24 December 2008
Girl Scouts Spark Zoo for the Blind
Posted by admin under: Community Partners .
Jenny Upchurch says that the blind have a new way to experience what elephants and giraffes look like, life-sized, thanks to a couple of Girl Scouts.
Replicas of a giraffe neck and an elephant skull cast from real-life bones, along with explanatory signs that include Braille, have been installed at those animals’ exhibits. They are the first in what the zoo is calling its Tactile Zoo.
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The idea sprang from two Nashville Girl Scouts working on their Gold Awards. Lizzie Waldo and Sara Jane Johnston approached the zoo about developing something for visitors with impaired vision. They had researched the idea, even visiting a sense trail at the St. Louis Botanical Garden, Waldo said.
Once the Scouts and Kalmore began talking, the idea evolved into the life-size pieces. Other zoos have used small models of animals for visitors to touch, but Nashville’s life-size replicas are a first, Kalmore said.
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“How do you explain the tallness of a giraffe or the skull of an elephant? It’s all about touch,” she said.
That’s what I call dreaming big.
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