Last month, the Ashland Middle School chapter of the Jane Goodall Roots & Shoots program stopped by to get a hands-on learning opportunity.
The group helped to build five bird houses and three bat boxes, which the children then donated to Wildlife Images. The group came to Wildlife Images on a field trip, and took advantage of an opportunity to help with enrichment for Brady, our cougar.
The students then filled out ethograms — a form that helps us catalogue behaviors and actions exhibited by our animals — as they learned more about how we take care of our permanent residents. The bird houses and bat boxes will help our unofficial residents as they move through the area, and potentially make homes on our campus.
Bird houses, often called nesting boxes, provide a safe place for birds to build their nests, protected from the elements and predators.
Bat boxes provide a safe environment for bats, while protecting the area from pest insects, like mosquitoes, moths, and beetles. Bat boxes give females a safe, warm place to raise their young. Most female bats only have one pup each year.
The Roots & Shoots program is a worldwide effort to nurture the next generation of compassionate changemakers and leaders with 21st-century learning skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, empathy, and collaboration.
For more information on the Roots & Shoots program, visit the group’s website at www.rootsandshoots.org.