P2 enjoyed a wonderful afternoon with Scottish zoologist Donald from Wildside Nature learning about the amazing animals native to Scotland.

He set up some stations with skulls, bones, and other items, and we tried to identify which animal they came from. We looked at a beaver pelt and saw its flat tail at the end. We learned that beavers smack these in the water to warn other beavers. We saw the remnant of an orange iron-filled tooth that the beaver uses to strip away the bark from branches. Donald told us that beavers were hunted for their fur to make beaver hats and for the chemical castoreum, which is used in perfumes and can also be found in vanilla ice cream. We learned this chemical is secreted from castor sacs near their bottoms!

Donald has had some memorable encounters with animals not just from Scotland but from all over the world, and we enjoyed listening to his stories and learning lots of fascinating animal facts along the way.