Vertebrates Workshop

The Vertebrates Workshop at the Zoo teaches students about the main characteristics of vertebrates, with teaching adapted to their age and focusing on participation.
This workshop is presented in a specially equipped classroom, where the educator (biologist) explains the outline of the activity and supervises its running.
First, a 14-minute video is shown about the characteristics of vertebrates. The class group is divided into five sub-groups, where each group will work on one aspect about vertebrates, with the support of diverse materials, an interactive panel and a work guide. All students move around the different displays.

The contents studied are:

• Introduction to the classification of vertebrates, highlighting the fact that they are a very small group of the animal world.
  
• Comparison between the different outside layers of vertebrates using magnifying binoculars.
  
• Study of vertebrate reproduction types: oviparity, ovoviviparity and viviparity.
• Discovery of the senses that are most used by each class of vertebrates, using the recorded sounds of different animals, different smells and tastes and touch.

The tour of the grounds is done with the teacher. We suggest making stops, which can be prepared by visiting the animal files and the virtual visit available on this web page, at the following facilities:

• The Aviary.
• The hyacinth macaw, the largest psittacidae and that at the greatest risk of extinction.
• The Nicobar pigeon, a columbiform bird in serious danger.
• The kangaroo, an example of a marsupial mammal.
• The gnu, an example of bovidae.
  
• The deer,  an example of an autochthonous cervid.
  
• The dolphin or sea lion, examples of aquatic mammals.
  
• The pinguin,  an example of an aquatic bird.
  
• The Terrarium, where students can observe a snake, a turtle and a crocodrile.
  
• The chimpanzees chimpanzees and drills, examples of seriously endangered primates. 
• The Iberian wolf, an autochthonous canine now extinct in Catalonia.
  
• The otter, an example of an autochthonous mammal that has been successfully reintroduced with the collaboration of the Barcelona Zoo. 
• The ../ca/coneix-el-zoo/animals-per-categories/mamifers/detall-fitxa/animal/licao/African wild dog../ca/coneix-el-zoo/animals-per-categories/mamifers/detall-fitxa/animal/licao/, an African canine in serious danger.