A Pelican's Party

We met the lovely Bec today, who was the keeper rostered on to care for the Pelicans. Bec gave us two special viewings of the Pelicans being fed their daily amount of fish. When they weren't quick enough, the opportunistic cormorants would gulp down the fish instead. Yum!

During the feed we found out that Pelicans turn the fish around in their bill so they can swallow them headfirst and this makes it easier for them as the fish's scales slide down smoothly. When we made our craft Pelican, this was a good teaching point to help the children position their own fish in the Pelican's over sized bill. Although our craft example had the fish facing the other way, some of the children turned their fish headfirst so that their Pelican could eat it properly.

Our example - A Pelican eating fish