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Wild Wise

Let’s get to know our urban wildlife! The Wild Wise series is geared toward elementary aged students and focuses on understanding wild animal behaviours, their adaptations & needs, as well as positive community connections, as a way of reducing human-wildlife conflict. Each presentation comes with a video song and dance, urban wildlife journal, and urban wildlife sticker that are left with teachers for continued use with their students.

Step into the paws and claws of our neighbours through song, dance, drama, and so much more!

Wild Wise: So Stinkin' Cute (Skunks)

So Stinkin' Cute

Stripey and cute? These nocturnal animals clean up our neighbourhoods while we sleep.  Learn the answers to these questions...Do skunks really want to spray us? How many kits does a skunk family usually have? How are skunks injured in our urban environment? What are skunks trying to communicate? Explore the nightlife of the skunk through song, dance, sounds, biofacts, and patient stories in our “So Stinkin’ Cute (Skunks) presentation.  Learn how to co-exist with urban skunks, you'll be surprised how much their diets can help us out!

Wild Wise: Built to Build (Beavers)

Built To Build

A rodent important to North America’s past, and future!  Find out how the beaver has been built to create wetland habitat, refill aquifers, stop forest fires, cleanse pollution from water, and mitigate floods and drought! How do you tell male and female beavers apart? Ever seen a baby beaver kit? What does vanilla have to do with the beaver? Learn this through song, dance, sounds, biofacts, and patient stories in our Built to Build (Beavers) presentation. Let’s learn to co-exist with beavers, their building skills will come in handy!

Wild Wise: Brainy Birds (Magpies)

Brainy Birds

Discover the fascinating world of black-billed magpies. Take a closer look at how these clever corvids use their big brains to solve food problems, deal with predators, and raise a family. Learn the answers to questions like, why don't magpies fly south in the winter? What do their different calls mean? Participants will get to see and touch magpie artifacts, learn through visual and auditory stimulation, and leave with a clever and catchy magpie song! Let’s learn to co-exist with magpies, their problem-solving skills might come in handy!

Wild Wise: Furry Fliers (Bats)

Furry Fliers

It’s a bird… it’s a plane…it’s a bat? Bats make the most of their night hunts, catching some 1000 insects in an hour! How does a bat manage its heart rate to survive? How many bats species live in Alberta? What do they do in the winter? How do they hunt at night? Experience the energy of the bat through song, dance, sounds, biofacts, and patient stories.  Let’s learn to co-exist with bats, their insectivorous diet might come in handy!

Wild Wise: Quirky Quills (Porcupines)

Wild Wise

The North American Porcupine is mostly known for its spiky defence, but there is so much more to these quirky creatures!  Ever heard a porcupine sing? Discover the relationship between this herbivore and the cycles of the forest ecosystem! What does a porcupine have to do with a Wildlife tree? What do we call young porcupines? How do porcupines end up at our wildlife centre? Learn this and more in this Wild Wise presentation featuring a prickly song and poky biofacts. Let’s learn to co-exist with porcupines, their foraging habits might come in handy!