A team of ambassadors and critters from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs visited Meeker Elementary School (MES) last Thursday. The entourage included an armadillo, tortoise, porcupine, corn snake and Burmese python. Zoo personnel talked about animal myths. All the kids had the opportunity to pet the porcupine and the python. Pictured are a three-banded armadillo from Brazil and a North American porcupine. According to MES Principal Kathy Collins, the kids learned that a tortoise’s shell, as in turtles as well, contains the spine (backbone) so that they cannot come out of their shells like we sometimes see in cartoons. Similarly, the kids learned that porcupines cannot “throw” their quills which are actually modified hair and “we don’t throw our hair.”
REED KELLEY PHOTOS
