Pupils Learn About Edible Rainforest Environments

After half term Elm and Willow classes will be learning all about the rainforest, so in preparation for this they took a trip to The Living Rainforest in Hampstead Norreys last Friday (8th May).

As part of their visit they were given a special tour focussing on the Edible Forest. This tour introduced our students to the wide variety of foods that come from rainforest environments. They learned about the requirements of living things for growth and survival, how plants make their food and about the diets of the animals that call The Living Rainforest home.

Our pupils discovered about how herbivores, omnivores and carnivores obtain their food and about the different levels within a food chain. They also found out about some of the foods that we eat that originate in the rainforest, including foods they might find on the supermarket shelves in the UK and the diet of indigenous people.

One of the most interesting things we all discovered is what a gummivore is! Some of the cutest residents at The Living Rainforest are the Pygmy marmosets, which are the smallest monkeys in the world. Their diet consists primarily of the gums and saps of trees (about 90%) and insects for protein - making them prime examples of gummivores!

The trip ended with a visit to the outdoor playpark, which everyone made the most of in the sunshine.