Yesterday, on March 13, we held the 1st open-door day for schoolchildren in the village Krasno. It is a small school with 25 children in the village that is surrounded by mountain Velebit, an important lynx habitat.
We presented the facts about lynx biology and why the lynx is endangered in Croatia. The local nature park ranger, with whom we are cooperating, presented what we do with camera traps and we showed them photos and films of different species.
Afterwards, we divided them into small groups, depending on their age, and they got different tasks. The smallest ones (preschool age) were colouring the lynx while discussing lynx appearance. Older ones got a photo-identification game – they had to match the photos of the same animal.
In the end, we showed them photos from camera traps of two lynxes living near their village, a female and a male, and they had to think of the names that we would give to these individuals. They successfully voted for two names and “adopted” the lynxes.
The workshop was very interactive and the children were very curious and cooperative.