Posts Tagged With: local

BUTTERFLY DAY!

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Ellie and Edmond ©

BUTTERFLIES!!!

The Dunwoody Nature Center just north of Atlanta had a Butterfly Festival recently and of course we had to go! Our good pals Trevor and Ayden came with their parents, so it was a party for everyone!

 

Butterfly Festival here we come!

 

We had a lovely time exploring this neat little nature center and all the festivities they had throughout the day! First up we saw a Birds of a Prey show presented by Nature’s Echo.

We’re getting ready to meet some birds of prey!

The ladies from Nature’s Echo had 3 birds with them; a Mississippi Kite, a Screech Owl and a Red Tailed Hawk. These amazing birds were so cool to see up close and we learned some super neat facts about them!

  • A Mississippi Kite’s eyesight is so keen they can see every wing beat of a hummingbird’s wing.
  • Owls have 14 vertebrates in their necks.
  • It is illegal to own a raptor feather in the state of Georgia.
  • An owl’s ears are off set on their head.

Mississippi Kite having a snack!

 

Mississippi Kite- gorgeous!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Screech Owl! They are really small!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edmond & Trevor meet the kite!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We met a red tailed hawk!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out this talon! Wow!

They had a wing you could touch and feel!

 

 

Wow! Raptors have some super cool adaptations! We really enjoyed meeting these gorgeous birds!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the birds of prey show we wandered around the nature center’s grounds to check out the fun activities and vendors! You could make crafts, enjoy treats or get a bug tattoo! We wanted a tattoo but we couldn’t decide where to put them.

This butterfly is made of bottle caps! Reusing items to make art is awesome!

We ran into this wonderful bear in his National Park outfit!

Handsome bear!

 

It finally was time to enter the butterfly tent and man, were we excited! We could hardly contain ourselves! Luckily we learned some fun butterfly facts as we waited in line!

Butterfly facts!

More fun facts!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finally made it in the tent & there were butterflies everywhere! They were all different sizes, shapes and colors! We just loved meeting each one of them!

Butterfly sits on a feeder!

 

Black & yellow butterfly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you spot the butterfly?

 

See the tiny butterfly above us?

Trevor & his mom helped us find this lovely butterfly umbrella!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One last gorgeous butterfly shot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our last stop of the day was inside the nature where we met some local beekeepers and sampled their honey! Yum! We could see the inside of the hive and we spotted the queen thanks to one observant boy who found her! Did you know that they queen has a yellow spot on her back? Cool!

 

Beehive!

Honey samples! Delicious!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had the best time at The Dunwoody Nature Center’s Butterfly Festival! If you’re in Atlanta you should check out this special nature center and all their fun activities!

 

Categories: adventure, Animals, Atlanta, backyard, Children, conservation, education, Environment, insects, Local, nature, science, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

We Get the Scoop on Poop!

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Ellie and Edmond ©

Scoop on the Poop!

That’s right folks you read the headline right, we’re talking poop today! We took a field trip one of our most favorite places, Fernbank Museum of Natural History. We went to check out their new exhibit “Scoop on the Poop” that opens Saturday May 26th.  We had such fun learning all kinds of fun poop facts! We giggled, we cringed and we were amazed! Be prepared to the same with 10 Great Moments in Poop!

 

10 GREAT MOMENTS IN POOP!

1)    Elephants are super duper poopers! One elephant can poop up to 80 lbs of waste a day! Wowzers!

Ellie is a Super Dooper Pooper!

Elephant Poo!

 


Yep! We’re sitting on fake poop!

Guess your weight in poop!

2)    Caterpillars throw poop to ward of predators! Yuck!

Whaaa?


3)    Poop makes great fertilizer! People have used it for thousands of years to help them grow their crops!

Poop helps crops grow!


4)    Sloths only poop once a week! What????

Sloths are fascinating!


Check out this cutie!

5)    Poop trivia steals the show!

It’s true!

6)    Tree seeds are dispersed through animal poop!

Cool! Animal poop makes new trees!

This Box Turtle dispenses seeds in it’s poop! They especially love berries!

 

7)    Poop is a great way to mark your territory!

Spread your poop- mark your territory!

8)    Scientist use poop to learn about animal’s lives!

Scientist tract scat to learn about animals!

9)    Yes Edmond, there is fossilized dinosaur poop!

Dinosaur fossilized poop!

Edmond is touching real poop!


10) You can make paper out of poop! Who knew?

Cute paper products made from poop!


 

We’ve just hit the highlights of this fun and sometimes gross exhibit! There is so much more to see and do! You can meet live animals during encounters; pretend you’re a dung beetle and learn how to track scat (that’s another word for poop). If you ask us, learning about poop is a great way to spend a day!

Dino poop!

We met a Blue Tongue Skink named Sydney!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hanging with our pal Giggy! Don’t worry he’s super nice!

Fernbank is also starting their 97 days of play this weekend! They have all kinds of fun stuff planned throughout the summer including Reptile Day (a personal favorite of ours), Claws and Paws Weekend and the Scoop on Dinosaurs event! Check out their website for all the fantastic details!

Categories: Animals, Atlanta, Children, education, Environment, Local, nature, science, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Our adventure to “Wildlife Rescue”

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Ellie and Edmond ©

We’re so glad you could join us for tonight’s episode! We’re heading to Fernbank Museum of Natural History to see their new exhibit “Wildlife Rescue”! That’s right everyone, we learn what it takes to rescue, care for and return animals to their wild habitats! Follow us as we lead you through this wondrous journey!

Entrance to Wildlife Rescue

As we first enter the exhibit there are all kinds of amazing things to see. Fun lights, a giant globe and touch screens to learn! Isn’t this place quiet the party?

Elephant lights on the floor! Woohoo!
Learn all about endangered animals on this touch screen
Edmond tries out the touch screen

There are several stations where you can learn about animals that are endangered and how people are helping increase their populations.

Lake Sturgeon get help from people!
You can learn to track Iberian Lynx!
Black footed ferrets numbers on their way up!

Wow, these people are doing some great things to help animals. Look here, they have a whole station about the California Condor.

We love California Condors!

In the 1980s there were only 25 of these birds left and with the help of breading programs there are now 400 Condors. That is great news, but they still need help. Captive breeders feed condor chicks with mom puppets and look here; you can try and feed a chick too!

You can use a condor mom puppet and feed the chick!
Feed the condor c

We’re moving on to a fun game called I.D. the orangutan!

Which orangutan is which?

Make sure you look closely before choosing!

What is this wonderful station we’ve found? It’s all about elephants! Ellie is so excited!

ELEPHANTS!!
Time to learn all about The Amazing Trunk!

Let’s all learn all about the amazing elephant trunk! Did you know that an elephant trunk has up to 150,000 muscles? Pretty neat! Baby elephants must learn to use their trunks to drink, eat and pick up objects! And did you know that an elephant can pick up a single blade of grass with their trunk? Wow, Ellie never tires of talking trunks! What’s this? YOU CAN BE AN ELEPHANT!! Woohoo!

You too can be an elephant! It totally rocks!
Here’s Ellie checking out the trunk game! You can pretend you have a trunk and pick objects up! FUN!

You can play a round of elephant trivia, too! Edmond won!

Who’s up for a little flight with whooping cranes? We are! That’s right they have a life sized aircraft right here! Operation Migration is a program that helps whooping cranes learn their migration path. They actually fly these open air planes with the cranes! How cool is that! Check us out in the plane! You can “fly” with the birds!

Here we are on the plane!
Dedicated volunteers teach these birds to fly!
They have a life sized replica of a plane!
Here we are in the pilot’s seat! We’re ready for take off!

We’ve covered the big animals, but did you know that plenty of small animals get injured and need human help too! We share our habitats with turtles, birds, snakes and mammals. These animals often come across human dangers such as roads.

Here we are at the turtle crossing!

People helping turtles!

Thank goodness there are people who help these animals when they are injured. Fernbank will have some local rehabilitation centers with their animal ambassadors! You’ll get to meet some live animals and here their stories!

This video about orangutan and elephant rehab facilities is fascinating!

Here we are watching people help orphan orangutans and elephants!

As we head out of the exhibit we get the chance to learn about biodiversity

Biodiversity is key!

Biodiversity is the number of different species in a habitat. Biodiversity is very important, because when you have many different types of species in a habitat it means it is healthy.

Biodiversity rocks!

Wow! That was one amazing exhibit and we didn’t even show it all to you! We wanted to save some surprises for you! We’re coming to thr end of tonight’s episode, but not without stopping by the last station where you can learn how to help us and the rest of our animal friends!

Learn how you can help!

In fact, the famous and intelligent chimp researcher Jane Goodall  gave us some great tips; you can volunteer in a habitat clean up, plant a tree or plant a butterfly garden.

They give you a great list of organiztions that you can get involved in!

We hoped you have enjoyed tonight’s episode of Ellie and Edmond to the Rescue!

We stopped to pose with this elephant at the end!

The story doesn’t end here; you can continue your adventure by going to see “Wildlife Rescue” at Fernbank Museum of Natural History yourself! It is a GREAT exhibit full of fascinating information, fun activities and animals!

For hours, tickets and more information check out the Fernbank website:

http://www.fernbankmuseum.org/calendar-of-events/wildlife-rescue-opening-weekend-celebration-feb-4/

Fernbank also has an IMAX movie called “Born to Be Wild” that is all about orphan elephants and orangutans! Make sure you check it out while you’re there!

Categories: Animals, Atlanta, Children, education, Environment, Local, nature, science | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A Trip to “SPACE” at the Center for Puppetry Arts!

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Ellie and Edmond ©

WE HEAD TO SPAAAACE!

            This past Saturday we went to see “SPACE” an original show by Jon Ludwig at the Center for Puppetry Arts! It was an amazing ride and great fun! The premise: Rockin’ aliens come to earth and whisk the audience away in their spaceship to teach us all about outer space! And let us tell you these aliens can rock!

You meet the three rocking aliens and their pilot and mechanic of the spaceship; Eema and Ot! They are fun pair! The aliens and Eema and Ot take you on an adventure through our solar system with some great songs that help you learn! Sir Issac Newton, the scientist who discovered gravity makes an appearance in the show! He even uses an elephant as an example to explain gravity! See we elephants are everywhere!

We loved the man in the moon number that explained the phases of the moon! An Ellie and Edmond moon tidbit: Did you know that many animals rely on the phases of the moon? Horseshoe crabs come ashore to mate during the new and full moon in spring. Baby sea turtles use the moon to guide them to the ocean after they hatch on land!

We learned all about the sun, Mercury, Venus and then headed through the asteroid belt! That’s right folks; we went through an asteroid belt, where we saw some amazing singing asteroids! After that, the aliens stopped at Jupiter and Saturn! Keep an eye out for a special number from Saturn!

The aliens then head out in to our galaxy, the Milky Way (yum)! Then after learning all about galaxies and stars, the aliens took us back to earth, where they sang a song about how awesome our planet is and how we need to take care of it! We loved this song the best and Edmond was dancing the whole time! We definitely agreed that we need to take care of our planet! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at “SPACE” and we can guarantee that you will too!

Ellie gives it 4 out 4 trunks for the great science.

Edmond gives it 4 out of 4 horseshoes for the great music!

We recommend that your gallop and don’t walk to The Center for Puppetry Arts to catch all the outer space fun!

We have our own space helmets and we're ready!

The show runs Jan 26th-March 11, 2012 every Tuesday-Sunday. Here’s the website for more details: http://www.puppet.org/perform/space.shtml

Here are some photos from our trip!

Aliens lurk in the lobby of The Center for Puppetry Arts!Opening weekend!You can make your own alien puppet! FUN!Here we are with an alien!Here we are with the program!

Categories: Atlanta, Children, education, Local, Puppets, science, space | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

An Interview with a Reindeer Puppet Wrangler

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Ellie and Edmond ©

You know Dasher and Dancer and Comet and Cupid… but do you recall the most famous reindeer of all? That’s right it’s Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer!

Last week we went to the Center for Puppetry Arts here in Atlanta to see “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer”! It is a live adaptation of the beloved TV special and we loved it! There are dancing and singing snowmen, trees, raccoons, bunnies and squirrels! Oh yeah, and reindeer! There’s a snow monster, misfit toys, a lion king and last but not least Santa! What more could you want in a puppet show? It a word, it’s fabulous!

We had a chance to interview one of the talented puppeteers from the show! And man was she nice! Here’s our interview with Allison Murphy who plays Rudolph and Mrs. Claus.

 

Us: What’s it like playing a reindeer?

Allison: It’s fun and new, because you don’t meet many reindeer.

Us: How did you prepare to play Rudolph? Did you talk to any live reindeer?

Allison: No, I wish I had to talk to a reindeer, but they are hard to meet in Atlanta.  (Allison did tell us that she watched the TV special to get into character.)

Us: Do you play any other animals in the show?

Allison: Not usually, I sometimes play a raccoon. I do play a dancing tree too.

 

Us: Ellie’s favorite character in the show is of course the spotted elephant and Edmond’s is Rudolph. Who is your favorite character?

Allison: It depends on the day. I like Charlie in a Box and Sam the snowman because he’s a good storyteller.

 

Us: What is your favorite part of the show? We loved it when Sam the Snowman sings “Silver and Gold” and the animals decorate the tree! There were cool special effects during that part!

Allison: I like the “We’re a Couple of Misfits” song sung by Rudolph and Herbie and I like the “Silver and Gold” scene. I get to take a break during that song. (Turns out the adolescent Rudolph puppet is pretty heavy, so Allison’s arms need a brake  J!)

 

Us: How long does it take to prepare/rehearse for the show?

Allison: We rehearse for 4 weeks before the show, 6 days a week, 8 hours a day.  (Wow- who knew it took so much work to put on the show!)

Us: How did you get started in puppetry?

Allison: It was accidental. I grew up watching the Muppets and Fragile Rock. I never heard of the Center for Puppetry Arts. A friend who lived in Atlanta said she could get me an audition at the Center, so I came and watched a show and was amazed. I auditioned in 2006 and I got the job. (Allison grew up in Kentucky and attended the Boston Conservatory and has a masters degree in musical theater. Trust us, she can sing and act!)

Us: What advice would you a give a kid or small horse who wants to get into puppetry?

Allison: Come to puppet shows, take workshops at the Center, make puppets, put on shows at home and be creative.  (We thought these are all fun ideas!)

Us: We love that the story of Rudolph is ultimately about “misfits” finding their place in the world. Were you ever a misfit?

Allison: I have always loved music, singing and playing with puppets. The Center is my Island of Misfit Toys, I found a place to fit in here. I think all misfits eventually find their Yukon Cornelius and Herbie.  (We just love this! It’s true all misfits find their place in life! We think being a misfit is great!)

We had such a lovely time talking to Allison. She was so nice to spend some time with a little elephant and horse. After we talked to her, she even took us back stage, and man that was so exciting! We saw how things work and the scenery up close. We couldn’t take pictures, because that ruin the magic of the show! And believe us it’s magical! We did get to take some pictures with young Rudolph and Allison though!

Here we are with Rudolph! YAY!

Rudolph's red nose all lit up! It is very bright! Great for guiding Santa's sleigh!

Allison, Rudolph and us!

Here we are hanging on some snow scenery! Edmond wants to be a puppeteer now!

You can become a member at the Center!

You have to put “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” on your to do list this holiday season! They sold out all 91 shows last year and have already surpassed the number of people they had last year at this time. The last week of December the Center will have 3 shows a day! Whew, we bet our friend Allison and the rest of the puppeteers will be pooped by then! Good luck!

Here’s more info on the Center for Puppetry Arts and “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”:

http://www.puppet.org/

Categories: Animals, Atlanta, Children, education, Local | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

An Adventure at Pike Nurseries!

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Ellie and Edmond ©

It’s the holidays and we wanted to learn about how we could incorporate nature into our holiday celebrations. So we headed to our local Pike nursery to learn all about holiday plants and trees. We met a lovely lady named Alison who showed us around and taught us all kinds of fun stuff! So come join us on our plant adventureJ!

First up, let’s learn about poinsettias!

Beuatiful Poinsettia!

Edmond liked the white poinsettias

Poinsettias are tropical plants, that are native to Mexico and they are beautiful! They come in all kinds of colors (from red to pink to white) and sizes (large and small)! Did you know that the colored part of the poinsettia is actually the leaf and not the flowering part of the plant? We didn’t either! The flower of the poinsettia is in the center of the plant and looks like tiny little yellow Venus Flytraps (at least that’s what Edmond thought they looked like).

  • Red and white speckled!

The yellow center is actually the flower and the leaves are red! Don't the flowers look like Venus Flytraps?

Poinsettias are considered blushing plants; no they don’t turn red when embarrassed, but that would be funny. Their green leaves turn dark purple to red as the days get shorter. Neat!

Did you also know that poinsettias are members of the succulent family? Succulent plants retain water in their leaves and roots and are adapted to live in tropical to desert environments. You may be familiar with cactus, also members of the succulent family! The succulent family of plants is very large and diverse! We found these relatives of the poinsettia at the nursery! They’re called Euphorbia, funny name, pretty plants!

Euphorbia! We thought they look like little palm trees!

More Euphorbia! These kind of look like cactus!

One more type of Euphorbia!

Our new friend showed us the Norfolk Island pine tree! They are a neat little tree that is native to the Pacific Island of Norfolk Island. They are also called the Star pine, because their branches are in a star pattern. These trees do well as house plants, but will not survive outside because they’re tropical! They make great Ellie and Edmond sized Christmas trees too!

Here we are with an Ellie and Edmond sized Norfolk Island Pine!

Norfolk Island Pine!

We also stumbled upon some topiaries! They use ivy to grow around the shape underneath. Edmond especially loved the reindeer topiary!

Edmond loved the reindeer topiary!

The next plant we discovered was the cyclamen! These flowers grown inside out and they smell like crayons! So fun! Each leaf of this plant is looks a little different.  Ellie loved the pink ones!

Ellie with the cyclamen! It smells like crayons!

The last plant we found was the Christmas cactus. They are a tropical plant from South America! The flowers of the Christmas cactus come in white, yellow, red, pink and other colors! These plants also bloom when the days get shorter! We have fun with these!

Christmas cactus with white buds!

We decided to relax among the Christmas cactus! Not all cactus are pointy!

Pike’s has so many beautiful plants and we could have stayed all evening to learn about all them! Alison was a great teacher! You should definitely go and find yourselves some beautiful holiday plants to brighten your home. Remember to do your homework though when getting a plant if you have small pets or children, they can often be toxic, including the poinsettia. Cats especially like to chew on plants, we know, the cat we live with eats plants all the time! We actually eat plants to being herbivores and all!

Check out of some of the other pictures we took as we explored the store!

They had loads of bird seed! You should stop by and get the wild birds in your neightborhood a little Christmas gift :)!

 

Here we are hiding in some poinsettias! Fun!

Beautiful lit trees!

Categories: Atlanta, Children, education, Environment, Local, nature | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Walking in a Dino Winter Wonderland!

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Ellie and Edmond ©

Walking in a Dino Winter Wonderland!

Have you ever dreamed about going around the world during the holidays? Wonder what it’s like in Australia during Christmas or how people in Chile decorate their homes? Well you are in luck, because without buying a plane ticket or packing a bag you can learn all about holiday traditions around the world at Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Winter Wonderland!

We were invited to check out the 28 trees and displays and man did we have a good time! What’s a better combo than dinos and culture? Nothing! Do you know the song “Twelve Days of Christmas”? We’ve decided to tell you about our favorite trees set to the tune of our favorite carol! Forgive us now if it’s doesn’t exactly fit the song, we are just a small elephant and horse!

On the first tree at Fernbank a dino brought to us: A Troll from Norway!

A troll from Norway!

On the second tree at Fernbank a dino brought to us: A Maple leaf and a moose!

The Canadian tree! There are Canadian flags with maple leaves all over it! You have to find the moose!

On the third tree at Fernbank a dino brought to us: Animals who speak French!

An elephant from one of the many french speaking countries!

A dragon from Vietnam (they speak french there!)

A giraffe from Cameroon

Here we are in front of the French tree with all the fun animals!

On the fourth tree at Fernbank a dino brought to us: A sweet gum and some walnuts!

Gumballs from a sweetgum tree on the tree from Switzerland!

On the fifth tree at Fernbank a dino brought to us: A tree full of green and gold balls!

Brazil's tree had balls of green and gold to represent their flag!

On the sixth tree at Fernbank a dino brought to us: Chilean butterflies!

The tree from Chile

Edmond loves butterflies!

On the seventh tree at Fernbank a dino brought to us: Japanese cranes

The tree from Japan was covered in oragami cranes!

Ellie loved the cranes, especially this shiny one!

On the eighth tree at Fernbank a dino brought to us: A little goose from Denmark

We found this little goose on the Denmark Tree

On the ninth tree at Fernbank a dino brought to us: Mexican dancing ladies

The Mexican tree has ladies dancing underneath it!

We found this brightly covered chicken on the Mexican tree!

On the tenth tree at Fernbank a dino brought to us: A festival of lights

Ellie loved Genesha, who is an elephant god in India!

On the eleventh tree at Fernbank a dino brought to us: A Hungarian hedgehog

How cute is this little hedgehog from Hungary?

On the twelfth tree at Fernbank a dino brought to us: A koala playing the drum!

Here we are with the drum playing koala on the Australia tree!

 

A dino tail and trees!

The Great Hall in the evening!

Dance party with Giggy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the trees were and displays were so neat! Each one was sponsored by an organization that represents the individual country and each one has a plaque that tells you all about the holiday traditions of that country! Look for all the animal ornaments, they’re our favorites!  Make sure you put Fernbank’s Winter Wonderland on your holiday to do list!

 

They’re having all kinds of fun holiday celebrations too! Check them out: http://www.fernbankmuseum.org/explore-exhibits/special-exhibitions/winter-wonderland/special-programming/

 

Categories: Atlanta, Children, education, Local | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Field Trip to Elachee Nature Center

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Ellie and Edmond ©

FIELD TRIP! We waited and waited for a beautiful day to come so that we could go to the mountains of North Georgia and it finally came! And man what a perfect day; it was a little chilly, the sky was blue and the leaves were brightly colored! We decided to make our way to the Elachee Nature & Science Center for the morning!

We arrived and made our way in the center!

Elachee Nature & Science Center

We spoke to very nice lady who worked there! She first showed us some great touch shelves full of skulls, snake sheds and all kinds of wonderful items!

Ellie and Edmond in front of a horse skull

Touch shelves!

Can you believe they let you touch all these neat items? It was loads of fun!

Here's the beehive!

Next we headed into the center’s museum! We first encountered BEES! Yes, you heard right folks, BEES! The nature center has a small hive of bees that live there! It’s really neat to watch them buzz about and make honey. The bees weren’t super active when we saw them, because they’re getting ready for the cooler temperatures!

The best part of the bees is that you can buy the honey that they make right there in the center!

We moved into the Chicopee Woods story gallery of the museum! You go back in time and learn what today’s woods looked like all the way back to the time before the dinos; and you can do it without a time machine!

We'e about to learn the story of the Chicopee Woods!

We found all kinds of different fossils that came from the area!

Fossils on the bottom of the sea floor!
Fossilized Duck Billed Dinosaur Eggs!

The biggest fossil there was a Mosasaur!

Mosasaur!

Its name means river lizard and it lived during the last 25 million years of the Crustaceous period. This giant marine reptile, a distant relative of snakes, swam in the oceans! Yep, the Chicopee woods at one time were under water! Can you believe it? The center even shows you all the work it takes to dig and find fossils!

Digging for fossils!

Being a paleontologist is HARD work!

Edmond found a sign that said when horses first appeared!

Edmond learns about ancient horses!

Horses started out very small, about the size of a dog! Wow! Edmond was very excited to learn about his ancestors! Recent DNA studies show that horses were very spotty at one point!

The day just got better when Ellie found a fossilized mammoth tooth and hair!

Ellie with the mammoth tooth and hair! That is one BIG tooth!

Did you know that mammoths are early relatives of the modern elephant? Turns out our Asian elephant cousins are more closely related to mammoths than African elephants, but we’re all still family!

As we wandered around we saw and learned all about the events and people that lived in this area throughout history! It was very interesting! We did find this lovely guide to some of the animals you might see in the woods surrounding the center!

Animals you made find in the woods.

We were hoping to see all of them!

The other gallery in the museum talked all about space!

Enter to learn about the stars, planets, moon and sun!

It’s a neat space that talks about the moon and stars and sun. Ellie had to hold Edmond’s hoof because he’s afraid of the dark! Sadly, we didn’t take many pictures because we couldn’t get our camera in the right setting. Trust us, you will not be disappointed!

We then hit up the live animal room underneath the museum! They have all kinds of fun animals living at the center! We found snakes, salamanders, frogs and turtles!

Super cute Eastern Tiger Salamanders! We wondered if they could roar like a tiger! Probably not.

A red rat corn snake posed for us!

An Eastern box turtle is about to chow down on some salad! YUM!

You can even adopt some of these animals! No silly, you can’t take them home, but you can adopt them by helping pay for their care! We wondered if the animal writes you a thank note when you adopt them (that’s hard for snakes).

Our last stop for the day was the Chicopee Woods themselves! We went exploring around the outside of the center and found beautiful fall leaves, animals and scarecrows!

Edmond liked the scarecrow!

The center has loads of trails for you explore, just remember the rules J!

The woods are for everyone!

The nice lady at the center told us that volunteers help to maintain the trails for visitors! It’s so nice of them to do all that work for us to enjoy the woods!

We found these lovely lichen or fungus on a fallen tree!

Lichen or fungus on a tree! Pretty!

We really enjoyed exploring the trail!

Here we are on one of the trails!

Unfortunately the only animal we encountered was a squirrel, but he was pretty cute!

A squirrel grabs a quick bite near the picnic tables!

We’ll have to look harder for more animals next time! We did find some beautyberries and Edmond found a tiny pinecone and Ellie enjoyed hanging out in the leaves!

Beautyberries!

We called these the burnt marshmallow plant! :)!

Edmond found a Edmond sized pinecone!

Ellie enjoyed playing in the leaves!

All in all we had a wonderful time at the Elachee Nature & Science Center! It’s really a gem just north of Atlanta! We’re definitely going back soon and highly recommend that you check it out too!

Categories: Animals, Atlanta, Children, education, Environment, Local, nature, reptiles | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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