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Animal Research Project for Kids at the Elementary Level in 2024
Whether you are doing a simple animal study or a fully integrated science, reading, and writing unit, this animal research project for kids includes everything you need. From the graphic organizer worksheets and guided note templates to the writing stationary, printable activities, projects, and rubrics.
Thousands of teachers have used this 5-star resource to have students complete self-guided animal research projects to learn about any animal they choose. The best part is, the resource can be used over and over again all year long by just picking a new animal! Learn all about this animal research project for kids at the elementary level below!
What is the Animal Research Project?
The animal research project is a resource that is packed with printable and digital activities and projects to choose from. It is perfect for elementary teachers doing a simple animal study or a month-long, fully integrated unit. It’s open-ended nature allows it to be used over and over again throughout the school year. In addition, it includes tons of differentiated materials so you can continue to use it even if you change grade levels. Learn about what’s included in it below!
What is Included in the Animal Research Project
The following resources are included in the animal research project :
Teacher’s Guide
The teacher’s guide includes tips and instructions to support you with your lesson planning and delivery.
Parent Letter
The parent communication letter promotes family involvement.
Graphic Organizers
There are graphic organizers for brainstorming a topic, activating schema, taking notes, and drafting writing.
Research Report
There are research report publishing printables including a cover, writing templates, and resource pages.
There is a grading rubric so expectations are clear for students and grading is quick and easy for you.
Research Activities
The research activities include a KWL chart, can have are chart, compare and contrast venn diagram, habitat map, vocabulary pages, illustration page, and life cycle charts.
Animal Flip Book Project
There are animal flip book project printables to give an additional choice of how students can demonstrate their understanding.
Animal Flap Book Project
There is an animal flap book project printables that offers students yet another way to demonstrate their learning.
Animal Research Poster
The animal research poster serves as an additional way to demonstrate student understanding.
Poetry Activities
The resource includes poetry activities to offer students an alternative way to demonstrate their learning.
Digital Versions
There is a digital version of the resource so your students can access this resource in school or at home.
Why Teachers love the Animal Research Project
Teachers love this animal research project because of the following reasons:
- This resource guides students through the research and writing process, so they can confidently work their way through this project.
- It is a great value because it can be used over and over again throughout the school year because the pages can be used to learn about any animal.
- It offers several ways students can demonstrate their learning.
- It includes a ton of resources, so you can pick and choose which ones work best for you and your students.
- It is printable and digital so it can be used for in-class and at-home learning.
This animal research packet is great because it can be used over and over again using absolutely any animal at all. The printables in this packet are ideal to use with your entire class in school, as an at-home learning extension project or as a purposeful, open-ended, independent choice for your students who often finish early and need an enrichment activity that is so much more than “busy work.”
The Research Report Process
This animal research project packet was designed in a manner that allows you to use all of the components when studying any animal. Because the printables can be used over and over, I will often work through the entire researching and writing process with the whole class focusing on one animal together, This allows me to model the procedure and provide them with support as they “get their feet wet” as researchers. Afterwards I then have them work through the process with an animal of choice. You may find it helpful to have them select from a specific category (i.e. ocean animals, rainforest animals, etc) as this will help to streamline the resources you’ll need to obtain.
Step 1: Brainstorm a list of animals to research. Select one animal.
During this stage you may want to provide the students with a collection of books and magazines to explore and help them narrow down their choice.
Step 2: Set a purpose and activate schema.
Students share why they selected the animal and tell what they already know about it. Next, they generate a list of things they are wondering about the animal. This will help to guide their research.
Step 3: Send home the family letter.
To save you time, involve families, and communicate what is happening in the classroom, you may want to send home a copy of the family letter. It’s so helpful when they send in additional research materials for the students.
Step 4: Research and take notes.
The two-column notes template is a research-based tool that helps the kids organize their notes. I added bulleted prompts to guide the students in finding specific information within each category. This method has proven to be highly effective with all students, but is especially useful with writers who need extra support.
I have included two versions of the organizers (with and without lines). I print a copy of the organizer for each student. I also copy the lined paper back to back so it is available to students who need more space.
Step 5: Write a draft.
Using the information gathered through the research process, the students next compose drafts. The draft papers were designed to guide the students through their writing by providing prompts in the form of questions. Answering these questions in complete sentences will result in strong paragraphs. It may be helpful to give them only one page at a time instead of a packet as it make the task more manageable.
Step 6: Edit the draft.
Editing can be done in many ways, but it is most effective when a qualified editor sits 1:1 with a student to provides effective feedback to them while editing.
Step 7: Publish.
Print several copies of the publishing pages. I like to have all my students start with the page that has a large space for an illustration, but then let them pick the pages they want to use in the order they prefer after that. I have them complete all the writing first and then add the illustrations.
Finally, have the children design a cover for the report. Add that to the front and add the resources citation page to the back. Use the criteria for success scoring rubric to assign a grade. The rubric was designed using a 20 point total so you can simply multiply their score by 5 to obtain a percentage grade. The end result is a beautiful product that showcases their new learning as well as documents their reading and writing skills.
In closing, we hope you found this animal research project for kids helpful! If you did, then you may also be interested in these posts:
- How to Teach Research Skills to Elementary Students
- 15 Animals in Winter Picture Books for Elementary Teachers
- How to Teach Informative Writing at the Elementary Level
- Read more about: ELEMENTARY TEACHING , INTEGRATED CURRICULUM ACTIVITIES
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Writing Unit of Study: Animal Research Project
This free animal research project will provide you with a writing unit of study that will help you build excitement about writing informational text in your classroom.
You can download this free animal research project to help your writers develop their research and writing skills.
This project will be a great fit for your first, second or third grade writing workshop.
This is another free resource for teachers and homeschool families from The Curriculum Corner.
Why should I introduce my students to research through animal study?
Animal research can be a great topic for writing informational text because students tend to be curious about animals.
Nothing seems to spark interest in most kids like learning about animals in our world. Turn their enthusiasm into an engaging animal research writing project.
They can take the time to learn about different habitats and diets.
You can also encourage students to expand their vocabulary by having them create a glossary to accompany their writing.
About this animal research project
Within this post you will find over 30 pages of anchor charts, mini-lesson ideas, writing planners and graphic organizers.
The unit will help guide your students through the complete process. In the end, you will be helping to teach your students how to write their own pieces of informational text.
The intended end product for students is an animal booklet that they can staple together to share with others.
Students who are ready for more advanced work, can create a larger project with less direction.
A description of the mini-lessons
Lesson 1: introduction.
- Begin the unit by having the students brainstorm a list of animals that they might see everyday.
- Then, have them brainstorm a list of animals they see when they visit the zoo or walk in the forest. You can do this on the blank anchor chart provided or on cart paper.
- Another option is to place students in groups. They could work to create a list together.
- You might assign each group a continent and have them find animals that live there.
- Pull the class together and have each group share what animals they found that live on their continent.
Lesson 2: Noticings
- Next you might want to get your students familiar with common characteristics about informational texts that teach about animals.
- Have them work in pairs or small groups to go through some books and record their “noticings” about the writing.
- Then come together in a community circle to discuss those noticings and create a class anchor chart.
Lesson 3: Opinion vs. Facts
- Before getting truly into this unit, you might need to conduct a lesson on opinions vs. facts.
- After a brief discussion you can use the giraffe paragraph provided in our resources to give your students some practice differentiating between the two. This paragraph contains both opinions and facts.
- With your class read through the paragraph and record facts and opinions on the T-chart.
- Discuss both sides and how they are different from each other.
- A black & white copy of this giraffe paragraph has also been provided. You can have them work in pairs or groups to distinguish between the facts and opinions.
- If you need more resources for your students surrounding fact & opinion check out our Fact & Opinion Sort .
Lesson 4: Choosing a Topic for the Animal Research Project
- We want to help students to narrow their topic choices by giving them some guidance.
- Gather students and begin a discussion about choosing an animal research topic.
- For this lesson we have provided two pages where students can individually brainstorm the animals they are interested in.
- You might have students work in groups or independently to make their choice. Conference with students as needed to help.
- Don’t shy away from letting more than one student research about the same animal. This can be a great way to promote group work. It might also help out with some of your literacy center choices throughout this unit.
Lesson 5: Good Places to Find Information about an Animal
- At this age we want students to begin to understand that all they read online about animals isn’t always true. Sometimes writing might sound true without being filled with facts.
- Show students two possible places to find information online about their animal. One should be a trusted site with reliable and accurate information. Another should be a site that perhaps a child has created. (There are many that you can find if you search.)
- Pose these questions: Is everything on the internet true? Why? How can you tell? Why is it important for your research writing to contain accurate information?
Lesson 6: Taking Notes
- Sometimes giving students resources and a blank sheet of notebook paper can be too overwhelming for them. Some students will copy word for word. Others might feel overwhelmed. We need to guide them to read and pull out facts & relevant information to use later in their writing.
- For this lesson we have provided four templates for note-taking that you might choose to use for your students.
- You might need to provide different organizers to students depending on their needs.
- You will want to model the organizers your students are use. Show them how to take notes as they read.
- After initial teaching, you may find that you need to pull small groups for extra practice. Others might benefit from a conference as you take a look at the notes they are taking.
Lesson 7: Word Choice in Research Writing
- To help students think about making their writing more interesting, have them brainstorm words about their animal.
- Together brainstorm words that would be appropriate for animals. They might add words about what they look like, their movement, their habitats, their life cycles, their diets, etc. You can create a class anchor chart on the page provided. You might even think about using the real life picture of the wolf in the download. This can get the students to begin thinking of more interesting words for animals (fierce, mighty, strong, etc).
- Then, pass out the individual brainstorm pages. Students can use the anchor chart as a guide to begin their own word choice pages about their animal. This might be a good partner activity as well.
Lesson 8: Writing Sketch for the Animal Research Project
- Next, you can model the writing sketch planner for your class.
- One idea to help your students narrow down all of the information they have learned about their animals is to give them a specific number of animals facts that they can focus on.
- Each of these facts can serve as the actual text that they will put on each page of their animal research book. Or the facts could serve as a focus for each paragraph in their writing.
- You might find that this would be a good mini-lesson to do with smaller groups of children.
Lesson 9: Creating a Table of Contents
- Another idea that can be a writing planner AND a page in their animal research book is the table of contents. Pull out one of the Table of Contents pages from the resources provided and model how to fill in the blanks on each page.
- This page will then serve as their Table of Contents (with a focus discussion on what that is and the purpose it serves) and also their writing planner so they know what they will put in the pages of their booklet.
Lesson 10: Creating a Glossary
- There are two pages provided in the resources that might help your students to learn to pull out topic specific words to put into a glossary for the end of their animal research book.
- Be sure to model how you would like for your students to use these organizers (keeping in mind that you may need to copy more than one page if there are more words than the page provides for).
- If your students need a refresher on ABC order check out these links for some added practice/review: ABC Order Task Cards & Fry Word ABC Order Task Cards
Lesson 11: Writing Your Animal Research
- You will decide on the best method for your students to showcase their published animal research.
- You may want your students to use their own creativity in the texts that they write and share. If you’d like a first experience to provide a bit more guidance, we have provided two different sets of pages for booklets.
- One is more guided and the other has less structure and smaller lines for more writing. 15 pages are provided so that you or students can pick what fits their needs.
- This “lesson” may actually become a series of lessons if you choose to model how each page can be used. (We have also included a page with simple writing lines in case students need less guidance than the booklet pages provided.)
Lesson 12: Labeling Pictures
- One final lesson idea that pairs well with writing informational text is to teach your students how to label pictures.
- Since most nonfiction writing has real photographs, students can find some pictures online to print out and label for their booklet. Hand-drawn pictures are also great if you would rather encourage some or all of your students in that direction.
- Whatever you choose, show your class how to effectively label a picture so that it teaches the reader more. You can use the picture of the polar bear provided to model how to add words or even short facts as labels. (For example if the simple label “fur” wouldn’t add additional information to the book, you might teach them to label it with a short fact such as “dense fur protects the animal’s skin from the weather”.
- To make this idea more user friendly, you might want them to use the page of blank white boxes provided to write their labels for their pictures. Then all they need to do is cut them out and glue them to a printed picture.
Lesson 13: Writing Celebration
As always, find a way to celebrate your students’ writing.
Invite guests (younger students or special adults) to read the books with your young authors. You might simply want to pair or group them, or some students might choose to present their book to everyone.
Provide some light snacks if possible to give it a party atmosphere and pass out the author certificates to each child for his/her hard work.
You can download this free writing unit of study here:
Writing Download
As with all of our resources, The Curriculum Corner creates these for free classroom use. Our products may not be sold. You may print and copy for your personal classroom use. These are also great for home school families!
You may not modify and resell in any form. Please let us know if you have any questions.
Christine E.
Saturday 8th of May 2021
Thank you so much for this resource and the many pages that I can use in my homeschooling. It is exactly what I've been looking for to help me get my kids to write about our animal units! You are doing a great job, keep up the amazing work you do. I appreciate the hard work you put into putting these together.
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Putting the fun back into learning
Animal Research Projects for Elementary Students
Here are five animal research projects for kids:
- Animal Habitats: Choose an animal and research its natural habitat. Create a diorama or drawing of the habitat and label the different components.
- Animal Adaptations: Select an animal and research its adaptations. Create a poster or presentation that explains how the adaptations help the animal survive in its environment.
- Endangered Animals: Choose an endangered animal and research why it is endangered. Create a poster or presentation that explains the reasons for its decline and what can be done to help protect it.
- Animal Behavior: Select an animal and research its behavior. Observe the animal in its natural environment or watch videos of it. Create a presentation or report that describes the animal’s behavior and what it might mean.
- Animal Classification: Choose a group of animals, such as birds, mammals, or reptiles, and research the characteristics that define the group. Create a chart or presentation that shows how different animals fit into the classification system.
These projects can be adapted for different age ranges and can be done individually or in groups. They can also be combined with art projects or field trips to zoos or nature centers for a more hands-on learning experience.
It is important to teach research skills in a fun and engaging way so that our elementary students build knowledge and develop a deeper understanding of different subjects.
By conducting research, students can discover new information, explore different perspectives, and form opinions based on evidence. Project for kids promote the following:
- Critical thinking: Research skills promote critical thinking and analysis. Students learn to evaluate sources, assess information, and make informed decisions.
- Information literacy: Research skills help students develop information literacy, which is the ability to access, evaluate, and use information effectively. In today’s digital age, it is important for students to be able to navigate the vast amount of information available to them and identify reliable sources.
- Preparation for future education: Students who develop research skills in elementary school are better equipped to handle the research demands of middle school, high school, and college.
- Lifelong learning: Research skills are also important for lifelong learning. Students who develop a love for learning and the skills to conduct research will be better prepared to continue learning throughout their lives.
If you’re looking for no prep informational writing activities and project based graphic organizers, then you will love this Animal Research Project BUNDLE!
Students can work independently or with a partner as they research fun facts on either a dolphin, sea turtle, octopus or penguin. Students cut and paste templates to create a poster or lapbook
and then when finished, deliver an oral presentation to the class! An ideal individual or partner project for science centers or writing centers.
Click here to join!
Suitable for:
- First Grade
- Second Grade
- Third Grade
This BUNDLE consists of 4 different animal research projects (Dolphin, Penguin, Sea Turtle and Octopus). Each project consists of the following printables:
- ‘My Marine Animal Project’ title page
- Research Planning Sheet (graphic organizer)
- Description
- Fun Fact #1
- Fun Fact #2
- Flap Booklet (appearance, predators, life cycle, life span)
- Everything I Know About My Marine Animal (writing template)
- Marine Animal Snap Shots
- Acrostic Activity
- Picture of a Marine Animals (b/w)
- Digital version available via Easel (ideal for upper elementary)
How to use this resource (can be printed or used digitally):
1. This project is not intended for students to complete in one sitting and are ideal to work through over one or two weeks.
2. Provide students with a range of animal nonfiction texts or older students can research their own facts via Junior Google or School Tube
3. Students write and color the animal research project templates
4. They can choose their favorites (or all of the templates) to glue into their interactive notebooks
5. Another idea is having students create a lapbook with different components of these templates
6. Celebrate the end of this work by inviting students to proudly present their
Animal Research Project
7. Finally, display completed work!
Read this blog about how to engage reluctant writers using writing prompts!
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You may also be interested in the following research projects:
My Octopus Research Project
My Sea Turtle Research Project
My Penguin Research Project
My Dolphin Research Project
My Animal Research Project
Ocean Animals BUNDLE
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Welcome to teacherinspo123...a place of inspiration, teaching tips and strategies! I am an elementary teacher who enjoys teaching and creating fun core-aligned resources that engage young learners. I love spending time with family, baking choc chip muffins and taking long walks on the beach. Read More
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How to Explode Student Engagement with this Habitat Research Project
One HUGE 2nd grade standard is researching and learning about animals and their adaptations. Students LOVE this unit, but teachers can be intimidated by the overwhelming pressure involved in guiding student research at such a young age. I love doing this 2nd grade animal research project with my students every March! This project has been reworked for a digital platform as well .
I love to start by playing a Brain Pop Jr, Flocabulary or YouTube video for my kids on all of the different habitats that exist. Typically, we have previously researched habitats during our social studies unit before starting this writing project, so they already have the background knowledge.
Then, I let students pick the habitat they are most interested in studying. From there, they pick 3-4 animals that live in the habitat that they would like to research more about. We use National Geographic Kids , Epic! Books and library books [all free resources] to learn about our animals.
2. RESEARCH/PLANNING
The next day, I model my own notes for students. Then, I give students lots of time to research their animals and take notes. It is really important that you are walking around the room and guiding students during this time.
If you have a struggling group of writers, I like to work with them at the back table during this time. We all research the same animals and take notes together. This helps them build confidence and feel sure about their writing in future days.
3. DRAFTING
I break drafting days up into 2 days so that students can really focus on the craft of what they are writing. I also always model before releasing students to write on their own.
Depending on what we have covered so far in the year, I encourage students to be sure to add:
- embedded definitions
- transition words
- conjunctions
- adjectives, adverbs and prepositions where appropriate
- 3-4 details per fact
4. PUBLISHING/GRADING
On the last day for each animal (typically Friday), I give students time to publish. While they publish, I model then ask them to add a map and diagram to their writing. I also show them how to grade themselves on the rubric, so they can double check that they are not missing anything.
After they finish, I give them free time to explore other animals in their habitat while I grade their writing. I find grading at the end of each animal rather than at the end of the entire project saves me a TON of time.
We repeat steps 2-4 for either 3 or 4 animals. Some students may work faster, while some may take a bit more time on each step. I try to adjust the project to be appropriate for the majority of the class.
When the project is done, I try to find a special way for us to share our work. This can include sharing to younger buddies, parents or doing an author’s chair.
Since they work so hard on this project, we make a BIG DEAL out of the finished project, and I typically send it home with parents during conferences. It makes a great writing portfolio and talking piece with parents.
Teaching digitally or wanting to add a digital component to your writing block? This project can also be completed in a digital format . Students will go through the same process, completing all of their work on Google Slides rather than writing using paper and pencil.
Grab the resources pictured above here:
Do you teach about a 2nd grade animal research project each year? Drop your ideas in the comments below!
Some other posts you might find helpful are:
- Teaching Animal Habitats During Science Ideas
- Animal Adaptations Writing Project
- Life Science Unit: Animal Adaptation
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The best topic for animal research for kids.
Conducting animal research with elementary students is one of the school year’s highlights. Typically, it occurs toward the end of the year making it the perfect wrap-up project. I’ve completed much animal research for kids over the years, but one of my favorites is an animal research project on Alligators versus Crocodiles!
Telling the difference between the two is always a fun conversation to have with kids because it can just be so tricky! You can use this animal research topic for an engaging animal study or a full science, reading, and writing unit.
For these research activities, I like to let the students lead the way all while incorporating other reading comprehension skills, including identifying facts versus opinions and true versus false.
Now, I’d like to share a look into how this is structured in the classroom. I’ll be using our Rooted in Reading research unit to demonstrate and you’ll have access to a FREEBIE below.
Build Background Knowledge with Reptile Research
Using an anchor chart is literally to help anchor the lesson for the rest of the week. Before jumping into the research for alligators and crocodiles, start with a classroom discussion about reptiles and what students already know about alligators and crocodiles.
Find kid-friendly research links for students to browse and learn. You should begin by modeling for students how to use the research links to gather information about the animals they want to focus on.
At this point, you are showing students how to conduct research and begin to generate questions about what additional information they want to learn about the animals. You can jot down those questions on the anchor chart along with the details they already know.
You will continue to update the alligator versus crocodile research anchor chart throughout the lesson, circling back to add what students learned after they complete their animal research projects.
Now, it’s time to move on to gathering information.
Use Kid-Friendly Websites to Gather Facts
The next phase of the student’s animal research is to collect information and facts. Before you begin the lessons, take some time to gather kid-friendly research links for students to use to gather the details they need for their projects.
Here are a few websites I recommend for researching alligators and crocodiles .
- Nat Geo Kids
- San Diego Zoo Webpage for Alligators
- San Diego Zoo Webpage for Crocs
Students can choose whether to research alligators or crocodiles. They can use the corresponding recording sheets to collect their facts, such as:
- Interesting Facts
Have students jot down notes and details as they read. Later, they will be compiling all of their research into a research booklet ! More on that later.
Incorporate Complementary Comprehension Skills
As students are conducting their animal research they will begin to come across various facts, thoughts, and opinions. This is an important point within the research study to help students understand the differences between fact and opinion and true and false.
True vs. False
When students are jotting down their notes, it’s important students understand that they should only be writing down true statements. In order to do this, a mini-lesson on true vs. false statements will help them be able to identify the differences.
One way we help students differentiate is by using a true vs. false statement matching activity. You can complete this as a stand-alone activity or during a whole group lesson.
What you will do is grab a collection of sentence cards with details about alligators or crocodiles and have students go through them. They will use a recording sheet to determine whether the sentence is true or false.
Facts vs. Opinions
Similarly to the lesson on true vs. false, students will likely encounter some opinions as they are gathering information. So, differentiating facts from opinions is an important skill to review as students are researching.
Separating facts and opinions can be tricky, so this comprehension skill may require a bit more practice.
First, you should begin by defining each. You can use digital posters to anchor the lesson and have them on display so students can have a reminder of the differences. As a class, help to model and discuss each.
Then, you will want to complete some complementary activities that focus on identifying facts and opinions.
One way to do this is by having students highlight facts and opinions in a passage on the animal research topic. Using a short passage on American alligators, students can highlight facts and opinions throughout using two highlighters in different colors for each category. They can do something similar for crocodiles.
An additional fact versus opinion activity is a Fact and Opinion sort. For this activity, students will be given sentences and a recording sheet with columns for facts and opinions. They will then sort each sentence into the correct columns.
For additional practice, you can grab a FREE Fact vs. Opinion activity inside my post on May read-aloud suggestions !
Animal Research Booklet
Taking all of the information they gathered during their research, making sure they are true and facts, students will craft a fun research booklet to showcase all of the details they’ve learned.
Students can create alligator or crocodile-shaped research booklets and inside the pages, they will write out the things they learned about those animals. Each page will have a fact about these ferocious reptiles!
If you’re conducting animal research with your students soon, consider this alligator versus crocodile research topic!
{ All of the activities mentioned in this post are part of the research unit included in our 1st Grade Rooted in Reading May resource, a full month of reading comprehension lesson plans and activities. }
Don’t forget this animal research for kids idea, save the image below for later!
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Make Writing Fun and Engaging with this Animal Research Project
- May 16, 2023
- Sarah Winchell
Engaging young students in the writing process can be challenging, but with the Animal Research Project Report, it can be a breeze. This no-prep unit is designed to teach primary and early elementary writers informational writing in a fun and interactive way. This resource will help you save time in the classroom. You do not have to come up with a list of animals! The animals, habitats, and animal characteristics are already provided for you. Most of the activities can be completed independently by the students once they understand what you would like for them to do. They can follow the same directions for each animal. There are six different projects in this resource that extend student learning!
Real Life Photos
Including real-life photos of different animals, makes it easy for learners to enjoy and learn about different habitats, animal facts, and more. Students can choose an animal or use one of the 12 different animals included in the animal research project. The differentiated informational text is perfect for learners of all levels and meets the goals you have for differentiating instruction for all students. If you are interested in Arctic Animals check out this post. You can use the activities in this resource for other animals as well. Activities to Choose From
Six Animal Research Projects to Choose From or Use Them All!
What makes this resource even more engaging are the various writing activities that come with it. There’s an informational graphic organizer, an animal facts booklet, an animal choice project, a cereal box project, creating a habitat diorama, research student-created books, and student-created trading cards. Each of these writing activities is designed to ensure that students review essential writing skills while enjoying learning.
Many Animals to Research and Write About
There’s no need to worry that your students are going to get bored with the same old animals because a wide range of animals like the African Elephant, Bald Eagles, Cheetah, Spotted Salamander, and more are included. These animal passages use real-life images, which makes them a hit with young learners. The activity is an easy-to-implement writing resource that makes teaching informational writing fun and engaging.
Students can also create an Animal Information Poster to demonstrate what they have learned about an animal. One fun way to do this is to have a pair of students or a small group of students share the responsibility for creating a poster. These collaborative posters are perfect for student engagement. They look great as a display and you can also have the students present their work to their classmates!
This resource gives students a fun way to learn about different animals and habitats while also teaching essential writing skills in an engaging and interactive way. Add this resource to your toolkit today and watch your students enthusiastically build their reading, writing, and science skills!
If you would like to use this Animal Research Project with your learners please click here: Animal Research Project
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Animal Inquiry
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The Animal Inquiry interactive is a versatile tool that can enhance student inquiry in research at the elementary level. The graphic organizer invites students to explore four facets of animals [basic facts, animal babies, interaction with others, and habitats (shown at left)]; the possibilities for extensions or adaptations, moreover, make this a a nice complement with inquiry-based projects. The follow-up writing prompts can be used to organize research questions as well as to record findings. After completing individual sections or the entire organizer, students have the ability to print out their final versions for feedback and assessment.
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by Shanon | English/Language Arts , Writing Activities | 0 comments
If you are looking for all-inclusive packets for animal research projects for elementary students, look no further! These sets have a book with audio that discusses all the amazing facts, a writing and art activity, fun coded messages, word search, and a crossword puzzle to help students remember the facts, as well as a culminating activity to get others asking questions about what students’ learned about each animal.
Why did I create this resource?
Y’all… it never failed… I wanted students to create their own books about certain animals, but I was spending more time trying to find facts that were easy for my students to understand as well as easy to review. I had some books, but they were not on their reading level, so I was constantly having to help them with reading the information. I wanted to cover my standards, but this was always a hard one with 27 kiddos.
Once I figured out how to create a book with audio… the rest is history! It takes a while to find the facts and create the book with audio, but I’m having fun with these sets! Check out all that is included below!
1. Listen to THE DIGITAL BOOK
Our digital books range from 20-25 pages.
Day 1: I would suggest playing it through the first time and just have the students listen to all of the amazing facts.
Day 2: Then the next day tell students that we are going to write down some of the cool facts we learned yesterday. Give them their information sheet and play 5-10 slides of the digital book.
Day 3 & 4: Continue working through the digital book (this will just depend on the grade level and the level of your students)
These are great to project onto your board, but you can also share them through your Learning Management System. Just drag the video into your Google Drive and share it with your students so they can listen independently.
FLIP BOOK AND INFORMATION SHEET
Once students have their information sheet completely filled out, the next activity is the actual flipbook. Students will use what they wrote on their information sheet to complete their flipbook. Once the writing is done, they can color the topper and create their flipbook.
These make the most adorable bulletin board sets! Students will love seeing their work published for all to see!
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
To help with learning and remembering the facts discussed within the book, we also have some fun worksheet activities for your students.
1. Coded Messages Puzzles – these are so much fun! Students are given a code with images – and then a coded message. They will use the coded images to help solve the animal fact.
2. Word Search – just a fun way for students to remember certain words about each animal.
3. Crossword puzzle – I promise, your elementary students will feel so “BIG” when they are working on a crossword puzzle. It takes a little bit of coaching, but once they understand the concept, they love these!
4. Directed Drawings – Not all of the sets have these – but the ones that do are a great addition. Students draw out the image then write a few fun facts that they’ve learned.
What I’ve learned!
This is my favorite part! Once we are done learning about the animal, we create hats for students to wear that say, “Ask me about…” These are great conversation starters for parents as well as other teachers and students. Your kiddos will love feeling like experts on the animal they learned about!
AMAZON RESOURCES USED WITH THESE ACTIVITIES!
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Great vibrant markers that don’t dry out! Love these!!
If you don’t have a paper cutter at home and in the classroom, you are missing out. This small purchase drastically reduces time spent cutting things out! A must have in my opinion!
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These are all included in our ELEMENTARY HUB CLUB Membership, along with thousands of other resources! You will not find a better deal – I promise!
I can’t wait to share more tips and ideas!
See you next time!
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Animal Research Journal
Kids love animals. There is such a natural connection between animals and children, which makes using animals in your lessons a wonderful way to inspire kids, foster their curiosity, and encourage skill development. This Animal Research Journal Project is a great way to bring that love of animals to lessons in Sciences and English.
Research Journal Printable
What you will discover in this article!
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Critical Thinking Skills
In our quest to raise a generation with strong critical thinking skills, it is important that we start fostering those skills early. One way I enjoy doing this with my kids to to take something they are excited and passionate about, and encourage them to research and learn everything they can about it. As part of this process we work through learning what sources are reliable, and which are questionable and require further inquiry.
Research Skills
When doing this printable research project with your students, ensure you explore how to determine if a source is valid and can be trusted. This is especially important for kids that love to use the internet for their research.
In an age appropriate way, teach them to look for:
- Does the source have a proven track record for honest and unbiased information? For instance, if a company is writing a piece that supports their mission to sell certain products and make money, it is best to look for other sources. See if you can figure out the purpose and intention for the piece.
- Does the source have authority on the topic? If I am looking up information on animals, it is better to trust a veterinarian writing about the topic, than a person with no training or education in that area.
- Is the information accurate? The best way to confirm accuracy is to look for additional sources that can corroborate the information.
- Is it accurate? Look for disclaimers or discrepancies. Some sources will use a lot of technical jargon to try and sound official, but their information may be flawed.
- Is it current and relevant? With so many advances in our knowledge and sciences, it is important that you ensure any sources used are current and accurate based on the latest research. Look for a publication date. If the piece is quite old, see if you can find more current sources to confirm the information is still relevant.
Get the Printable
Using the research journal printable.
So how can we put all this together with our animal research journal project for early elementary?
First, print off the journal pages, there are colour or black and white options.
Ask your students to pick an animal they would like to research. For some kids this is a monumental decision! It could be a cat or a tiger, a whale or a mosquito. We intentionally designed the journal page to be as versatile as possible.
Most kids today love to immediately hop on the internet and start looking up stuff. They really love their Google! So let them go crazy for a bit and start finding information to fill out their journal page.
To start, I have my kids do a draft page (using the black and white journal page), where they start writing down any details they find. My kids also really love finding great photos.
Once they have had their fun on Google, we turn to our library. There we look for books and magazines by sources we know we can trust: National Geographic, Smithsonian, Children’s Encyclopedias, etc. With their books they can confirm the accuracy of the information they found online.
After they have verified all of their information and know it is accurate, they can fill in all the details on the colour page to complete their Animal Research Journal Report.
As a final touch, encourage kids to share their report and teach what they learned about their animal. This is a great way for kids to practice their speaking and presentation skills, and by teaching, it helps solidify the information in their own minds.
Most of all have fun learning about animals, research and critical thinking.
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Education Standards
Ohio standards for english language arts.
Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening
Standard: Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.
Learning Domain: Writing
Standard: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts that name what is being written about and supply some information about the topic.
Standard: With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.
Standard: Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and express opinions about them).
Ohio Standards for Science
Learning Domain: Life Science
Standard: Living things grow and reproduce. Living things are found worldwide.
Standard: Living things are made up of a variety of structures. Some traits can be observable structures. Some of these structures and behaviors influence their survival.
Animal Anchor Chart
Animal research project google slide, animal research project teacher lesson plan, google kids, kid info-bits, national geographic kids, speaking rubric, lions and tigers and bears oh-my animal research project and google slide presentation for primary students.
Lions and Tigers and Bears OH-my! Help young students practice their research and presentation skills with this fun, hands-on animal research and presentation project.
Choose Animal
1) Prior to starting this project, you may want partner with your school librarian and/or STEAM teacher. Gather books and other resources to help peak your students interest and help them with their animal research.
1) Choose an animal that you would like to learn more about. To help you choose:
- Check out the books in our class library.
National Geographic Kids: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/
- Kids Info-bits: https://infohio.org/document-library/item/kids-infobits?passthru=Y
Research Animal
** Before students begin researching it would be beneficial to make sure students have previous knowledge and practice with search techniques. For more information on how to teach this check out INFOhio's research module for teachers: https://success.infohio.org/module/search-effectively/get-ready
1) In a large group create an anchor chart for students to reference back to during their researching. You could create your own on chart paper or use this digital version:
Animal Research Anchor Chart
2) Use the following links to research your animal:
Kids InfoBits https://infohio.org/document-library/item/kids-infobits?passthru=Y
Google Kids https://www.safesearchkids.com/google-kids/#.XQ18qFNKhE5
3) Find the answers to the following questions:
- My animal's name is and an interesting fact.
- My animal lives?
- My animal can?
- My animal has?
- Why I chose this animal?
Create Animal Presentation
4) Complete the Google Slide presentation and make it your own.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Q1eT5C01MFq8EDgUb034cS79H-tRl_qhYVJEuM_MnzQ/edit?usp=sharing
- Change the title to represent your animal.
- Change the image.
- Add your name.
- Complete the sentence.
- Add a sentence or two of your own.
- Change the image.
- Challenge yourself by adding additional slides that tell interesting facts about your animal.
Present Animal to Classmates
Help students practice speaking skills. You may find this free rubric TPT download made by Apples and Bananas Education helpful.
5) Practice reading and presenting your presentation. Remember to look at presentation rubric to help you prepare.
Extension Activity
1) To extend this lesson further partner with your schools Librarian, art teaher and/or STEAM teacher and have students create a model of their animal to use with their presentation. Provide a variety of materials for students to use. A quick google search will provide examples to help get your students creative juices flowing.
1) Use resources provided to create a model of your animal.
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- Skip to main content
- Skip to primary sidebar
- Skip to footer
Check out our FREE sight word worksheets – we have over 150 in our database!
Sight Words, Reading, Writing, Spelling & Worksheets
Everything you need to know about sight words. We also provide articles and worksheets for parents and teachers to provide assistance with spelling, writing and reading.
Animal Research Project: Writing an Animal Research Paper
Resources to Research Animals
Use library books, encyclopedias and magazines to research your animal. In addition, there are numerous online resources. Our school provided a list of three online resources (noted by *). Since these resources require a membership, we provided a few more online sites to assist in researching an animal.
Online Resources for Animal Research Paper
Each student selects an animal of her choice and should take good notes when collecting facts and important details about her animal. Good note taking will greatly assist a student when writing his animal research paper. You may want to remind each student to use his own words.
Writing Prompts for Animal Research Paper
After a student selects her animal, she must answer the questions below. It is important to instruct your child or student to take her time and answer each question thoroughly. These answers will be used to create the animal research paper.
After a student completes the above questions, it’s time to begin writing the first draft of the research paper. Take the information obtained above and put it on paper.
Each answer to the questions above should be a paragraph with the exception of the interesting facts question. The two facts should get put into the paragraph that is most applicable, e.g., habitat, physical description or life span.
If you are a teacher, consider visiting our writing rubric page for different templates used to grade writing papers.
Reader Interactions
April 24, 2018 at 5:19 pm
Thanks very much, perfect for 3rd grade!
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Home › Blog Topics › Animal Research Meets Reading, Writing, and Flipgrid
Animal Research Meets Reading, Writing, and Flipgrid
By Kelly Hincks on 07/31/2017 • ( 0 )
Animal research projects are common in the elementary world. The second-grade teachers came to me and said they were going to an animal research project. The question became how to allow their students to have ownership of their learning while meeting various curriculum standards? Here are six areas that this project fit student needs.
Nonfiction Reading
It all began with a nonfiction reading unit. The main objective of the unit was for students to effectively read nonfiction text. The goal was for students to know how to use various text features and determine what facts are important to share. In their reading groups, students were exposed to a variety of nonfiction books where the strategies were taught. Then, they applied those strategies to create their own digital story.
Animals became the focus due to availability of information, student interest, and the connection to the science curriculum. Students in second grade learn about animals related to seasonal changes, animal habitats, food chains, and life cycles. All these elements became part of what students researched about their chosen topic.
Mapping Skills
After spending time reading various nonfiction books. Students prepared for a field trip to the local zoo. The zoo provided maps for each student. They were asked to plan out three animals that they might be interested in learning about. Then, they worked in their field trip groups to plan a route that would allow them to see all of their choices. Mapping skills such as the compass rose, legend, and scale were taught while students were planning.
Research Skills
After visiting the zoo, students decided what animal they would like to know more about. This could be from their original list or another animal that caught their interest while on the trip. Then they had to apply the nonfiction reading skills they had learned in the beginning of the project. Using both print and digital resources, they collected information that they could share in diary format. They focused on both specific science concepts, but also what they deemed important for their audience to know.
Fictional Writing
Once they collected their information, they wrote diary entries using books like Dairy of a Worm and Dairy of a Spider by Doreen Cronin as a model. Students focused on making their writing entertaining, but also incorporating the facts they collected in their research. They illustrated each of their entries.
Integrated Technology
This was the best part! After writing several entries they created a digital story, giving their writing a greater audience and purpose. We are a 1:1 iPad school so we decided to try the Flipgrid app. This app was easy to use and allowed the students to share their work. Tip: When recording we had the students start with their last journal entry. So when they were finished, the first video would be their first entry. Basically, they had to record in reverse order. Honestly after projects like this, I am hooked on Flipgrid. It has endless possibilities (but that is a whole different post). Every child, both quiet and outgoing, was able to share their writing with the school community. Additionally, it also allowed digital citizenship and online safety to be addressed. Click here if you would like to see their work!
Author: Kelly Hincks
I am the librarian at Detroit Country Day Lower School in Bloomfield Hills, MI. I have worked as a school librarian for the past eleven years. I was a classroom teacher for four years prior to that. I have worked in charter, public, and private schools. My favorite thing about being a school librarian is the opportunities I have to work both with students and teachers. I love the co-teaching opportunities and connections I have been able to make! I have served on AASL committees as a member and chair. I currently serve as secretary of my state association, Michigan Association of School Librarians (MASL).
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5 Animal Research Websites for Students
- stayingcoolinthelibrary
- February 24, 2019
- Lesson Plans , Research
Ready to do some animal research? Finding trustworthy and appropriate animal websites for students to use can be a challenge. Below are my go-to websites that you can feel confident having your students go to. Most of these sites also have videos, games and other educational activities as well.
National Geographic for Kids
DK Find Out
San Diego Zoo Kids
These websites below do have some advertisements on them.
Animal Fact Guide
Ready to research and use these animal websites for students?
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Reviews — zoos in europe, history description, history documentary.
During the second half of the nineteenth century the first menageries in Moscow were established as entertainment facilities. The first was founded in 1855 by two Frenchmen (names unknown), while the Kreuzberg family owned a private menagerie that opened its door to the public in 1862 . Together these animal collections formed the heart of the Moscow Zoological Garden founded by the Society for Acclimatization of Plants and Animals, which was established by professors of the Moscow State University. The initial idea for such a zoological garden came in 1857 , but it took the Society, including one of its founding fathers professor Anatoly P. Bogdanov, until 1863 to be able to buy property for the future zoo. The Zoo was opened to visitors on 13 February 1864 at the location where it still exists until this very day. On opening day 287 animals were on display, of which 134 were domestic animals, while the others were exotic specimens such as tigers, lions, jaguar, leopard and rhino.
In those days it was an unique experiment to create “a living museum outdoors,” as professor Bogdanov said, in such severe climatic conditions of central Russia. The primary purpose of the Zoological Garden according to the members of the Society was:
to collect alive specimens of higher vertebrates ( firstly — the animals of Russian fauna) for scientific observations;
to establish a collection of typical animals that could serve educational purposes, i.e. distribution of zoological knowledge among the wide public communities;
to carry out scientific experiments and observations of important animals, especially domestic animals of Russian breeds.
The Zoo was financed by the entrance fees and private donations, including contributions by members of the imperial family. In the first years the annual number of visitors grew up to ten thousands. Nevertheless, the incomes did not cover the expenses and the Moscow City Council refused to give financial support. So, the Zoo went into private hands of the Ryabinins’ family in 1874 . They transformed the Zoo into an amusement park and in three years time ruined the place. In 1878 the Zoo was run by the Society for Acclimatization of Plants and Animals again, including fund raising activities. This time the Society was able to manage the Zoo successfully, and even to buy a number of animals. But in the turmoil of the Revolution of 1905 the Zoo was severely damaged: the buildings were ruined, the library was set on fire, many animals perished. So, for the second time the Society was forced to turn over the Zoo to private owners.
Then in 1914 World War I broke out. For the Zoo this meant that in the autumn of 1914 the only building that remain to this day was transformed from the director’s premises to a hospital for wounded WWI soldiers. The WWI impact compounded Russia’s suffering from a number of economic and social problems, which resulted first in the 1917 February revolution followed by the October revolution. In the aftermath of the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917 and the fall of the Russian Empire, the Society ceased to exist, and in 1919 the Zoological Garden was declared national property and transferred under the responsibility of the ministry of Culture of the communist Moscow parliament, the Mossovet. In 1922 it was transferred to the authority of Moscow City Council and since then it has been supported by the City Authorities. Construction work began on the Zoo grounds. The Zoological Garden premises almost doubled in size with the establishment of the ‘New’ territory on the opposite side of Bolshaya Gruzinskaya street. New exhibits, which followed the principle of Carl Hagenbeck’s bar-less enclosure design were established. One of the most interesting exhibits of the Zoo called ‘Animal Island’ still exists. It was a high stony rock surrounded by a deep water ditch that separated the visitors from bears, tigers, lions and other large predators on the ‘Island’. The total size at the time was nearly 18 hectares.
In 1926 the Zoological Garden was renamed ‘Zoological Park’. At that time the range of activities extended, the animal collection increased considerably with expeditions collecting wildlife in Central Asia, the Far East and the Caucasus. New departments were established, focussed on for instance scientific research, education, veterinary science and nutrition. In those same years Moscow Zoo was the first zoo in the world where educational activities were the main priority.
In 1924 the Zoo had established the Young Biologists Club that gathered like-minded young people that joined in real scientific research. Many of them became a Zoo employee. The Club was founded by Petr Manteifel, who also was the pioneer father of the science called ‘zoo biology’. Manteifel and his young biologists discovered a way of artificial breeding sables (Martes zibellina), which were on the verge of extinction due to man’s insatiable pursuit for its expensive fur. In the 1930 s during Stalin’s great purge many members of the Young Biologists Club were arrested accused of spreading anti-soviet propaganda and liberal-minded ideas and having contact with German colleagues at Berlin zoo, some were even executed as foreign spies. The Club was considered a non-governmental organisation beyond the direct control of the authorities, which in fact was partly true because the Club was a real democracy, with membership available to all.
Although many animals were evacuated and many of the zoo staff were called to arms at the beginning of World War II the Zoo was kept open. Of the 750 employees at autumn 1941 only 220 remained on the staff, most of them women. Getting enough food for the animals was a constant challenge, for instance carcasses of killed horse at the battlefield around Moscow were brought to the zoo. More than six million people visited the Zoo from 1941 to 1945 to enjoy the sights of animals that had remained.
At wartime the scientific work proceeded, perhaps even more intense than before or after the war. The scientific staff worked especially on development of antibiotics. But the most important mission of the Zoo during the war was to give people hope. It produced the illusion of a peaceful life until people survived through the desperation of the war with the Red Army soldiers as the most frequent visitors of the Zoo. Which were given the pleasure of watching newborn offspring even during the war.
During the soviet union period ( 1922 − 1991 ) not many highly ranked people cared about the zoo — no soviet leader had any interest in it. The city encroached on the zoo premises, while the zoo needed additional space for the ever expanding zoo population of animals. Because the breeding results were still excellent.
The Zoo lived up to the goal it had set for itself and made educational activities the main priority. Zoo staff distributed knowledge in the field of natural history and tried to raise the public awareness and concern about the necessity for wildlife conservation. The zoo assisted schoolchildren and students with studying biology, actively participated in scientific research, and actively contributed to scientific publications. So, the Zoo became one of the larger scientific institutions in Moscow. And of course it still was the favourite recreational place for Moscow citizens and those who visited the city.
As off 1974 when Igos Sosnovsky retired as director and his successor Vladimir Spitsyn took over Moscow Zoo became part of the international zoo community again. Sosnovsky as a WWII veteran hadn’t been able to brush aside the fear of repression and avoided all international contacts for some reason. Spitsyn restored all international activities from before the war and the Zoo became member of many European and International Breeding Programmes in which it exchanged its rare and endangered animals, shared experience and information.
Although already in the 1970 s improvement of all zoo facilities was needed and ideas of a new zoo in another region of Moscow were launched, nothing happened due to local economical and social problems. By the end of the 1980 s the Zoo’s condition became alarming. Facilities were deteriorating, enclosures were dilapidated and technical equipment needed to be replaced as well. And while a few improvements had been achieved — such as a partial renovation of the main entrance, the monkey house and lion house — urgent measures were still needed.
Then, in 1992 the new Moscow government made a decision to start the most ambitious reconstruction project in Moscow Zoo’s history with the first stage of the project to be completed by 1997 , when the 850 th anniversary of the City would be celebrated. Anatoly A. Andreev who had been involved in the Zoo’s design and architecture since the 1970 s headed the team of architects. The project’s renovation objectives were focussed at (a) preservation or partial renovation of the historically valuable buildings and existing pools, (b) reduction of the noise from the surrounding streets, © connection of the Old and the New territory via a footbridge, and (d) expansion of the Old territory by incorporating adjacent areas and buildings.
Besides the preservation and renovation of almost all important zoo constructions, including the ones that actually were dilapidated, many new enclosures and facilities were built. Already in 1993 the footbridge that connected the Old and New territory was completed. It allowed visitors to avoid crossing the busy B. Gruzinskaya street with its heavy traffic. In 1993 other constructions were completed as well, such as an enclosure for large birds of prey and a complex of enclosures for feline species, including leopards, Pallas’ cats and lynx. Next, the Hagenbeck-style ‘Animal Island’, one of the most remarkable exhibits in the New territory, was renovated. The historic appearance with enclosures that resembled the natural habitats of Amur tiger, striped hyena, African wild dog and Asian black bear was preserved. Later they introduced Asian lions in one of the enclosures around the large rock in the centre of the ‘island’. During the renovation they created the Exotarium, which held several aquariums, inside the rock on the second floor.
The following years many more enclosures were renovated, besides the new research and veterinarian facilities that were put into operation in 1994 . In 1996 , the main entrance itself (featuring a small artificial waterfall) was reconstructed. The same year the old, dilapidated elephant complex was demolished and a new elephant house was erected at the same spot, while the inhabitants (four African elephants and four Asian elephants) were temporarily moved to a a former tram depot that was completely renovated and specially equipped. A new children’s zoo was opened in the New territory, including a children’s theatre that organises shows with educational elements. And besides several aviaries, a pavilion for water birds was built on the shore of the large pond in the New territory.
Although in those days 4 additional hectares of space was added to the former existing 18 hectares, the Zoo still lacked space to create favourable conditions for their species to breed. And its location in the centre of Moscow didn’t contribute to the favourable breeding conditions they wanted of course. Therefore, the 200 hectares area near the city of Volokolamsk (about 100 km from Moscow) that was given to the Zoo in 1996 for the establishment of a breeding station was very much welcomed (see also Breeding Centre ).
The first major stage of the general reconstruction of the Moscow zoo represents a unique event. Not only over 50 facilities have been renovated ( 90 % of all existing facilities) and newly built, but it was achieved in such a short period of time. But maintenance and small and larger refurbishment is ongoing business in a zoo. So, i n 2002 , the Moscow City Government and the City Council allocated the necessary funds to start construction of a new pavilion for the Asian elephants. In 2003 the three elephants could move house already, and in spring 2009 , the first newborn elephant calf was welcomed.
The Moscow Zoological Park has come a long way from the small zoological garden it was to the large institution of scientific research, education, conservation and recreation it is today. And due to the dynamics of the standards used in the zoo community regarding animal health and welfare, Moscow Zoo is constantly improving its facilities, also during 2014 celebrating its 150 th anniversary.
(Source: Moscow Zoo website; Zoo with a Human Face, to the 150 th anniversary of the Moscow Zoo — a documentary by Darya Violina and Sergei Pavlovsky, 2014 ; Zoo and Aquarium History by Vernon N. Kisling, Jr., 2001 ; Wikipedia)
An account of 150 years of history of the Moscow Zoo
(A documentary by Darya Violina and Sergei Pavlovsky)
The history of Moscow Zoo shown through the perspective of the lives of the people who have been important to the Zoo’s development and continuous progress over those many years since 1864 . Thousands of photographs, hundreds of chronicles, accounts and recollections that have preserved the story that began so long ago, against all odds, and lasts uninterrupted to this day. A documentary about those who have devoted their lives to serving a noble and rewarding cause, those who have started from scratch, those who maintained that work and about those who revive the Zoo as off today.
(Source: sdpavlovskiy YouTube channel)
20 . 06 . 2014
Finally, Moscow Zoo is paid a visit. I have been looking forward to this for quite some time. It has been on my to-do list since I learnt about the large collection of feline species on display at the Zoo. So, I am here on this sunny day in June to satisfy my curiosity, in the year they celebrate the Zoo’s 150 th anniversary.
I am entering as one of the 1 , 5 million paying attendance yearly. Which is not even half of the total number of visitors a year. This is about 4 million, because there are specific categories (e.g. disabled, pensioners, children, students, etc.) for whom the admission is free.
OLD TERRITORY
I turn left after the main entrance to visit the large predator section of the Old territory. Not that only here you will find predators, but the greatest part of their predator collection is grouped in this section. I will come back to the grouping of Moscow Zoo’s animal collection later. After having walked along a fence that blocks most of the views on the work in progress at the lake I arrive at what they call here the ‘tropical cats’ section: Bengal tiger (unfortunately the genetically aberrant version — a white tiger), jaguar and cheetah. Both the tiger and the jaguar have their indoor enclosures in the same house built at the perimeter of the premises. The cheetahs have their shelter for the night and bad weather in their outdoor paddock, so that cannot be visited. The tiger and the jaguar however have interesting housing that serves the needs for both the cats and the visitors. The latter are pleased with Asian and South American (Inca) ornaments to make sure they understand the geographical origin of the species. While the walls have murals representing the species’ original habitat … Machu Pichu for the jaguar. The animals themselves have various enrichment features at their disposal, including high level observation posts, in rather small exhibits. The outdoor facilities for these two species are accessible from the indoors. It has natural vegetation, but not a lot. Likewise there are not a lot of options to shelter from extreme weather or loud crowds. Although the cats have access to several resting posts at different levels, these enclosures can do with some improvements — at least more vegetation — to make them better fit for purpose, in my opinion. The enormous exposure of the cats is also due to the fact that they use windows to separate animal from man along almost the total length of the enclosures.
When I walk the few steps to the entrance of the Bear House, which is like the jaguar and tiger indoor enclosure built at the edge of the Zoo grounds, I pass in between the Pallas’ cat exhibit and a second jaguar exhibit. The Pallas’ cat has a flat grassy area with three large trees, some shrubs and a potential pond (when filled with water) available in its outdoor enclosure. Windows all around and a wire mesh roof prevent the cat from fleeing this scenery that doesn’t resemble the cat’s original Himalyan habitat. Across the footpath there’s a jaguar enclosure that’s more interesting than the one directly neighbouring the tiger. This one has a small stream and loads of vegetation and a multilevel resting platform. Still the animal is quite exposed.
The Bear House provides a nice and secluded area where three adjacent bear enclosures houses sloth bear and spectacled bear. As a visitor you walk via a roofed corridor more or less in the dark along the enclosures having good views on the exhibit via man-sized windows. The enclosures have a dry shallow moat at the visitor’s side, but I don’t think this withhold the bears from coming close to the windows. The enclosures are small but almost completely filled with enrichment features including various platforms, a tree trunk structure, rubber hammocks and natural vegetation. Considering the design I think these enclosures offer peace and quiet for the bears, unless people start banging the windows of course.
In slightly larger enclosures they keep Amur leopard, snow leopard and cougar ( Puma concolor ). At all of these felid species enclosures the distance between the public barrier and the fence does allow contact when people lean far forward.
Further along the footpath around the corner the arctic fox and the dhole are housed in enclosures that have a similar interior design as those for the felids. Despite the fact that these species live under different natural circumstances in the wild (forest and tundra habitat respectively).
When I walk back to have a look at the large birds of prey aviary I cannot prevent myself to have a brief look at the giraffe enclosure as well. It’s obviously a relic of the past that is not fit for purpose anymore. Still they have one reticulated giraffe on display at a saddening small area. It loves to be fed by the public that doesn’t care about the warning not to feed the animals. On the other side of the building a similar pitiful situation for the single white-tailed gnu can be seen.
One of the most extraordinary group of species brought together on display can be found right after the row of predator enclosures. The maned wolf from South America has the red-necked wallaby and emu from Australia as neighbour. But also in the same area the African wild dog is on display as well as white-tailed gnu (Africa) and kiang (Asia) in the row of stables along the rim of the premises.
The raccoon exhibit is worth mentioning considering the aforementioned accident risks. It has a very typical enclosure design with electrical wire on top of windows surrounding the entire exhibit. The electrical wire is within reach of the public. So, there are numerous warning signs! But why they installed electrical wire on top of windows that are unclimbable for raccoons? To keep out the public perhaps?
In the bird house, in the far end corner from the main entrance, birds from all geographical regions are grouped together, including Humboldt penguin and African penguin. The house consists of two part with one part half empty, and has also very common species on display, such as wild turkey, common pheasant and European hedgehog. Outside this building several aviaries comprise a large array of parrot species (South America and Australia).
Proceeding with my tour around the Old territory I have a look at the Asian elephant house and its surrounding grounds. The fancy steel with blue details of the elephant house doesn’t appeal to me, but that is just a matter of taste. It is definitely the most modern exhibit in the Zoo I’ve seen yet, in style and in size, with a nice pool at the visitor’s side.
I skip the reptile house to save some time, and money too, because an additional fee complies. So I walk straight to another modern enclosure — the bar-less and moated wolf exhibit. Although it has a Hagenbeck-style design, the space available for the wolves is ridiculously small. The wolves will never be able to cross the water-filled moat and climb the wall and thus break out, still there is impressive electrical wiring in place on top of the wall. Again, probably to keep out the public.
Making my way to the footbridge that connects the Old and New territory I pass along a very old-fashioned row of enclosures built in a semicircle in front of the 16 metres high sculpture by Zurab Tsereteli called ‘Tree of Fairy Tales’, 1996 . The enclosures house several species of mustelidae (sable, European polecat, stone marten), as well as African wild cats. Then followed by several aviaries again. At this point I am really lost regarding the way they group the Zoo’s animal collection.
NEW TERRITORY
Proceeding clockwise I find the doors of the Tropical House closed for renovation. So, no butterflies for me this time. But in one of the two spacious aviaries around this house I discover several ducks, such as the mandarin duck and the black-bellied whistling duck, together with the common kestrel ( Falco tinnunculus ), though neither rare nor endangered.
Then a rather special exhibit appears, the Animal Island, which was developed in the 1920 s as one of the first Hagenbeck-style enclosures in the New territory. Although it took some renovation activities it still exists to this very day. In the centre of this moated area they have erected a fake ruined fortress, which serves as the background for the species in the surrounding exhibits. These bar-less exhibits have a more modern appearance but it isn’t necessarily an improvement for the animals. For instance the Asian black bear has a bare environment with minor enrichment available and no vegetation, but the brown bear is even worse off in a similar enclosure but next to nothing of enrichment features. The tundra wolf ( Canis lupus alba ) and the striped hyena have a little better place at their disposal, but the Asian lions have by far the best enclosure. They have several resting platforms, trees and a stream that ends in the moat. Again to save time I skip an exhibit. This time the Exotarium with its aquariums that has been created inside the ruined fortress and by the way requires an additional fee to get in.
One of the rare areas in Moscow Zoo where you find mixed-species exhibits is called ‘Fauna of the Savannah’. It has a South American section with capybara vicuna and guanaco, and — very importantly — a large pool at the disposal of the largest rodent on earth. Though absolutely not endangered, these water-loving capybaras should have access to water at all times, in my opinion. The real savannah area with African species has several enclosures. A mixed species exhibit with sable antelope and dikdik. And Grevy’s zebra together with ostrich and giraffe. Also this time there’s only one giraffe in the paddock. The location of the meerkat enclosure is well chosen, because when they sit on top of one of their hills they can watch the other animals. Although it is the largest and probably the most modern facility at the Moscow Zoo I still think it is disappointingly mediocre compared to other zoos I have seen in Europe and North America.
Before I go to the primate section I buy myself an ice cream and walk along the horse stables on the eastern edge of the New territory premises. Looking for an answer to the question “why are there horse stables at this place?” The question still waits for an answer.
At Moscow Zoo they keep both Sumatran as Bornean orangutans, which is quite unusual. The outdoors for the five individuals, including 2 young, of the Sumatran species looks impressive due to the enormously high rock face at the rear. The wall looks extra impressive because it is rather close to the viewing windows. Unfortunately, the exhibit lacks trees and vegetation other than grass while the enrichment is scant and I don’t see puzzle feeders. The Bornean orangutans have a similar outdoor enclosure, but it is suggested that olive baboons ( Papio anubis ) are on display here as well. It could be that they alternate in the same outdoor enclosure, but this is not very clear.
The western lowland gorillas also have a similar outdoor enclosure design due to which the animals are enormously exposed to the inquisitive public. Considering the number of youngsters Moscow Zoo appears to be having good results breeding orangutans and gorillas.
Indoors, all the great ape exhibits have much enrichment and jungle-like murals, but the agile gibbon has even more enrichment inside. I haven’t seen a specific outdoor enclosure for the agile gibbon but it could be possible that it alternates with the Sumatran orangutans. Only this enclosure lacks high trees or other options for the gibbon to brachiate, which is its natural behaviour in the canopy of the gibbon’s native habitat, the rainforests of southeast Asia.
The terrarium building, located behind the Primate House, is beautifully decorated with little mosaic tiles. They have the usual row of exhibits, but in this case especially the larger reptiles and tortoises (python, crocodiles, alligator, tortoise) are kept. And outside they have two giant tortoise species, the Aldabra and the Galapagos tortoise.
On my return to the exit I pass the exhibits of a few of the many predator species they have on display at Moscow Zoo. The polar bear is provided with a big heap of artificial ice, but that’s about it when it comes to enrichment, though there are some plastic drums to play with. The enclosure as such is the prototype of polar bear enclosures worldwide, rear wall of cement and large bricks, concrete floor, large and deep water-filled moat. Unfortunately, again here the annoying reflecting windows. The yellow-throated marten I do not see, and the same counts for the Eurasian otter in its large elongated outdoor exhibit with a shallow pool along the whole length. It must be great to see the submerged otters swim in this pool.
Conclusion There are several ways to group a collection of animals which can support a zoo’s educational efforts. Of course, some people just come to the zoo to be entertained, but when an individual is ready to learn some things the worst thing you can do is confuse him or her. And to be fairly honest, confusing it is. Sometimes they group the collection according their taxonomic tree, which is the case with the felids, the bird species and the primates. Then again they have decided to present the collection by geographical origin, like in the ‘Fauna of the Savannah’, or according original habitat like the mountain-dwelling tur and markhor. And at some point they just make a mess of the grouping, for instance in the area with the maned wolf, the red-necked wallaby and others. In the end it seems the Zoo just want to have on display as many species as possible, because all species that live in herds they keep them in small numbers. I do understand that it is not easy, requires tough decisions and certainly is not cheap to rearrange your entire collection, especially when it is that huge as it is here at Moscow Zoo. Anyway, further renovation is foreseen and probably some rethinking as well.
I hope that they get rid of all these windows they have at so many exhibits. For some situations it is inevitable I understand, but I sincerely hope they will return to the original Hagenbeck idea of bar-less enclosures, taking into account modern husbandry standards of course. As the position of the sun makes it sometimes hard to get even the slightest glimpse of the animals due to the reflections in the windows. And last but not least they have the tendency to have windows all around or at more than 50 percent of the perimeter of an enclosure. Most of the time leading to more exposure of the animals to the public and possible unrest.
Sumatran orangutan youngsters at Moscow Zoo
Just another day at the zoo for these orangutans ( Pongo abelii ) — nothing much exciting going on in this safe and secure environment. But wouldn’t it be nice to see them swinging and romping in the forests of Sumatra.….
Raccoons at Moscow Zoo
Raccoons are known for their habit to clean their food in the water before eating it. It seems they also want to have a clean ball before playing with it.
Breeding Centre
Information and education, zoo details, breeding farm.
The Moscow Zoo has always been trying to create the most favourable conditions for their animals to fulfil their basic needs. Not only for animal health and welfare purposes but also to breed the animals successfully. These specific breeding conditions could not be achieved due to its location in the City centre and the lack of space. In 1996 the Zoo came into possession of an area of 200 hectares near the city of Volokolamsk (about 100 km from Moscow). In this picturesque hilly area of the former quarries of the Sychovo mining factory, with streams, springs and artificial ponds better opportunities were available for breeding various — predominantly rare — species of animals.
The main goals of the Breeding Centre, besides maintaining rare and endangered species of animals, are establishing breeding pairs and groups and developing new husbandry methods. Since excessive disturbance is likely to have adverse effect on the breeding efforts, the actual Breeding Centre is not open to the public.
The construction of the Breeding Centre started in March 1996 . The first inhabitants of the Centre were birds of prey and waterfowl and they have been successfully breeding birds ever since. The collection of waterfowl has grown notably since the beginning. Apart from the numerous mallards and ruddy shelducks, the inhabitants of the ponds include pintails, pochards, tufted ducks and black geese of the genus Branta. Bewick’s swans are thriving, raising their chicks every year. Japanese, white-naped and Siberian cranes are also breeding successfully and many other species, including parrots. The breeding centre for birds of prey is continuously expanding, with Himalayan griffon vultures, golden eagles, imperial eagles, Steller’s sea eagles, and black vultures among its most prominent inhabitants. Regular breeding has also been achieved in saker falcons ( Falco cherrug ).
They keep carnivorous mammals as well at the Breeding Centre. These include endangered species such as Amur leopard, Pallas’ cat, cheetah, Amur tiger, dhole, wolverine, and yellow-throated marten. Of these species the Amur leopard is listed Critically Endangered according the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ , with about 45 individuals left in the wild. The Zoo’s track record says they have produced offspring from Pallas’ cat, dhole, yellow-throated marten, and Amur tiger.
For the ungulates that are kept at the Centre the environment is almost ideal. There are bactrian camels as well as kiangs, Saiga antelopes, blue sheep and vicunas. Hoofed animals originating from mountainous areas have large paddocks at their disposal that are situated on the slopes of the surrounding hills, more or less similar to their natural habitat.
Besides the more rare and endangered species the Centre also has an interesting collection of domestic hens, a horse stable and a dog-breeding centre, mainly for the breeding of Central Asian sheep dogs. Furthermore, there is a small quail farm and a poultry farm with layer hens.
Moreover a subsidiary farm in Lotoshino houses some cattle, smaller livestock, and the main herd of bactrian camels and yaks. The area of the subsidiary farm is about 51 hectares and it comprises hayfields, pastures, a sheepfold and an apiary. Most importantly it provides the Moscow Zoo with ecological feed for its animals.
The Breeding Centre’s collection comprises 10 species of carnivores, 6 species of ungulates, 74 species of birds and a great number of domestic animals, but the collection is expanding constantly. Although it is still closed to visitors, the Zoo’s goal is to open part of the farm (as they call the Breeding Centre themselves) to outside visitors soon. They plan to create an additional safari park at the location of the Breeding Centre.
(Source: Moscow Zoo website; Zoo with a Human Face, to the 150 th anniversary of the Moscow Zoo — a documentary by Darya Violina and Sergei Pavlovsky, 2014 )
Information panels and Education at the Zoo
First thing to be noticed of course is that the information on the panels around Moscow Zoo is given in the Russian language. And no other language. This is not unexpected as most of the information provided in Moscow is only in Russian. Fortunately, the name of the species on display is given in English as well, together with its scientific name. As far as I can tell and understand no information is provided on the species conservation status (or IUCN Red List status). On the new revamped website this information is available but only in Russian and no icons or logos are used, so you have to rely on machine translation services. The panels show geographic maps of the species distribution and sometimes the IUCN status and if the species is part of EEP /ESB, as well. But this is not done consistently, and I am not sure how reliable the information is. Nevertheless I have been able to find on the internet a list of species that represent the Moscow Zoo contribution to the European Endangered species Programmes (EEPs).
There is also a zoo school that is primarily focussed on children, and I assume that the Young Biologists Club still exist. Foremost because it has been very successfully delivering a range of important staff members over the years.
- Directions
directions to Moscow Zoo
Address : B. Gruzinskaya 1 123242 Moscow Russia
public transport
The metro system can be quite intimidating for foreigners because of the language issue, but I can assure you it is the best way of navigating the city. The metro stations are the most beautiful I’ve ever seen and buying tickets can be done using sign language (see the tripadvisor website how it is done). When you are not able to decipher the Cyrillic alphabet on the fly it is best to prepare your metro trip beforehand and make sure that you know how many stops you have to travel from the departure station to your destination, including transfer stations. Another way of travel support is the Art-Lebedev metro map , which has the names of the stations both in Russian and English mentioned. The most fancy way however is by using the Russian metro app on your smartphone. The Yandex.Metro app — provides a bilingual metro map which can even build connection routes for you and estimate travel times.
Moscow Zoo’s main entrance is conveniently located right across from the Krasnopresnenskaya metro station on the Brown Circular line (no. 5 ). Also the Barrikadnaya metro station is rather close to the main entrance, Purple line (no. 7 ).
by bicycle
As mentioned already Moscow is a very large city. So, it really depends on how close you already are to the Zoo if cycling could be an option. The obvious challenge is the traffic which has grown dramatically in recent years — the centre of Moscow is a non-stop traffic jam. Furthermore the poor driving habits of Moscow motorists are notorious, from road rage to rear-ending. In addition, knee-deep snow and the grimy slush that inevitably follows during the long and fearsome winters doesn’t make cycling in Moscow a very attractive mode of transport. Nevertheless the City Council tries to make the city more bike-friendly with a bike rental scheme like in many major cities around the world. I decided to use the metro.
There is no dedicated parking available at the Zoo, but if you really want to drive yourself you can get directions below by providing your point of departure.
From : -- Choose source -- Moscow Zoo or
Download the zoo map here .
Goal: 7000 tigers in the wild
“ Tiger map” ( CC BY 2 . 5 ) by Sanderson et al., 2006 .
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The animal research project is a resource that is packed with printable and digital activities and projects to choose from. It is perfect for elementary teachers doing a simple animal study or a month-long, fully integrated unit.
Thank you for downloading this free elementary animal research project. It's a perfect culminating activity for an animal unit. Included in the packet is a rubric for the project as well as a student rubric for each student to complete about their own project. If you enjoy this download, please let me know on Teachers Pay Teachers.
About this animal research project. Within this post you will find over 30 pages of anchor charts, mini-lesson ideas, writing planners and graphic organizers. The unit will help guide your students through the complete process. In the end, you will be helping to teach your students how to write their own pieces of informational text.
Here are five animal research projects for kids: Animal Habitats: Choose an animal and research its natural habitat. Create a diorama or drawing of the habitat and label the different components. Animal Adaptations: Select an animal and research its adaptations. Create a poster or presentation that explains how the adaptations help the animal ...
5. REPEAT. We repeat steps 2-4 for either 3 or 4 animals. Some students may work faster, while some may take a bit more time on each step. I try to adjust the project to be appropriate for the majority of the class. 6. SHARE. When the project is done, I try to find a special way for us to share our work.
Finding ideas for animal research topics can be a fun and engaging way to get kids started on their animal report project. ... High-Interest Animal Articles for Elementary Students. ... I start our animal report project with an introduction to informational writing. We read about an animal, take notes on it using a circle map, and work with the ...
Conducting animal research with elementary students is one of the school year's highlights. Typically, it occurs toward the end of the year making it the perfect wrap-up project. I've completed much animal research for kids over the years, but one of my favorites is an animal research project on Alligators versus Crocodiles!
Six Animal Research Projects to Choose From or Use Them All! What makes this resource even more engaging are the various writing activities that come with it. There's an informational graphic organizer, an animal facts booklet, an animal choice project, a cereal box project, creating a habitat diorama, research student-created books, and ...
Students begin their inquiry by comparing fiction and nonfiction books about animals, using a Venn diagram. They list things they want to know about animals on a chart. As a class, students vote on an animal to research. They revise their question list, and then research the animal using prompts from an online graphic organizer.
The Animal Inquiry interactive is a versatile tool that can enhance student inquiry in research at the elementary level. The graphic organizer invites students to explore four facets of animals [basic facts, animal babies, interaction with others, and habitats (shown at left)]; the possibilities for extensions or adaptations, moreover, make this a a nice complement with inquiry-based projects.
2. Word Search - just a fun way for students to remember certain words about each animal. 3. Crossword puzzle - I promise, your elementary students will feel so "BIG" when they are working on a crossword puzzle. It takes a little bit of coaching, but once they understand the concept, they love these! 4. Directed Drawings - Not all of ...
Kids love animals. There is such a natural connection between animals and children, which makes using animals in your lessons a wonderful way to inspire kids, foster their curiosity, and encourage skill development. This Animal Research Journal Project is a great way to bring that love of animals to lessons in Sciences and English.
Help young students practice their research and presentation skills with this fun, hands-on animal research and presentation project. Choose Animal 1) Prior to starting this project, you may want partner with your school librarian and/or STEAM teacher.
Do not include your opinion but make sure to include an opening paragraph that captures a reader and gives a broad overview of your animal. Please consider reading our post on the writing process to learn more about the revising, editing and publishing stages. Our third grade students publish their animal research paper on the template to the left.
Home › Blog Topics › Animal Research Meets Reading, Writing, and Flipgrid. Animal Research Meets Reading, Writing, and Flipgrid By Kelly Hincks on 07/31/2017 • ( 0). Animal research projects are common in the elementary world. The second-grade teachers came to me and said they were going to an animal research project.
Description. This animal research project is broken down into six main topics that will guide students through better understanding how their chosen animal survives and interacts in the environment. This project is great for upper elementary students since all six topics push students to think deeper about how exactly an animal's adaptations ...
I Can Research Zoo Animals Print Research Templates. $3.50. Add to cart. Add to Wishlist. Subscribe. Finding trusted animal websites for students can be hard! Here are my top 5 favorite websites that I use for animal research.
Step 3: I Investigate. I build "inquiry time" into your day to conduct whole class, shared research using the resources we've gathered. I model note taking and let children take their own notes using a combination of pictures and words. I also Incorporate what children are learning about the animal into their choice time discovery centers.
Animal Research Project. Rated 4.89 out of 5, based on 9 reviews ... Elementary Edugator. 188 Followers. Follow. Description. Reviews. 9. Q&A. 1. More from Elementary Edugator. Description. A quick and easy way for students to learn about a particular animal. Assign students an animal or have them pick. This sheet will get them familar with ...
A.B. McDonald Elementary School / Meet the Staff. Mrs. Kim Mikolajczyk. Principal. Email: [email protected]. Kim Mikolajczyk, principal of McDonald school loves the students, families and staff she works with each day. She earned a Bachelor's Degree from University of Idaho, her Master's Degree from Eastern Washington University and her ...
Moscow Zoo Museum[edit] Founded in 2008 in a two-storey building of the 19th century, built in the late XIX - early XX centuries, located on the territory of the zoo. Since 2015, the museum has been open to the public and everyone. In the central and side halls there is an exposition devoted to the history of the Moscow Zoo and a natural ...
Reviews — Zoos in Europe. Moscow Zoo. During the second half of the nineteenth century the first menageries in Moscow were established as entertainment facilities. The first was founded in 1855 by two Frenchmen (names unknown), while the Kreuzberg family owned a private menagerie that opened its door to the public in ...
The Center of reproduction of rare animal species (or Zoo nursery) was set up in 1994 near Volokolamsk, less than 100 km from the capital. ... We hope that it will be possible to implement several significant projects on its territory in the near future. Among them are Safari Park, contact area and much more. And since April 15, a large ...