- Read a book and
write a report.
- Visit the WCS
Web site.
- Take the Rainforest
Pledge and choose three courses of action you will
follow to conserve wildlife and wild places in tropical
rainforest regions and in the area where you live.
Grown-ups'
Guidelines
The WCS Web site holds a lot of information
on animals, habitats and things that are being done
to save wildlife around the world. Choose one activity--A,
B or C--and locate articles on the WCS Web site to help
you explore and answer the questions. When you've found
the information you seek, talk with your adult certificate
sponsor to help you decide how you'll present your answers.
You may want to write an essay, design a poster, compose
a song or act out a skit. Be creative, but be sure to
provide accurate answers to the questions on your list.
- In the Wild
To save wildlife, it is important to use three main
strategies: Discover Animal
Needs, Involve Local People and Protect
Wild Places.
In addition to operating the Bronx Zoo, the New York
Aquarium and other wildlife conservation parks, WCS
has scientists working worldwide to save wildlife
in their natural habitats. To find an example of one
of these field projects, go to www.wcs.org
and click "In the Wild." Then, select a
continent from the list of geographic areas. Next,
choose and click the name of a project site or species
from the list of "Section Topics" for the
continent you've chosen.
Be sure to record the topic you've chosen, when you
found it, and where on the Web site it was located.
To do this, list the heading that appears at the top
of your screen when you reach the Web page for your
topic. Also record the page's URL (Web address) and
the date when you visited that page. It may also help
to "bookmark" the site.
Now, record what you learn! Describe where the conservation
effort is taking place. What animal species are conservationists
working to save? In what type of habitat do the animals
live? What do you think scientists hope to discover
about the animals' needs? What are local people in
that area doing to protect them?
- Save the Jaguar
Your study of the Congo rainforest region has taken
you on imaginary trips to the African continent, but
WCS is also working to save wildlife in rainforests
in the Americas. At the WCS
Web site, click "savethejaguar"
to find an example of how conservationists are working
to save jaguars in the Western Hemisphere.
As you explore this part of the Web site, find and
record information about at least one geographic area
in which jaguars are known to live. In what country
or countries is this territory located? Do people
live there, too? Find and record at least one example
of how people who live in areas populated by jaguars
are involved in trying to save the species or an example
of how WCS hopes to involve local people in helping
the jaguar in the future.
Next, find and record an example of something scientists
hope to learn about jaguars. What do scientists want
to learn about the jaguar and how will this information
help them protect the species? How are the issues
related to jaguar conservation similar to, or different
from, the issues related to gorilla conservation.
- Congo Gorilla Forest
The WCS Web site also includes a special section on
the Congo Gorilla Forest
Exhibit (accessible from the WCS home page or at www.congogorillaforest.com).
Visit the Congo Gorilla Forest Exhibit online and
take a virtual tour of the exhibit. You can also meet
artisans who created scenery and other elements of
the actual exhibit, discover what WCS researchers
are studying in Africa's real Congo rainforest and
learn why the Congo Gorilla Forest Exhibit is unlike
any existing zoo exhibit.
Now that you've taken a virtual tour of the exhibit,
pretend that you're about to visit the real exhibit
in New York. Which three parts of the exhibit are
you most eager to see? Which animals in the exhibit
do you find most interesting? Why? If you were asked
to make two changes to the site, what would they be
and why?
|
