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Zoomobile visits Park Side Elementary in Marshall

MARSHALL — Zoomobile Naturalist Donald Crook took a large white sack from the blue kennel on the table set up inside the Park Side Elementary gymnasium.

After quizzing the second-grade students sitting in front of him, Crook opened the sack just long enough for one of the students to look inside.

“A snake,” the student blared out.

Suddenly, one teacher backed up toward the door at the back of the gym, but the students all started to chatter with curiosity.

“You don’t have anything to worry about,” Crook told the students at the beginning of his presentation. He should know, because he works for the Minnesota Zoo.

“If you see something weird, creepy or odd, that’s all right because animals look the way the do for special reasons,” he said.

Crook’s presentation also gave the students a lesson on habitats.

“Have you ever heard of a habitat before?” he asked the students.

“It’s where an animal lives,” one student answered.

“Does anybody think they know a habitat for a chicken?” Crook asked.

After a little pause, he pointed to a student.

“A farm,” the student answered.

“A farm is a perfect habitat for a chicken,” Crook said.

When Crook brought out an owl, the students laughed when the bird flapped its wings.

He also let students put their hands on a chinchilla to feel the softness of its fur.

After entertaining the students, Crook explained that the Minnesota Zoo travels to the Marshall area about three times a year.

“We bring them (animals) to schools, libraries, children’s hospitals and just do programs for people around the state,” he said. “We just let the kids see animals they don’t actually see all the time. Expose them to things like the chinchilla, or a big snake or show them these animals are not scary. They are not something to be feared, but something to learn about.”

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