The news of the death of a dolphin on a Mauritius beach in August has shocked an international audience. These intelligent marine mammals can be threatened by human actions such as pollution in the ocean and exploitation of dolphins for entertainment. This prompted WWF-Indonesia's Panda Mobile team to invite elementary school students to learn about dolphins in a virtual class themed "Dolphin The Explorer". The enthusiasm of the participants who came from various regions made the facilitators even more excited to tell the story of this cute mammal, even though it was done online because of the pandemic.

Before discussing dolphins, the Panda Mobile team conveyed the rules that must be implemented together through Zoom during the virtual class. Not to forget, a brief history of WWF-Indonesia was delivered to introduce where we are based. WWF, founded on September 1, 1961 and based in Gland, Switzerland, focuses on environmental issues and animal and plant diversity on Earth. We also shared a bit of the origin of the panda named Chichi at the London Zoo, which became the inspiration why WWF chose the panda as the organization's logo.

"Hello kids! I'm Zenifer. Before we go on an adventure to find dolphins, we will first make a paper boat using scrap paper that you have prepared. Let's make it together!" said Zenifer, a Panda Mobile volunteer who was assigned as one of the facilitators in "Dolphin The Explorer". Before starting the virtual class, participants were asked to prepare used paper to make a boat that would be used to go on an adventure to find dolphins. Guided by Kak Zenifer, the participants together made a paper boat step by step. The participants looked excited until finally the boat was finished and ready to sail.

Voila! The boat was finished. All participants were ready with their boats. The activity continued with an animal sound guessing game guided by Kak Salma. There are four animal sounds that are played alternately. Participants of virtual class were asked to guess which one was the sound of a dolphin by giving the answer in the chat column. In this session, the enthusiasm of the participants was very high as shown by their enthusiasm in giving answers and guessing each animal sound on their own initiative.

Fun Sharing Interesting Facts about Dolphins

Next, virtual class participants were invited to recognize how dolphins breed, what they eat, what role dolphins play in the marine ecosystem, and interesting facts about dolphins. The participants were introduced to the interesting ability of this intelligent marine mammal, namely echolocation. This echolocation ability is used by dolphins when looking for prey. In addition, the role of dolphins is also quite important in maintaining the balance of the ecosystem in the sea. Dolphins are one of the apex predators so they play a role in controlling fish and squid populations. Another important role of dolphins is how they maintain their habitat, such as bottlenose dolphins that are able to absorb pollutants, so researchers use them to see pollution due to pollutants in the sea.

In this virtual class, Kak Salma also discussed interesting facts related to intelligence to life span or dolphin life span. To test the material presented by the facilitator, participants were given three facts, one of which was false. Just like before, they were asked to answer their choice in the comment section. Participants were also invited to participate in trivia games, where Kak Salma gave a number of questions and participants were only allowed to answer one word for each question. Again, the participants were very enthusiastic in answering the questions given. How fun!

After the trivia game, Kak Zenifer explained how dolphins live in the world of entertainment attractions. Dolphins are often seen as interesting animals to watch, but there are various sad facts behind it. Kak Helena also said that the lives of dolphins are threatened by garbage in the ocean. Therefore, the Panda Mobile team invited the participants to start protecting the existence of dolphins starting from small things, such as not littering and inviting the closest relatives to support dolphins so that they live in their habitat. A short video was played to give an overview of dolphins in entertainment attractions.

An hour passed, it was time for a question and answer session in the virtual class. The facilitator answered questions from the participants and gave some information about volunteering with WWF-Indonesia's Panda Mobile. At the end of the event, the Panda Mobile team expressed their gratitude for the enthusiasm of the participants in participating in this virtual class. Hopefully our awareness in protecting the lives of animals in nature, especially dolphins, will continue to be awakened. Through this edition of Panda Mobile Virtual Class "Dolphin The Explorer", the participants also supported the nature conservation program by making voluntary donations with a nominal amount of Rp549,000.00. The donation will be handed over to the I AM Flying Vet team that is tasked with rescuing marine mammals stranded on the beach, including dolphins.

This smart marine mammal edition virtual class activity can run smoothly due to the role and participation of participants from various regions. WWF-Indonesia's Panda Mobile will continue to organize similar activities with various other interesting themes, in order to spread conservation messages to a wider public. For schools that are interested in virtual class activities, they can invite WWF-Indonesia Mobile Panda to hold activities with similar themes or other interesting themes to pandamobile@wwf.id. See you in the next Panda Mobile Virtual Class!