In January, Keystone’s Biodiversity team in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve conducted nature education programmes for 210 students from classes 4 to 10, from seven schools in Arepalayam, Hasanur, Old Hasanur, Geddesal, Badripadugai, Nagalur, and Kanankundur villages
The session is focused on raising awareness about the Indian pangolin and grey slender loris. Without revealing the names of the species, we started the class with a short quiz where four riddles are given for each species (example for pangolin – “this animal has scales on its body but does not lay eggs”) and the students attempted to guess the animals and draw them on a post-it paper. These anonymous notes are then stuck on the board. Following this activity, the answers are revealed and we talk about the distribution, ecology, threats, and conservation of pangolins and lorises with the help of videos and presentations. Students are encouraged to add information and share with classmates. The session ends with an exciting nature-based art activity where groups of children collect any material found in their surroundings to draw a pangolin or loris on the ground.
While during the first activity, we noticed that most kids did not recognize the two animals, towards the end, all of them are very attached to them, speaking fondly of them and incorporating ecological details while drawing them (ex. drawing mud burrows next to the pangolin). Everyone was incredibly creative and it was such a fun experience talking about the lesser-known animals of their own forests!
