Living Heritage -
Northcote Intermediate School
Endangered Species and Important Places
In class this past term we have been learning about endangered species and national parks. Part of learning about the endangered species was to learn what their habitat is like, the adaptive features that they use to help them survive and what an animal eats and what eats them (the food chain/web).
Room 10 believe it is important that we save these animals and plants from extinction because they can help us with jobs, such as cows eat the grass in a paddock so the farmer doesn’t need to take much time and effort to mow huge paddock or planted areas (they use cows at Tawharanui). Another reason for saving endangered animals is because they may be special or unique to the country like our national bird, the kiwi, or another fantastic animal like the New Zealand Dotterel.
To help save these special animals there are many places created to save and reserve the animals, for example: Tawharanui, a marine reserve and open sanctuary with a unique predator fence and Tiri Tiri Matangi which is an offshore island which you can visit and see animals you couldn’t see off that island.
Tawharanui Regional Park is the special place we visited for our E.O.T.C. We spent the first day doing activities like snorkelling, kayaking and assorted beach games. On the second day a park ranger came to talk to us. Then we walked the ecology walk, which went from the rocky shore to paddocks with cows and other animals to a walk through the bush with native bird’s such as the black robin and fantail. We also saw lots of traps which help keep pests such as rats, possums, cats, dogs, weasels and stoats from eating the native birds.
One of the tasks we completed during school time was creating a picture book with a few friends about an endangered animal. The picture book needed to mention human impact. Most of these turned out to be excellent with amazing pictures. These are posted on this website for viewing, so please check them out.
Another part of our science lessons was learning about national parks. We researched different parks and at the end of each one, we chose our favourite park. Then we got into groups and made up a 3-5 minute documentary about our favourite national park. You can view our documentaries which are attached to this website.
By Harry, Romily, Angus and Madeline.
