Tropical Habitats

Both Will and Joel have had the same second grade animal habitat project at Brookside Elementary. It was assigned by their shared teachers: Mrs. Staples (science and math) for both and Miss Sahlin for Will and Mrs. Thomas for Joel (language arts). Students are assigned to creat a habitat for a selected animal and then write a research report about that animal. Both chose tropical animals that live in regions once visited by their dad. Last night Will completed his report and habitat. His assigned animal was the boa constrictor. Will was very hands on in completing the habitat. He selected the rubber snake from many on-line options, he chose the fake greenery (with Marie at Michael's) and then arranged it, he decided on the log and he helped select some of my photos from my 1994 visit to the rainforest of Ecuador (where boas live) for the background. (Notice Will's grass stained knees from his recess playing).

The river in the background is a tributary of the Amazon. In the distance are ripples from just surfaced fresh water dolphins.

Four years ago, Joel chose to study Orangutans (an Indonesian word meaning person-orang of the jungle-hutan). The back drop and forest floor for his habitat were selected photos from my 2005 trip to Borneo (Kalimantan Barat) where I was able to explore a national park where Orangutans live--never did see one.
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