Art for Gorillas

Category: Art of Conservation (AoC) | Date: Sep 22 2009 | By: Julie

During our first 2 years of conservation education classes, the AoC team would frequently hear students ask, “Where do gorillas come from?” The first time I heard the question was when a park service employee was visiting the class and sharing information about the forest, mountain gorillas, and his job duties. He was hesitant to give an answer or explanation. I thought, wow, what a shame people who work so closely with the endangered mountain gorillas do not feel comfortable discussing the evolution theories behind one of our closest relatives. This got the AoC team really thinking about how we could use this as a topic for a lesson. Thus began our own research on how, why, and when our great ape ancestor started evolving. Where did we start—with the formation of Planet Earth 4.5 billion years ago!

Julie asks the students questions. “When was Earth formed?” “Was the planet as we see it today?” “Are you the same as you were one year ago today or have you changed?” Photo by Molly Feltner.

We step outside to the schoolyard to begin our walk through time. First stop, the formation of Earth. Students hold props, such as papier mache dinosaurs and great ape masks, until the time is right to introduce them onto the scene of life. Photo by Molly Feltner.

Our safari has brought us up to 144 million years ago when the Earth is blooming with flowers and plant-eating dinosaurs like the stegosaurus are dominating the landscape. Photo by Molly Feltner.

Well into our story and getting closer to the appearance of the great apes, we learn that the present day location of the continents has not always been as it is.

I can safely say that universally all kids love dinosaurs! Our students had not heard of them before a few weeks ago when we were discussing the meaning of threatened, endangered, and extinct species. AoC volunteer Molly Feltner made this beauty of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Kids are crazy about it. Photo by Molly Feltner.

We have to travel a long evolutionary journey before we finally come upon the 5 great apes. It is easy to describe the obvious differences between monkeys and apes with the kids. They see golden monkeys nearby with their long, beautiful tails walking on all fours as well as occasionally seeing the mountain gorillas when they come out of the park to eat eucalyptus bark, without a tail and occasionally running on their two feet. Photo by Molly Feltner.

Using gorilla masks to help with our lesson, we stop a moment to talk about gorilla classification. Mountain Gorillas (Gorilla beringer beringer) are a sub-species of Eastern Gorillas (Gorilla beringer). Photo by Molly Feltner.

After gorillas we meet chimpanzees, bonobos, and finally the youngest of the hominids species, you and me, Homo sapiens. Photo by Molly Feltner.

More soon on evolution and “Where Do Gorillas Come From?”

Tags: children, education, endangered species, evolution, mountain gorillas