Kids Voices: [in unison] Go outside and play!

Abby: My friends and I are at the Blank Park Zoo today to learn about some animals who live and breathe and eat and hunt in the water. Are you guys ready to do this?

Kids: [in unison] Yeah!

Abby: This is my friend Ann from the Blank Park Zoo, and she's going to tell us about some of the animals that live in water. Now I normally think automatically of these beautiful fish behind us, but there are so many more.

Ann: You're right. Lots of people think of fish, but water is the perfect habitat for lots of different kinds of animals. Her name is Fiona. So, she's a Rouen Duck. She likes to go in the water.

Abby: Why does the duck have webbed feet?

So, it helps them swim. Their feet have that skin in-between so they can push the water.

Ann: His name is Bog because he likes to live in swamps and bogs, and he's got some really cool adaptations to live in the water. So, alligators have one eyelid that they can close to keep dirt and sand out. Then they have another eyelid that covers their eye that's clear. So, it's just like wearing goggles.

Abby: How big can he get?

Ann: So, he can grow about 12 feet long which is about the same size as three kids together. These are the California sea lions. So, these are mammals, just like us. So, they have lungs. So that's why they have to surface to breathe.

How do penguins swim? 

Ann: That's a great question. So, if you look at them in the water, they have wings, and they can fly just like other birds, but instead of flying in the air, they fly in the water. So, they use their wings to move themselves, and then they tuck their feet up and they use their feet to steer.