GETTING TO KNOW ELEPHANTS AND THEIR HABITAT FROM AN EARLY AGE
Sunday, January 24, 2014, more than 100 students learned about elephants at Ragunan Wildlife Park, South Jakarta. The grade 4-5 students came from 10 schools and were accompanied by 20 teachers. The 10 schools came from several public elementary schools around Jakarta. The students were divided into 20 groups to be distributed to visit 10 posts around the Elephant enclosure within the Ragunan Wildlife Park area. These posts are guarded by volunteers who have been coordinated and given knowledge about elephants, these volunteers come from IPB, UNAS, and Mercu Buana, with a total of 20 volunteers including the Panda Mobile team.
In these groups, students learned various things about elephants such as the differences between elephants in cages and those in the forest, learning about elephant behavior and some of the causes of elephant deaths in the wild. In addition to learning these things, students were also given the experience of practicing creativity by making elephant masks from used items and participating in several educational games about elephants. At the end of the activity of visiting 10 posts, these children are required to present the results of what they have learned during the day, then the 3 best presentations will be rewarded with souvenirs.
This activity is expected to be sustainable, because the introduction of elephants and their habitats must start early. Yesterday's participants will be the front guard of determining how the balance of the environment and ecosystems in Indonesia will always be preserved.