Eighteen Year 12 students spent a day at London Zoo (ZSL) last week as part of their AS Biology course. The annual trip is designed to help students complete Unit 3 of the course which requires them to write a project on any topical biological issue happening in the world today.
Pupils have free reign on the choice of topics and enjoy the opportunity to select an area of specific interest to them. As ever, animal conservation is very high on the list this year. London Zoo is well known for its research and conservation work and is an ideal place for students to gain some ideas for their project work.
The day started with a general introduction to the work of the Zoo followed by a PhD student giving a very interesting talk on his work in conserving the Mountain Chicken. It turns out this is not a chicken at all but instead a very large frog that lives on the islands of Montserrat and Dominica. The species is being wiped out by the fungus disease Chydridiomycosis. ZSL runs conservation projects in over 50 countries around the globe, working with local communities to protect the environment and promote sustainability.
A tour of the Zoo was followed in the afternoon by workshops which involved students presenting their case for a hypothetical grant of £50,000 to fund conservation work. Each pair of students were given a different fact-sheet describing the plight of a particular amphibian and, using the information they were given, they put forward reasoned arguments as to why the money should be given to their project.
Overall, it was a very informative day which gave the students a useful insight into the work of the zoo and opened their eyes to the purpose of conservation and the many issues involved when setting up captive breeding programmes and reintroducing species back into the wild.
Thanks to Dr Bob Snellgrove, Head of Science, for providing this report.
