Dan the Animal Man

Dan the Animal Man came to show some animals after the Blue and Gold Ceremony and they were a hit! He was very informative and I definitely checked off Science for the day:)! We are learning about Ocean and Land Animals this year so it fit right in with our curriculum. I asked the kids to write down their favorite facts about each animal and will be using those for this post.

First up was a porcupine from Africa. The kids learned that porcupines do NOT shoot their quills...they just shed them. (who knew?) Also this thing can take down a cheetah if it's getting messed with! They eat fruits and just like beavers their teeth never stop growing so they have to constantly chew.

Next up came the owl from South America who has no sense of smell (which is why they'll eat a skunk), silent wings when it flys, kicks anyone out of a nest if they want it (including eagles), and if our eyes were as big as theirs in comparison to their face they would be the size of tennis balls. They can't move their eyes which is why they turn their heads around 270 degrees.

Then came the lemur. This was quite a treat for the kids during the presentation! Another fruit eater the lemur hung by it's feet for everyone and was shameless when it was being groomed and immediately felt at home:). From Madagascar these nocturnal animals are being wiped out because of the forest removal. Usually their tails are longer than their whole body (though they can't hang from them) and they have four hands with nails instead of claws. Lemurs are very social and live in family groups and grooming is how they socialize.

This lemur, Maddie, suddenly TOOK OFF at the audience during the presentation. I mean full fledged arms spread wide leaped from the table and looked like a flying squirrel. It landed on a scout then jumped from table to table until it stop in the back of the room. It was quite a site and even though we knew it was an herbivore nothing scares you more than seeing a wild animal loose while four of your children are in the room! Thankfully Brian had Ephram because it was inches from him (in the back of the room). No one was hurt and Dan stayed completely calm still teaching about it for a few minutes before even going to get it! Funny enough, the lemur was the one animal ephram was scared of! As soon as it came out he asked to go sit in the back with Brian (b/c I was in the front near the other kiddos). When we left that night Ephram told us the Alligator ate the lemur and he really liked the alligator:). Silly boy! That was a show the kids won't soon forget!


This is Dan's North American alligator. When he brought it in and put it on the table (after the lemur incident) I thought I was going to have a heart attack! Clearly he wasn't going to put everyone in danger but still! It's an alligator! He told us several times it was hibernating and couldn't eat because during the hibernation period food will just sit and rot in it's stomach (and therefore the alligator will die). The kids were able to see how it has 'goggles' over it's eye when it swims, can automatically plug it's nose, and can open it's mouth to get prey while holding it's tongue down so it doesn't choke in any water...VERY cool!
Thankfully there were no incidents with the alligator. The weather has to consistently be over 60 degrees at NIGHT for the alligator to come out of it's false hibernation mode.

They learned SO many cool facts! Oh...and the best part is that Dan is a Christian and talked to them about things like bullying and focusing on the creator...all while teaching them about the animals.

yep...they were beside the alligator!