Animals from Down Under visit Aquinas School

MORE PHOTOS: View a slideshow of the Aussie animals.

Maybe Aquinas School student Amadeus Kang was being modest when he said he wasn’t very strong or brave.

Because seconds later, the fifth-grader was holding a baby saltwater crocodile named Sheila.

During Wednesday’s Outback Adventures of Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand, educator Khoreen White asked for “really brave and really strong students” to participate. Kang was selected and raced up to the stage, waving to all of the children assembled for the event.

But when asked whether he was strong or brave, Kang said no. Kang then closed his eyes, and much to his surprise, was presented with a year-and-a-half-old reptilian visitor.

Like all the animals presented by White, Sheila elicited gasps of excitement from the nearly 300 kindergarten through fifth graders gathered in the school’s gymnasium. Kang clutched the creature’s jaws and back side tightly as White explained that even a crocodile as small as Sheila could still bite off a finger.

Bearded dragons, scrub pythons, box jellyfish and everyone’s favorite marsupial, the red kangaroo, dominated the Outback-themed presentation. Boomer the kangaroo hopped around the stage, sniffing and nibbling the carpet, much to the delight of the students.

While getting a firsthand education about animals from Down Under, the children also learned about the indigenous Australians known as Aborigines and their tools. Those included the boomerang and the didgeridoo, a large musical wind instrument that has been played by the Aboriginal men for thousands of years.

Fourth-grader Isaac McCann said his favorite part of the event was the bearded dragon and its “cool throat.” McCann said he also learned that lizards have different colored tongues, like the blue-tongued skink that was on display Wednesday.

Fourth-grader Rachel Jakielski also enjoyed the program, which the Whites do daily at schools all over the continental United States as part of The Bureau of Lectures and Concert Artists, Inc.
Jakielski especially liked the sugar glider, a marsupial similar in shape and characteristics to the flying squirrel.

Wednesday’s event was made possible thanks to the school’s parent-teacher organization headed up by Amy Miller. Earlier this year, the school hosted a touring Chinese acrobatic group and they plan on hosting a magician later this month.

“We’re just thrilled to bring some really unusual things into the school this year,” Miller said. “I think we’ll enjoy the animals as much as the children do.”

Staff writer Kipp Hanley can be reached at 703-878-8062.