Glacier and Hurricane Deer-light the Children at Badgemore School

Glacier and Hurricane, the reindeers from Riverways Farm delighted the children at Badgemore School on Friday.

The visit was paid for by a donation to the Friends of Badgemore School (PTA).  The children learnt about the reindeers antlers, hearing, vision and smell, their lifespan, how they breed, their native habitat, how they survive in the wild, what they eat and how they adapted with evolution.

Each class got to meet the animals and the talk was tailored to the age group.

Interesting facts about reindeer antlers – unlike horns, antlers fall off and grow back larger each year. Male reindeer begin to grow antlers in February and female reindeer in May. Both sexes finish growing their antlers at the same time but shed them at different times of the year. Males drop their antlers in November, leaving them without antlers until the following spring, while females keep their antlers through the winter until their calves are born in May.

Harriet Jamieson, Co Chair of FOBS said, “It so nice to do stuff like this, this year.  We tried so hard to do stuff last year.  This is not a fundraiser, just an experience for the children.  I don’t think the children very often get this opportunity.  We had a really lovely donation who just said they wanted it to be used for something fun and educational.  We will be writing to them to tell them about what we did with this amazing donation.  We could have just had them at the Christmas fair for just petting or photo opportunities but when we spoke to Riverways they talked about the educational visits and how many things they covered and we thought it was an amazing opportunity for them to learn that they don’t just pull Father Christmas’ sleigh or are on Christmas cards, they are actually are real life animals.”