The Dolphin Research Institute is located in Hastings, Victoria. We signed up for the two sessions: Through the Eyes of a Whale, and Don't Pee in My Pool.
Through the Eyes of a Whale
Lots of enthusiastic discussion on different types of whales and their behaviours. We heard the different whale songs, saw photos and videos of whales in the local area, as well as some wonderful TRUE stories about sitings that kept the children (and parents!) enthralled.
We had the opportunity to feel some teeth from a sperm whale. The females' is considerably smaller than the males'.
Sperm whale teeth.
The male is the darker/heavier on the left, and female on the right.
Also passed around were some baleen plates, which were really quite heavy. Apparently, once a whale dies, all the baleen plates fall out quite readily. This is also the part of the whale that was used when making corsets.
Whilst feeding, whales usually turn on their side; once they engulf the water with their food, they become very 'front heavy'. We saw some footage of a whale feeding near the surface of the water, taking a huge gulp, which caused the chin area to expand as it would on a pelican's bill. The throat grooves then slowly contract, as it sifts the sea water from it's meal.
A very heavy vertebrae from a humpback whale had been found on a local beach, which led into a discussion on whales' and dolphins' skeletal structure. The dolphin's skull was used to show how the lower jaw was hollow, which is how the dolphin hears via vibrations.
The hollow lower jaw of a dolphin.
This then led us to go into another room and explore what it's like being inside a humpback whale.
Inside the whale, the children sat along the centre to get a feel for how big one of the smallest whales are. They were told a true story about how a man had survived being swallowed by a sperm whale. The story can be read at the Killer Whale Museum, in Eden NSW.
Don't Pee in My Pool
After a break for lunch, we were back to learn more about how pollution from our drains affects the marine plants and animals. The children were taken to a nearby drain, where all the rainwater from the street works it's way down to the sea. It was awful to see so much rubbish there! Mangroves were growing, and some small fish and crabs swimming around in the shallows.
Finally, a game to let everyone burn off some energy before the trip home. A game of tag was set up, with a long rope used to make a huge circle. Three hula hoops served as 'seaweed' safe places, but had a limited safety time of 3 seconds before players (fish) had to move into 'open water' again. Those who were 'it' were the hungry seal and dolphin, where soft toys were used. The game was made more difficult once the seaweed safeplaces were removed.
A great day out. If you can get here to book a group session, I'd recommend it!!
1 comment:
sounds great, except we live in a different state to you:)
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