George and the conch
Up close and personal - George meets a conch!
Helen Truszkowski
There's a fantastic legend surrounding the Boca Raton Resort in Palm Beach County Florida. So the story goes Addison Mizner - eccentric architect, animal lover and the Boca Resort's founder - possessed one of history's sweetest tooths. Many a late night, garbed in silk pyjamas with his monkey in tow and a toucan on his shoulder, he'd roust the hotel chef from slumber to prepare his favourite midnight snack - a chocolate, orange and coconut macaroon. The 'Bocaroon' was considered by Mizner to be the perfect delicacy to share with his confidantes… coconut for the toucan, orange for the monkey and a touch of chocolate for himself.
Some 60 years later an exciting initiative - the Florida Flora and Fauna Inc. - are bringing their own live animals to the children's club here, though these days with considerably less ego on show, they come to offer kids an in-ya'-face insight into the marine creatures that inhabit Florida's waters. George and I were lucky enough to catch one of John and Marti's performances.
Reeling in the kids from the second they started talking, the instructors' approach was spot on. Embracing some advanced concepts in a direct, no-nonsense way even the youngest could get a grip on John touched on habitats, food chains, the life cycles of organisms and endangered species.
Highlight of the hour came when the children were invited to come up and actually stroke the creatures. A spiny-come-slimy collection of vertebrates and invertebrates - amongst them a horseshoe crab, sea star, hermit crab, conch, anemone and puffer fish - had the children enraptured. The ensuing gasps of 'uggh' and 'aaarrrrgh' would have made Roald Dahl proud.
To top it all the kids became live bait as they were gently introduced to the concept of ecosystems and their relation to one another. Exploring a giant, hand-sewn floor map of South Florida on their hands and knees, their little arms linked up and formed a living food chain. Now that's one my Biology teacher never thought of.
Florida Flora and Fauna Inc. was founded early this year by the dynamic husband and wife team who have over thirty years of experience in environmental education. With first-hand knowledge gained as a marine education specialist at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Marti is also a doctoral student in Education and an instructor for the National Audubon Society (who organise summer camp nature encounters and wilderness ecology workshops under the guidance of experts) John, meanwhile, has an extensive background in museum education through his work for the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation in Virginia and the Historical Museum of South Florida.
Former owners of Manatee Tours, an early eco-tourism company that operated in the Everglades National Park, the pair continue to share their passion for environmental education through their ingenious outreach programmes.
For more information contact
Florida Flora & Fauna Inc.
1630 SE 5th Court
Deerfield Beach
Florida 33441
Telephone USA (954) 557 4926
flfauna@earthlink.net
Club Boca
Boca Raton Resort & Club
501 East Camino Real
Florida 33431
Telephone USA (561) 447 3000
Gumbo Limbo Environmental Complex
1801 N. Ocean Boulevard
Boca Raton
Telephone USA (561) 338 1473
Helen Truszkowski
There's a fantastic legend surrounding the Boca Raton Resort in Palm Beach County Florida. So the story goes Addison Mizner - eccentric architect, animal lover and the Boca Resort's founder - possessed one of history's sweetest tooths. Many a late night, garbed in silk pyjamas with his monkey in tow and a toucan on his shoulder, he'd roust the hotel chef from slumber to prepare his favourite midnight snack - a chocolate, orange and coconut macaroon. The 'Bocaroon' was considered by Mizner to be the perfect delicacy to share with his confidantes… coconut for the toucan, orange for the monkey and a touch of chocolate for himself.
Some 60 years later an exciting initiative - the Florida Flora and Fauna Inc. - are bringing their own live animals to the children's club here, though these days with considerably less ego on show, they come to offer kids an in-ya'-face insight into the marine creatures that inhabit Florida's waters. George and I were lucky enough to catch one of John and Marti's performances.
Reeling in the kids from the second they started talking, the instructors' approach was spot on. Embracing some advanced concepts in a direct, no-nonsense way even the youngest could get a grip on John touched on habitats, food chains, the life cycles of organisms and endangered species.
Highlight of the hour came when the children were invited to come up and actually stroke the creatures. A spiny-come-slimy collection of vertebrates and invertebrates - amongst them a horseshoe crab, sea star, hermit crab, conch, anemone and puffer fish - had the children enraptured. The ensuing gasps of 'uggh' and 'aaarrrrgh' would have made Roald Dahl proud.To top it all the kids became live bait as they were gently introduced to the concept of ecosystems and their relation to one another. Exploring a giant, hand-sewn floor map of South Florida on their hands and knees, their little arms linked up and formed a living food chain. Now that's one my Biology teacher never thought of.
Florida Flora and Fauna Inc. was founded early this year by the dynamic husband and wife team who have over thirty years of experience in environmental education. With first-hand knowledge gained as a marine education specialist at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Marti is also a doctoral student in Education and an instructor for the National Audubon Society (who organise summer camp nature encounters and wilderness ecology workshops under the guidance of experts) John, meanwhile, has an extensive background in museum education through his work for the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation in Virginia and the Historical Museum of South Florida.
Former owners of Manatee Tours, an early eco-tourism company that operated in the Everglades National Park, the pair continue to share their passion for environmental education through their ingenious outreach programmes.
For more information contact
Florida Flora & Fauna Inc.
1630 SE 5th Court
Deerfield Beach
Florida 33441
Telephone USA (954) 557 4926
flfauna@earthlink.net
Club Boca
Boca Raton Resort & Club
501 East Camino Real
Florida 33431
Telephone USA (561) 447 3000
Gumbo Limbo Environmental Complex
1801 N. Ocean Boulevard
Boca Raton
Telephone USA (561) 338 1473