What the devil is that?
Spine-chilling screeches, coughs and growls, a black and white coat, red ears, wide red mouth and broad white teeth were frightening enough to give rise to the name Tasmanian ‘Devil’.
School students celebrate Taronga's elephant birth with banners
Click on image to enlarge
Winners of the Baby Elephant Banner Competition
27 November 2009
Taronga’s Education Officers have NSW school students to use art to raise awareness of conservation plight of Asian Elephants.
In celebration of the birth of Taronga Zoo’s first baby elephant the Education Department asked students to create a banner featuring the Zoo’s new Asian Elephant calf, Luk Chai, which was born on July 04 and the winners were announce today..
The competition was open to all NSW primary schools during September. It was designed to educate schools and the wider community about the threats facing elephants in Asia and to help raise community awareness of elephants conservation needs.
The theme of the competition was From Little Things Big Things Grow and included a tongue-in-check briefing from Luk Chai to the students which said: “What I would like all of you to do is to pick up your paint brushes and create some really great banners to teach everyone about protecting elephants!”
The competition attracted a lot of interest from NSW schools with 450 entries from 41 schools. The four winning banner designs will not only be displayed around Taronga Zoo throughout November, but will be used on Zoo shop merchandise to raise funds for the Zoo’s work and also made into postcards to send to schools in Thailand.
All winning designs and finalists can be viewed on the Elephant Calf pages of the Taronga website. The winners will also receive a trip to the zoo and an amazing animal encounter for their whole class.
The competition attracted a high standard of artwork from all the children. Their artworks are on display on the flickr website. The winners have been announced:
Early Stage One – Stage One:
Equal first: Felicity - Year 2
Chertsey Primary School
Equal first: Amber - Year 1
Tomaree Public School
Stage Two:
Marcus - Year 4
Hunter Valley Grammar School
Stage Three:
Georgia - Year 5
Tomaree Public School
Taronga Zoo is part of the Australasian conservation breeding program for Asian Elephants, which are endangered in the wild. Elephants in Thailand are losing their forest homes. Because they are endangered Taronga is doing its very best to help save them and Luk Chai is the first step in a big journey. Besides establishing a self-sustaining breeding herd, Taronga is working to raise awareness and provide information about elephants and the threats and dangers to their future survival.
