The prize is non-negotiable.  The winner must claim their prize by Wednesday July 27, 2011 at 5:00pm.

ODDS OF WINNING: depending on the number of eligible entries received.

ELIGIBILITY: The contest is open to all except employees of Roger Williams Park Zoo, the Rhode Island Zoological Society, their subsidiaries, affiliates, distributors or advertising agencies and their immediate families. Void where prohibited or restricted by law.

WINNER notification/releases: By accepting the prize, winner agrees to release Roger Williams Park Zoo, Rhode Island Zoological Society, their subsidiaries, sponsors, affiliates, distributors or advertising agencies from any and all liability, claims or actions for injuries, damages, or losses of any kind to persons or property which must be sustained in connection with the use of the prize. Entry constitutes permission to use the winner’s name and likeness for publicity purposes with approval or further compensation.

 In a herd of elephants, the social structure is complex and crucial to the elephants’ survival.  Unique to elephants, the matriarch passes down “stories” to the rest of the family that tell of the best places to find water, to find food, strategies for avoiding and defending the family from predators, parenting techniques and so much more.  Because of this, it is very important for elephant families to stay strong and together which makes elephant conservation programs like the Tarangire Elephant Project (supported by RWPZoo) all that much more important.  We spent time Friday morning writing our own elephant stories – many about the relationship between mother and calf.

Sometimes there is simply strength in numbers – like with a herd of zebras, a hive of honeybees or a school of fish.  Ideally, a predator would be so very overwhelmed by the number of potential meals that they wouldn’t be able to pick one out of the crowd!  If that strategy doesn’t fully work, one individual may be singled out by a predator (typically the smallest or the weakest one) but the rest of the group will survive.  Our game today required us to work together – some of us were sharks while the rest of us were minnows.  The more the minnows worked together, the longer they stayed swimming!  And the more the sharks worked together, the more minnows they could “snack” on.

After lunch our week-long Progressive Project ended with a board game convention!  All of our hard work last week on our Stayin’ Alive board games culminated today when we proudly showed them off and taught the other campers in our groups how to play.

At the end, we celebrated our efforts with a Friday ZooCamp tradition – a dance party!  These dance parties allow us to creatively celebrate the week with our new friends.  And even better than celebrating, our energetic dancing prepared us to meet the last three animals of the week – domestic ferrets, a Madagascar hissing cockroach and one of the zoo’s newest animal ambassadors – a chicken!  Did you know that chickens can see colors better than humans can?

A few activities for you and your camper:

Storytelling

Work with your campers to expand on the elephant story they started on Friday or use the attached Elephant Template to start a new one together.  How would your family work together if they were an elephant family?

Jello School of Fish (click here for PDF)

Make a classic fish snack – out of blue jell-O and gummy fish.

We hope that your ZooCamper had a great time at ZooCamp.   Hopefully, your ZooCamper will be joining us for a week of The Wild World of Reptiles later this summer.  If not, we just added a 10^th week due to popular demand August 22^nd – 26^th and there are spaces still available!  Contact our program registrar, Gerry, at gdichiara@rwpzoo.org to easily add a second week to your already created zoo account.  If you know someone else that may be interested, feel free to share a link to ZooCamp information on our website: http://www.rwpzoo.org/education/Zoocamp.cfm#adventures.

Thank you for your support of Roger Williams Park Zoo – we hope to see everyone again soon!

Sincerely,

Jen Karow

Manager of Family Programs

In case you are wondering, BioBlitz (click for a great video by our friends at the ProJo!) is an annual event where scientists, naturalists, students, families, and interested people come together in one location to identify as many species of living things as possible in a 24 hour period.  It is organized by the Rhode Island Natural History Survey and one of the big take home messages is that you don’t have to go to the tropical rainforest to find biodiversity.  This fact alone had me completely hooked, but I quickly learned there is much more to a BioBlitz than identifying species.  The first event I attended at Sprague Farm in 2009 was very eye-opening.  I fell in love with the culture of the participants and learned about the importance of building a community that shares information.  They are the nicest people I have ever met and they truly are invested in passing on their knowledge to future generations.  Some people pay thousands of dollars in college courses to learn what you can experience in a 24 hour BioBlitz.  It is a life changing event, and the things you will see and discover open an entirely new perspective of our beautiful state.

If you would like to find out more information about BioBlitz, visit  http://www.rinhs.org/    The Rhode Island Natural History has a plethora of resources including crew position opportunities for youth interested in the environmental field, conferences, lectures, database of Rhode Island flora and fauna, membership benefits, local projects, and much more!

See you out there!

Chris Hitchener (RWPZoo Early Childhood Coordinator)

RWPZoo Zookeeper, Anne Barrila on the Tundra Buggie

My name is Anne Barilla and ever since my first job at a pet store in high school, I have always been fascinated with wildlife. When I graduated from the University of Georgia in 1996 with a B.S. in Wildlife Biology, I knew I wanted to be a zookeeper.

In 1998, I began my career as a zookeeper at Roger Williams Park Zoo where I have worked with a variety of species including Humboldt penguins, arctic fox, bison, bald eagles, California sea lions, harbor seals, red wolves, polar bears, moon bears, snow leopards, and red pandas. Today I am the lead zookeeper of the North America exhibit and the Marco Polo Trail at the zoo. As a Polar Bears International Arctic Ambassador Center, Roger Williams Park Zoo chose me to attend this year’s Keeper Leadership Camp! I was honored to represent my zoo in such a capacity and was ready for the challenges this opportunity would bring.

I was so excited to observe polar bears, as well as other animals that I care for on a daily basis at RWP Zoo in their natural environment. I know that my observations will help me better understand the animals I care for and challenge me to create improved husbandry techniques and enrichment for these species. I wanted to see firsthand what is happening to the polar bear population along the Hudson Bay as the sea ice melts. I look forward to meeting and sharing this experience with other people who share my passion for animals and conservation. I have returned to Roger Williams Park Zoo inspired, motivated, and equipped with the tools I need to implement programs at our zoo and in our community that will support the goals of Polar Bears International.

Five years from now, I hope to have applied what I learned at PBI Keeper Leadership Camp to develop partnerships within our zoo and our local community to improve the polar bear’s chances of survival. I want to share my accounts of the polar bears along Hudson Bay with others. I want to inspire others to make changes in their daily lives to reduce their carbon footprint.

Through education, people will understand what it means to be stewards of the earth. They will become aware of their impact on the environment and understand that small changes in their daily lives can lead to positive changes for polar bears. I intend to apply my knowledge of polar bears to the design phase of the new polar bear exhibit and to implement innovative husbandry techniques for our polar bears once they return to the Zoo.

If you would like to read more about my trip to Hudson Bay, read our PBI Keeper Leadership Camp group blogs:

We had a wonderful first day of Summer ZooCamp as we kicked off our week of Spoon Beaks and Fork toes learning about unique feeding adaptations.  We started with a day on tongues – many animals use their uniquely adapted tongues for feeding, including giraffes, frogs, anteaters, butterflies, chameleons.

Photo Taken by RWPZookepper Rachel McClung

Speaking of giraffes, as most of you have hopefully heard, we have a brand new baby!  Born early Friday morning, baby needed quiet time with mom so the announcement of its birth was not made until late afternoon and last week’s campers were unfortunately unable to get a glimpse.  Our chances will be much better this week, but because baby is only a few days old and will continue to need quiet time with mom, we cannot guarantee campers will see the baby this week.  That being said, campers walk by the giraffe exhibit every afternoon on the way to the pick-up gate, so chances are good!

Photo taken by ZooCamp Director Jen Karrow

Today we focused on the sticky tongues of frogs and chameleons.  Did you know that a frog’s tongue is attached to the front of its mouth, not the back like ours?  In capturing prey, the frog aims, closes its eyes and shoots out the tongue.  A sticky mucous is secreted from the tongue on contact and the captured prey is carried back into the frog’s mouth where it is swallowed.  Ask your camper – what does a frog use to swallow? (Hint: they also use these to see).  During craft, campers created their own frog mask with a sticky (Velcro) tongue.  Some of us made felt insects to capture with our tongues!  We apologize in advance for the noise making properties of these tongues.

Chameleon tongues are much longer than those of frogs and can stretch more than one and a half times the length of the chameleon’s body!  A chameleon aims, closes its eyes, shoots out its tongue at a speed of 13.4 miles per hour and hopes that its target is hit.  When it is, a sticky substance is secreted and brings the prey item back.  We played tag today using long pieces of foam that, for some of us, were actually one and a half times the length of our body!

After enjoying the sunny weather at lunch, we played frog, frog, tadpole (like duck, duck, goose but requires us to hop like frogs!) before coming inside to start a project that we will be working on every day this week – enrichment for our education animals.  Enrichment is something we do every day for every animal here at the zoo and is meant to stimulate their minds and their bodies through smell, sight, touch, taste and sometimes sound stimulation.  This week, each pair of groups will be given an animal to enrich (ferret, armadillo or opossum), put together a proposal, create the enrichment and then see it offered to the animals on Friday.

We ended the day with a few animal visitors that use their tongues to find and capture food – a Honduran milk snake, Marine Toad and Nine-Banded Armadillo.  Ask your camper, why does a snake have a forked tongue?

Some activities you might want to try with your camper tonight:

Who’s YOUR ZooCamp Counselor?

If you have a child in ZooCamp now, have your camper point out who their ZooCamp counselor is on the attached PDF.  We know that sometimes it’s hard to remember names after an exciting day at camp – use the photos to help!  Ask them to tell you one fun fact about their counselor or something they learned from their counselor today.

See for Yourself

This morning we watched a great video during our introduction to animal tongues about chameleons from the BBC series Life (highly recommended!).  Unfortunately Life videos are not available on-line, but you can see a chameleon catch a snack on ARKive at http://www.arkive.org/parsons-chameleon/calumma-parsonii/video-08b.html.

Butterfly Sippers

Butterflies use their proboscis – a long tube – to feed on nectar of flowers.  You can create your own butterfly proboscis using paper, a hole punch and a straw!  Click here to download instructions to make your own Butterfly Sippers.

Gooey Oobleck

Many animals that use their tongues for finding and catching food have sticky ones.  One of our favorite sticky, gooey, homemade substances is “Ooblek”, made from 2 parts cornstarch and 1 part water.  Mix together and enjoy!

Until next session,

Jen Karow

We had a wonderful first day of Summer ZooCamp as we kicked off our week of learning about Extreme Environments starting today with deserts.  In the morning we learned that many cool animals can be found in deserts – lizards, snakes, birds, bats and sometimes even elephants.  Scientists study these animals by using all-terrain vehicles, helicopters and even traveling by camel.  And of course, one of the biggest challenges in studying a desert environment is staying hydrated! 

By definition, deserts are very dry.  Animals that call the desert home must have ways of collecting and conserving water.  One of the most unique methods of collecting water is found in the  Namib Desert beetle, Thorny Devil and Horned Lizard – through adhesion.  These animals collect water from the fog or in the sand itself and wick the water to their mouths through tiny channels between their scales.  Water likes to stick together – and we can see this in action when we put our thumb over a straw in a cup of water and lift it out.  The water stays in the straw!  We played a water relay race – working as teams to transfer as much water from one bucket to another just using straws and our thumbs.  Encourage playing with your drinks at dinner tonight and try this as a family!

We also learned today that most desert animals are crepuscular or nocturnal due to the high heat of desert days (ask your camper – what do these words mean?).  A visit to the desert during the day will leave you thinking that nothing lives there – but this landscape crawls with life at night.  Campers revealed a desert at night scene of their own using scratch boards (colors covered in black ink).  Ask your camper to describe the scene they created.  If time and materials allow, encourage your camper to create a frame for their desert scene and display it proudly at home! 

After enjoying the sunny weather at lunch, we played a few outdoor games before coming inside to start a project that we will be working on every day this week – a mural of the environments that we can find right here in our backyard of New England.  We have an amazing diversity of habitats in New England – ranging from wetlands, salt marshes, beaches, pine barrens, rocky coastline, even tundra, and so much more!

We ended the day with a few animal visitors that call the desert home – a Leopard Gecko, Egyptian Spiny-Tailed Lizard and a Kenyan Sand Boa.   

Some activities you might want to try with your camper tonight:

 Who’s YOUR ZooCamp Counselor? 

Have your camper point out who their ZooCamp counselor is on the attached PDF.  We know that sometimes it’s hard to remember names after an exciting day at camp – use the photos to help!  Ask them to tell you one fun fact about their counselor or something they learned from their counselor today. ZooCamp Counselors Summer 2010

Namaqua Chameleons

Most chameleons are adapted for life in lush, green environments but one species – the Namaqua Chameleon – has adapted to life in the desert.  Able to change each area of their skin independently, the Namaqua Chameleon turns one side black to absorb the heat of the sun, and the other side light to control the loss of heat.  See a video: http://www.arkive.org/namaqua-chameleon/chamaeleo-namaquensis/video-01.html.

Make Your Own Scratchboard

Today, your camper created a desert at night scene using pre-made scratchboards.  You can make your own by covering a piece of sturdy cardstock with a layer of colorful crayon.  Use black crayons or black paint to cover the colors.  If paint, let dry.  Use a pointy utensil – paperclips work wonders – to create a colorful etching.

Egg Carton Camels

During tour today, your camper likely saw our two Dromedary Camels (ask your camper – how many humps does a Dromedary Camel have? (One – one hump in a D.  A Bactrian Camel has two humps – 2 humps in a B).  Use your empty egg cartons to create a camel with one or two humps – add legs and a neck with pipe cleaners or pieces of the top of the egg carton.  The head can be made from paper or another “hump”!

My name is Chris Hitchener and I have been coordinating the RWP Zoo’s Roots and Shoots club for the past 7 years.  Roots and Shoots was founded in 1991 by Dr. Jane Goodall and a group of Tanzanian students.  The program is about making positive change happen—for our communities, for animals and for the environment. With hundreds of thousands of young people in more than 120 countries, the Roots & Shoots network connects youth of all ages who share a desire to create a better world. Young people identify problems in their communities and take action. Through service projects, youth-led campaigns and an interactive website, Roots & Shoots members are making a difference across the globe.

Our current club is run by 8 amazing youth leaders all between the ages of 9-11.  Their names are Aidan, Peter, Sage, Grace, Angelica, Josie, Nick, and Gideon.  Since October they have been working hard on projects that incorporate animals, the environment, and people.  Some examples of what they’ve accomplished are: raising $225 for the RI Wildlife Rehabilitator Association, $120 raised for the American Cancer Society, $120 raised for Amur Leopard Conservation, organized and hosted a Roots and Shoots Celebration Day at the zoo, created a Peace Dove, and worked with keepers to develop enrichment for zoo animals like the African wild dogs, camels, bison, and snakes.  Right now our youths are working with the Rhode Island SPCA learning about responsible pet ownership, and the benefit of adopting an animal vs. buying one.

We are so honored to have Dr. Jane Goodall, founder of Roots and Shoots, visit the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, RI!  On May 1^st she will be visiting the zoo to meet with Roots and Shoots clubs from all over New England.

This will be my seventh time hearing Dr. Jane speak and after every talk I feel empowered to do more for my community.  My hope is that her speech will empower the hearts and minds of the crowd; to feel that same energy I feel after watching my Roots and Shoots kids accomplish a project goal with great success.

To learn more about RWP Zoo’s Roots and Shoots club Visit http://www.rwpzoo.org/education/bigkid.cfm#roots

http://rootsshoots.smugmug.com/New-England/RootsShootsDayatRWPZoo/10889326_wZ5BJ#760076432_Rz4kj

Read more about RWPZ’s Roots and Shoots club from the perspective of two of our Roots and Shoots youth leaders, Beth and Denali.

Beth’s Blog

Denali’s Blog

For more info about Roots and Shoots New England visit:

http://www.rootsandshoots.org/regional_offices/new_england/home

For more info about Jane Good all at Roger Williams Park Zoo visit:

http://www.rwpzoo.org/calendar/goodall.cfm

Vincent was a member of the RWPZoo family, and he will be sorely missed

Many of you may have met him during a walk around the Zoo, or on a Zoomobile, or  even during ZooCamp, but it is with a heavy heart that we share the news that Vincent, our six-year old Parma Wallaby, passed away on Tuesday night after a short illness.

Vincent had been losing weight recently and after having some x-rays taken over the weekend our veterinary staff discovered the presence of two gastroliths, which are small objects which develop layers of minerals surrounding them like a pearl, in his stomach. Veterinarians treated him in preparation for surgery, but Vincent passed away Tuesday night.  It will take between four to six weeks for final laboratory test results to determine the exact cause of death.

Vincent was born at the Zoo in 2003 and was perhaps best known for his inspiring story.  When he emerged from his mother’s pouch a few months after birth, he had a dislocated hock,  or knee, and a broken tail, which could have affected his ability to survive. Surgery was performed at Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine and Zoo veterinarians performed follow up medical care. Two Zoo staffers, a married couple who had worked in wallaby conservation efforts, acted as “foster parents” to him, caring for him night and day throughout his recovery.

Vincent survived and went on to enjoy good health, and although his right foot always twisted outward, he could get around on his own quite well. Vincent enjoyed special “star” status at the Zoo as a favorite education animal, carried throughout Zoo grounds by docents or educators in a cloth pouch created just for him.

Vincent delighted visitors and staff alike and his story inspired many. The Zoo’s Education Director, Shareen Knowlton, speaking on behalf of the docents and staff, said “Vincent was a member of our family. We all will miss him terribly.”

Please join us in celebrating the life of  Vincent and share your own story of meeting Vincent.  We also welcome you to post photos to our Facebook page or email them in to info@rwpzoo.org

Roger Williams Park Zoo’s Roots & Shoots Club

This year the RWPZoo members have decided on their three main projects incorporating animals, the environment, and the community.  They are:

1. Host a bake sale to raise money for local wildlife rehabilitators, Amur leopard conservation, and the American Cancer Society.
2. Work with the RISPCA
3. Provide animal enrichment for zoo animals

The students have also started working on other projects of interest.  On November 21 they hosted a New England Roots and Shoots Celebration Day at the zoo where R&S clubs from RI, MA, and NH met to share project ideas. The were initially greeted by a few zoo ambassadors, Vincent the wallaby and Chuck the Madagascar tree boa, followed by a warm welcome from the Zoo’s Education Director Shareen Knowlton. Next they listened to a presentation from the Zoo’s Conservation Director, Lou Perrotti, and learned about the American Burying Beetle and why working in conservation is important to him.  Finally, the zoo’s R&S members split participants into three main groups to build animal enrichment for camels, bison, kangaroos, and African wild dogs!

I asked the kids to write about their experience and this is what they wrote, enjoy!

Denali (age 15 – National Youth Leadership Council Member)

At the Roots and Shoots Celebration Day we started out by telling each other about our group’s projects.  The RWPZoo club talked about many of the projects we have completed in the past years.  Dawn’s R&S group from Woonsocket, RI told us about their solar oven project.  They built an operational solar oven completely powered by the sun!  Finally a R&S club from New Hampshire described a composting project they did.  They learned all about composting benefits and the process of composting.  I learned how essential composting is for the Earth and people’s health.  It also reduces waste in our landfills.

After we learned about what people are working on, the zoo introduced us to a wallaby named Vincent and a Madagascar tree boa called Chuck!  Both animals are part of the zoo’s education animal collection.  We met Lou Perrotti, the conservation director, and he gave us a presentation about the American Burying Beetle!  You could tell that Lou really loves helping animals that most people dislike.  The kids liked his presentation so much that they asked a bunch of questions.  The crowd really enjoyed talking with him.

Sage (age 10), Grace (age 10), and Josie (age 11)

Our favorite part of the day was making enrichment for the African wild dogs.  We started by teaching our new Roots and Shoots friends about how enrichment helps zoo animals by bringing out their natural behaviors.  We stuffed large paper bags with shredded newspaper and feathers from the African crowned cranes.  We painted the bags with non-toxic paint and met with the zoo keepers so they could put some meat in the bags for the wild dogs.

While the zoo keeper put the bags in the exhibit we guessed what the wild dogs might do.  We all thought they would attack the bags right away, and they did.  First they ate the meat and then they played with the crane feathers!  They ripped the bags up into little pieces and ran around with them.  It was really cool.

Aidan (age 12) and Gideon (age 10)

On November 21^st we worked with other Roots and Shoots groups on bison and camel enrichment.  We made 8 biodegradable, and fully edible, scarecrows.  We used bamboo, brush, and leaves collected by zookeepers to make the frames of the scarecrows.  We attached brown bags filled with hay and carrots as a treat.  Everybody was really happy working with everyone else.  I’m sure it was a very enjoyable experience for all, including the bison and camel!  They loved eating the bamboo leaves!

Nick (age 10) and Peter (age 10)

We worked with kids from different places to make enrichment for the kangaroos!  We painted and cut holes into boxes that the zookeepers filled with food.  The kangaroos needed to get the food out of the holes.  Everyone had fun making the boxes and it was important for us to make sure that all the tape was removed from the boxes and that the paint was non-toxic!

The kangaroos loved the enrichment!  The zoo keeper was there to make sure nothing happened.  One of the kangaroos got a box stuck on its head!  It was on loose and the zoo keeper helped take it off, it was really funny!  The kids we worked with came from many different places and we worked together to make the world a better place!  Yahoooo!

Check out http://www.rwpzoo.org/education/bigkid.cfm#roots to find out how you can join the Roger Williams Park Zoo’s Roots and Shoots club.  Also, check out some of the photos from the Roots and Shoots Celebration Day at http://rootsshoots.smugmug.com/new-england. Roots and Shoots is really for any age so find out how you can start your own club by visiting http://www.rootsandshoots.org