Reptile Show at Monte L. Bean Museum (BYU)

For our Field Trip this month, we were invited to a live Reptile Show as part of the preschool continuing education series at The Monte L. Bean Museum on BYU Campus. Our instructor was the ever patient Meg. (I have included some of what we learned for your enjoyment).

Meg began the show by asking the students "What is a reptile?" A reptile is defined as: "Any of various cold-blooded, usually egg-laying vertebrates of the class Reptilia, such as a snake, lizard, crocodile, turtle, or dinosaur, having an external covering of scales or horny plates and breathing by means of lungs." (Definition from Answers.com)

[Pictured above: Meg, our Educator, crocodile skin facsimile, a legless lizard, a crocodile skull, bottled snake eggs, a sea turtle's bone shell, a rolled up boa constrictor skin, a cart of plastic containers housing various reptiles.]

Then she asked them "what is a Mammal?" A Mammal is defined as: "Any of various warm-blooded vertebrate animals of the class Mammalia, including humans, characterized by a covering of hair on the skin and, in the female, milk-producing mammary glands for nourishing the young." As well as, most mammals give birth to their young.

She began by showing us a bottle of eggs. "Do these look like the eggs you normally get from the store?" "No!" the children chorused. "Why not!?" She continued. They were off white, soft skinned eggs in a bottle of clear liquid and you could see through the soft, pliable egg shell into the darker embryo inside. "These are snake eggs. Snake eggs have soft skin so that the female snake can bury them in the sand or dirt and people can walk on them and they will not get hurt. How to they hatch then? Snakes babies have an egg tooth on the end of their snout that appears and helps the snake to crack and escape it's shell and then after a few days the egg tooth falls off for good (because it is not longer needed).

Our class, Alphabet Adventures, on the front row, with Mrs. Andrea Marley, Andelin, and Jaxon pictured on the left. (Thanks for helping to chaperone.)

Petting the box turtle, Flinders. We talked about the color of our eyes. Did you know you can tell the gender of a Box Turtle by his/her eye color? Red eyes are males. Brown eyes are females.
A turtle shell is like a bony ribcage. A Box Turtle can draw itself up into it's shell when afraid.

Land turtles are slow, sea turtles are fast swimmers.
Also, why is it bad for a turtle to be flipped on it's back? The turtle's lungs are up under it's shell on the top of it's body. Flipped upside down the turtle cannot breathe.

Meg is reminding us to touch the reptiles with two fingers on the tail so as not to frighten them.
This is Bruceskee, a yellow Fat-tailed Geeko from the Sahara dessert (note the coloring like sand). This guy stores fat and nutrients in his tail and can go days without food. That is an adaption to his habitat (environment where he lives). If he, or another lizard, come under attack and their tails are seized--they can drop their tails and get away. In a few months, they will regrow a tail (but it is always different from the original tail).

Talking about the amazing tail!

The Constrictor Cuddles.

"What is the difference between snakes and legless lizards?" Meg asks us. "Lizards have external ears. Snakes do not have external ears at all but "hear" through body vibrations."
There are two different types of snakes, venomous (poisonous) and non-venomous. This is a non-venomous (Boa) Constrictor named Cuddles. The constrictor do have fangs but do not have poison to paralyze their prey--instead, they coil their skin around a victim and squeeze. Cuddles is fed two mice every two weeks at the museum.
Cuddles, has no ears (like a lizard does) but "smells or sniffs" using olfactory glands in her tongue. When a snake slithers it's tongue in and out it is smelling the environment for clues.
This is the snake skin of a large constrictor. Snakes shed their skin in order to grow larger. (This is the actual skin of a dead and skinned snake).

Snake skin feels smooth, dry, and scales are satiny (similar to leather) to the touch.
It is not slimy or sticky as one might expect.

Nathan, Hugh, and Olivia loved looking at the large mammals on display!

After the Reptile show, we washed our hands with soap and water. We then enjoyed wandering through the many museum exhibits and stopping to ask questions or participate in a hands on activity. There is so much to see! Please visit the Monte L. Bean Museum on BYU Campus. Their address is 645 E. 1430 N. in Provo (because of construction, please enter the museum from the west side of campus). Here is a link to their homepage: Monte L. Bean Museum

Our classes in front of the Butterflies sign made up of butterflies!

Hugh, Susie, and Nathan enjoy the birds display.

Looking at the birds: ducks, swans, geese, etc.

We enjoyed seeing the big game animals, wandering through various habitat displays, shells, butterflies, insects, birds, cats, seeing fish and sharks, even seeing the legendary Hogle Zoo Shasta, a Liger, whose father was a tiger and mother was a lion.

Thank you, Hugh and Olivia, for the fun snacks today.
We feasted on golden apples and Animal Crackers and Goldfish crackers.

Always full of energy, the children wanted to play together with toys when it was time to go.