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We visited
the Pequest Trout Hatchery and Natural Resource Education
Center. Our purpose was to learn about owl pellets and how to
dissect them. The person teaching us was Mr. Warren Marchioni.
When we arrived at the entrance, we saw a raceway
filled with trout swimming all around. They called it a raceway
because it was a long, narrow, pool of water where the fish
would swim up and down like they were racing. There was
food there so that we could feed the fish. This is a trout
hatchery, where they raise trout and then, when they are old
enough, put them into rivers in New Jersey. That was fun!
When we stepped inside we saw an exhibit hall with a
special display of endangered species found in New Jersey. They
had animals that were stuffed. They call these wildlife
mounts. |
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During the presentation, Mr. Marchioni shared a slide
show with many different owls in it. He talked about the
digestive system of the owls which led us into the owl pellet
demonstration. All the people at the owl pellet session were
given one owl pellet to dissect.
We found different bones of the animals that the owls
had eaten, along with a lot of fur. Imagine what could be in a
larger pellet! We dissected the owl pellets and cleaned the
bones with water and bleach. We dissected the owl pellets for
about an hour and tried to figure out what the owl had eaten.
Who would have known that one owl pellet could hold so much and
tell so much information about an owl? It was amazing!
Check out our Owl Pellet page by
clicking here.
We left the owl pellet presentation room and made our
way to look at all of the exhibits. The displays were either
animals or bugs. It was interesting to see the displays, but I
liked the fish one the best. There was also a really cool game
that showed different natural resources. You would guess if
they were renewable or nonrenewable. Then you would push the
little tab up that showed the answers. I liked that a lot
because I didn’t know a lot of them were nonrenewable.
That part was fun but I wanted to learn a little more
about fish. So we traveled to the actual hatchery to see them.
We saw tanks in a special order with fish in them. They were
arranged by the ages of the fish. The babies would go in one
tank and the adults in another. It was really cool to see how
these fish were raised.
It was definitely one of the most fun trips we took. I
learned a lot and dissecting the owl pellets was a great
experience!
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