Live Animal Experience -Zoo to You

Activity: Wild Innovations: From Our Workshop to the Zoo!

Welcome, curious minds! You’ve been incredible at designing and building prosthetics for our stuffed animal friends. Today, we have a special guest – the Oakland Zoo’s Zoomobile! This is your chance to connect the amazing work you’ve been doing with the real animal world. Get ready to ask questions, observe, and learn from experts who care for animals every single day.

Your Mission Today: Your goal is to engage with the Zoomobile animals and their handlers with a curious and scientific mind. Think about how the concepts of animal care, adaptation, and even “specialized tools” (like the prosthetics you designed!) apply to real animals.

How to Engage:

1. Observe Closely: As the Zoomobile handlers introduce each animal, pay close attention to its unique features, how it moves, and any special adaptations it has.
2. Think Like a Scientist/Engineer: Connect what you observe to the challenges and solutions you explored in your prosthetic design activity.
3. Ask Thoughtful Questions: Use the questions below to guide your conversations with the Zoomobile handlers. Remember, there are no “wrong” questions when you’re exploring!

Inquiry Questions for the Zoomobile Experience:

Here are 10 questions to spark your conversations with the Zoomobile handlers. You don’t have to ask all of them, but choose the ones that you find most interesting!

1. How do the animals you bring to the Zoomobile adapt to living in different environments or with different needs?
2. Have any of the animals at the Oakland Zoo, or animals you’ve worked with, ever needed special equipment or adaptations to help them with an injury or a permanent condition? What was it like?
3. When an animal has an injury, what are some of the first things a zookeeper or vet thinks about to help it heal or cope?
4. How do you observe animal behavior to understand if they are comfortable or if they need special care?
5. What kinds of technologies or tools does the zoo use to help monitor animal health and well-being?
6. If an animal had a missing limb, like our stuffed animals, what are some of the natural ways animals compensate for that in the wild?
7. What kind of education or training do you need to become someone who cares for animals at a zoo?
8. How do you ensure the animals are comfortable and safe during their travels with the Zoomobile?
9. Are there any surprising materials or creative solutions you’ve seen used to help animals with unique challenges?
10. What’s the most rewarding part of your job when you see an animal thriving, especially after needing special care?

After the Zoomobile:

We’ll have a quick reflection session. Be ready to share something new you learned, a surprising observation you made, or how something you saw connects to your prosthetic design experience!