Friday, August 18, 2017

Wildlife Adventures: Cave Crawlers

For the last week of summer camps our wildlife adventurers got to discover the mystery of caves. Before our adventurers could be entrusted to enter a real cave, they had to learn how caves are formed, the types of caves, formations in caves, and what kinds of animals live in caves. The most popular cave animal has to be the bat. So our adventurers briefly got to step into the life of a bat by listening to a variety of sounds (like walking on gravel or a dog growling) and trying to guess what made the sound. This activity was a demonstration that most cave animals, like bats, have to rely more on sound than on sight. Once the adventurers had an understanding of the characteristics of animals that live in caves they were able to meet some of the Bean Museum's live animals to try and decide if they could be found in or near a cave. Finally, they got to color and make their very own bat craft.
The field trip to Timpanogos cave was a test to see how much our adventurers remembered about caves. It was hot hiking up to the cave, so the cool temperature of the cave was most welcome. We got to experience how dark caves can get, see a variety of cave formations, and learn about the history behind the cave. We were very lucky to be able to enjoy the beauty of caves in such an up close and personal way.