GeoKid goes to the zoo with her cousins

Mom’s note: A family trip to the zoo inspired these GeoKids reflections on animal classifications and families. As a parent scientist, my proudest moment was when GeoKid excitedly told her cousin, “That’s an orangutan. It’s our cousin.”

On July 25th, I went to the Colchester zoo.

I really like red pandas because I like that they are red and it was awesome to see them at the zoo. In this picture you will see them sleeping at the zoo. First, scientists put red pandas in the bear family, and then they were put in the racoon family. Then, were put in their own family. The red pandas were originally discovered before the giant pandas. Red pandas eat bamboo like the giant panda. The red pandas can have one to four babies.

Komodo dragons aren’t really dragons. In this picture, when I’m at the zoo, I’m next to the statue of the Komodo dragon, which was made to show how big they can get. Komodo dragons lay 15-30 eggs. When we looked at them, the one Komodo dragon was staring at us. It was sitting on the window sill. I think it was sitting there to examine us. Komodo dragons are the biggest type of lizard.

GeoKid with Komodo for scale.

Red pandas are mammals and Komodo dragons are lizards. At the zoo!