F3.5 Au zoo v22 2023

5. Au zoo At the zoo

This section builds on children’s previous work on measuring and numbers, pet animals, mini-beasts and descriptions. It centres on a French school’s class visit to Lille Zoo, where the children name the animals they see, and find out:

n what class they belong to

n which continent they come from

n what habitat they live in when wild

n what they eat

- with links to science and geography.

You could plan your own visit to a local zoo; if you are working with a twin school, you could exchange information about your zoo visits, or even arrange one as a joint activity during an exchange.

While working through this section, you could create a multimedia presentation, a video or a display in French about your chosen set of animals - and show it to an audience of parents or other classes.

Films to see

Part A: Visit to the zoo

A1. The animals- key facts

A2. Classifying the animals

A3. Joke 1

Part B: Continents and habitats

B1. Where do they live?

B2. Joke 2

Part C: Describing animals

C1. Diet

C2. Animal body-parts

C3. Describe your favourite animal Find transcripts online

Part A: Visit to the zoo

Planning your lessons

Use the films to introduce the class to the names of some zoo animals.

They will look at various facts about each animal, starting with measurements of weight and size; and classify them (as mammals, reptiles or birds). You can research more data to make your own “Top Trumps” game, then have fun playing it!

Activities

Warm up

Talk with the class in your own language about what animals you woould expect to see in a zoo. Mention the 3 animals they will see in film A1; ask children to guess how heavy and how long and high each is. Talk about what measurements French people use.

Show them the animals’ French names, and ask them to guess how they are pronounced.

Film A1: Teacher asks,“Combien pèse le rhinocéros blanc?”

Watch film A1: the animals- key facts

❑ Film A1 shows children at the Zoo de Lille on their school outing. They see three animals (rhino, zebra, red panda).

As the teacher asks children questions, they study the Zoo’s information panels for key measurements: height, length and weight. They will discuss their findings back in class.

A1: NEW WORDS AND PHRASES

A1: Three zoo animals

le rhinocéros

le zèbre

le panda roux le mâle

la femelle

- rhinoceros

- zebra

- red panda

- male

- female

A1: Measuring size and weight

la taille le poids

les mensurations

- size - weight - measurements

combien pèse... (le rhinocéros)?

how much does (the rhinoceros) weigh?

il pèse... (3 tonnes)

it weighs... (3 tonnes)

combien est-ce qu’il mesure en hauteur?

How tall is it?

il mesure... (2 mètres) ...en hauteur

it’s... (2 metres) ...high

combien est-ce qu’il mesure en longueur?

how long is it?

il mesure... (4 mètres) ...en longueur

it’s... (4 metres) ...long

Get used to the sounds

❑ Echoing: Show animals from film A1 on the e-flashcards ‘Zoo animals’

Ask children to guess what you’d say for more than one animal (e.g.“les pandas roux”), then click to show plurals and confirm.

Respond with understanding

1. Naming animals

❑ Give each pupil one of the pictures from the activity sheet. You call out an animal, e.g. “le zébre”; all the pupils with that card hold it up for everyone to see.

After film A1, more animals are shown and named in each subsequent section, so you can repeat this activity later.

KEY SOUNDS

Listen and enjoy copying these typical sounds: where have you heard them before?

as in... longueur, combien, mensuration heard before in jambon

as in... panda, en, mensuration heard before in jambe, fatigant

as in... hauteur heard before in épaule, chaud

as in... rhinocéros heard before in nez, mangé [as in the English: may without the final y]

as in... rhinocéros heard before in diabolo, piscine

as in... poids

heard before in bois, poisson [as in the English: wet]

Click to change from singular

to plural

Show each picture, initially with sound ON and text OFF.

Pupils echo the words, e.g. “le panda roux” Repeat several times.

as in... taille heard before in oeil, oreille

as in... hauteur, poids, bras seen before in pois, fais

(Listen to the native speakers - try to copy their typically French sounds.)

❑ Play “ the miming game” 1

Call out an animal and ask pupils to mime its features or movement; e.g."le rhinocéros" (pupils mime a lumbering creature with a horn). You can then play a class game of “charades”: children do a mime to the rest of the class, and ask, “Qu’est-ce que c’est?”. This becomes more interesting as you introduce more animals.

❑ Play “true or false?” 1

Show the e-flashcards with sound and text off. Alternatively, use the activity sheet pictures. You say, e.g “le zèbre”.

Children respond, “Oui” if it is the picture of a zebra. If it isn’t, pupils say “Non”.

❑ Play “true or false?” 2

Show the pictures again, but this time pupils only echo your phrase when it matchesotherwise they remain silent.

Respond with understanding

2. Measuring animals

❑ You may want the class to watch the last part of film A1 again; it presents key facts about three animals.

A1 EXTRA WORDS

A1:Teacher questions: measurements

Quels sont les mensurations... (du rhinocéros blanc)?

What are the measurements of... (the white rhinoceros)?

A1: Units of measurement

un kilo(gramme) un gramme un centimètre

- kilo(gram) - gram - centimetre

le panda roux pèse 6 kilos the red panda weighs 6 kilos

il mesure 28 centimètres en hauteur it measures 28 cm in height

une virgule - comma

il mesure 1, [virgule] 70 en hauteur it is 1 comma 70 high, i.e. 1.70m

in turn, e.g. “le zèbre pèse .....”, “il mesure...en hauteur”. Repeat several times.

Some children may be helped by going though relevant metric units, e.g.

‘how many grams in a kilogram?’

‘how many kilos in a tonne?’

‘is a centimetre bigger than a metre?’, etc. Confirm the French pronunciation of each unit of measurement.

Film A1: “Le rhinocéros pèse 3 tonnes...”

Get used to measurement sounds

❑ Echoing: Show the e-flashcards ‘key facts’

France and other Continental countries WRITE a comma (“virgule”) instead of the English decimal point, e.g.

“1,70 m” - (1.70 m)

The children at the Zoo read out literally just what they see, but usually they do NOT SAY “virgule” - just, e.g.

“un mètre soixante dix”.

After thousands, they leave a space instead of writing a comma: “ 2 350 m” - (2,350 m)

You can select to show weight, height or length, so children can echo the phrase for each attribute

A2: Classifying animals

Planning your lessons

Use the films to introduce the class to working in French to classify zoo animals. They will return to this in Part C.

Activities

Warm up

Talk with the class in your own language about classifying animals; what do they know already?

Watch film A2: Classifying the animals

❑ Film A2 classifies the animals into groups: mammals, reptiles and birds. It introduces eight more animals the French children see on their Zoo visit (mainly reptiles and birds). In class afterwards, they discuss classification with their teacher, M. Charles.

Film A2: “Le zèbre est un mammifère ou un reptile?”

Get used to the sounds - animals

❑ Echoing: To work with the additional animal names, show both ‘A2’ and ‘A1 zoo animals’ on the e-flashcards, (or use the activity sheet pictures) - initially with sound on and text off. Pupils echo the name of each animal, e.g. “le singe”, “la tortue géante”...

A2: Classes of animal un mammifère un reptile un oiseau

- a mammal - a reptile - a bird

A2: Zoo animals

A2: NEW WORDS - monkey le singe

l’iguane (m) le serpent la tortue géante

les mammifères les reptiles les oiseaux

la chouette le perroquet le pélican le kookaburra

- iguana - snake - giant tortoise

- owl - parrot - pelican - kookaburra

A2: Classifying animals (un zèbre) ... est ... (un mammifère) (a zebra) ... is ... (a mammal)

A quelle classe appartient cet animal? What class does this animal belong to?

Est-ce que c’est un reptile, un mammifère ou un oiseau?

Is it a reptile, a mammal or a bird?

C’est un mammifère. It’s a mammal

❑ Echoing: Ask children to guess what you would say for more than one animal (e.g.“les singes”), then click to show plurals and confirm.

❑ More activities: Repeat activities with animal names from A1.

Get used to the sounds - classes

Show the e-flashcards ‘Animal classes’. Pupils echo the names of each class mentioned, e.g. “les mammifères”. Pupils then echo the phrases, e.g. “Un zébre est un mammifère”.

❑ Prepare “Top Trumps” cards

Respond with understanding

❑ Play “which class?”

Click on the ‘tick’ symbol to show the e-flashcards jumbled, with sound and text OFF, Ask children to name the animal AND say what class it belongs to, making a sentence in French.

❑ Play “which class?” 2

Give out copies of the activity sheets to children working in pairs. Ask each pair to classify their cards into three groups.

❑ Play “Run to your class”

Give each child one picture from the activity sheets. You call out the name of a class, e.g. “les mammifères”. All the children holding the card of a mammal run to you - the rest stay in their places. Any child who moves incorrectly is “out”.

Research project: animal facts

Discuss with the class what animal attributes they would like to research, and for which animals.

You could add extra animals to those in the flashcards, e.g. ones you are studying already, or that you have seen on your own zoo visit.

You will need to research data for typical height, length and weight for each animal. You may want to add other categories or attributes of your own - anything quantifiable will work, e.g. longevity, number of offspring, number of legs, maximum speed...

Make copies of the activity sheets. Give each child an animal to research from your agreed list. Make sure they know which attributes to find out about - as well as weight, height and length. In this example, they decided to include ‘speed’, “vitesse”. In a class discussion, the pupils can report back and check the data collected - see “extra words”, e.g. “Quel animal est le plus lourd?”. This will also practice the language needed to play “Top Trumps”. Each child then creates a “Top Trumps” card by entering the relevant key facts for their particular animal. Collect the completed cards; the game will be played in groups of 2 or 4, so make enough copies to ensure that there is one complete set per group.

❑ Play “Top Trumps” card game

Children play in groups of 2 or 4. One child (selected by the teacher) shuffles and deals out all the zoo animal cards face down, so each child has an equal number. Place any leftover cards to one side. Each child holds their cards in a pile so only they can see what’s on their top card.

The first player (to the left of the dealer) selects their “best” category from their top card, e.g. “Poids - un rhinocéros pèse 3 tonnes”. Each other player in the group reads out the SAME statistic. Whoever has the best or highest wins, and places all the top cards to the bottom of their pile.

They then choose the category for the next round.

In any round, if there is a tie, or no data is available, then all the cards are placed to one side, and the same player chooses again from their next card. The winner of that round also takes all the cards that were placed to one side.

If a player loses all their cards, they leave the game. The winner is the player who collects all the cards.

You can use these “extra words” while playing “Top Trumps”.

A2: EXTRA WORDS

Playing ‘Top Trumps’

Quel animal est...

...le plus lourd?

...le plus grand?

...le plus petit?

...le plus léger?

...le plus long?

...le plus court?

- Which animal is...

- ...the heaviest?

...the biggest/tallest?

- ...the smallest?

- ...the lightest?

- ...the longest?

- ...the shortest?

Part A extra: Joke 1

CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

❑ Literacy: Use the jokes as a starting point for discussion in English about jokes and what makes them funny. Look at examples of English jokes. Pupils can collect simple jokes in English that they think pupils in their French partner school should understand. If you are holding a video conference, pupils can tell each other jokes in their native tongue.

Watch film A3: animal joke 1

❑ Watch film A3 in which joke 1 is told, first by a French child, then repeated with a cartoon.

❑ Literacy:

Help pupils work out the meaning of the French jokes. Joke 1 is a play on words: “Quelle heure reptile?” sounds like “Quelle heure est-il?”

JOKE 1

Que dit un serpent à un autre serpent ? (What did one snake say to another snake?) Quelle heure reptile? = Quelle heure est-il? (What time is it?)

Joke: “Quelle heure reptile?”

Part B: Continents and habitats

Planning your lessons

Part B looks at the French children’s investigation of where the zoo animals they see come from in the wild; which continents and what sort of habitat. Not all continents are referred to in film B1, but the e-flashcards give a full list.

Film B1 ends with the French children’s discussion back in the classroom.

B1: NEW WORDS AND PHRASES

More animals

la panthère de neige - snow leopard

Continents

Asie

Afrique

Amérique du Nord

Amérique du Sud

Australie

Europe

l’Antarctique

Amérique Centrale

- Asia

- Africa

- North America

- South America

- Australia

- Europe

- Antarctica

- Central America

où vit la panthère de neige? where does the snow leopard live? (dans quelle continent?) elle vit en Asie (in which continent?) it lives in Asia

Types of habitat in film B1

la montagne

la savane

la forêt tropicale

- mountain

- savannah

- tropical forest

(quel est son habitat?) la montagne (what is its habitat?) the mountain

EXTRA: other habitats

la jungle

la prairie

le désert

le toundra

le fleuve

l’océan

le lac

- jungle

- prairie

- desert

- tundra

- river

- ocean

- lake

KEY SOUNDS

Listen and enjoy copying these typical sounds: where have you heard them before?

as in... désert, Amérique, pélican, perroquet

heard before in nez, mangé

as in... vit, Asie, Afrique, tropicale, Amérique, heard before in diabolo, reptile

as in... montagne

heard before in campagne, Boulogne

as in... jungle, singe, neige

heard before in jambe, genou

as in... Europe

heard before in bleu, cheveux, yeux

(Listen to the native speakers - try to copy their typically French sounds.)

Activities

Warm up

Display the names of some of the continents both in English and French. Ask children to anticipate how the French names will be pronounced.

Watch film B1:Where do they live?

Film B1 introduces the last new animal, the snow leopard, and shows the continents and habitats where the zoo animals live in the wild. NOTE that for where animals live, French people usually say “il vit...” rather than “il habite...”.

Get used to the sounds

❑ Echoing: Show the e-flashcards ‘habitats and continents’. Show the hatitats with sound and text ON. Pupils echo the names, paying attention to pronunciation (see “key sounds”).

Repeat with sound OFF to explore reading the words aloud. Then show the maps of the continents and do the same Some are not seen in film B1

❑ Play “Where do you live?”1

Arrange copies of the animal and habitat picture cards from the “activity sheets” on a table together with a big world map.

You could discuss what sort of animals might live in each habitat. When children are familiar with both sets of words, progress to the separate ‘Where does it live?”e-flashcards:

Invite two groups of pupils to stand by the table. You call out a sentence, e.g. “Le rhinocéros blanc vit en Afrique”. Group 1 points to the continent on the map. Group 2 chooses an animal card. The first pair show their choices to the class to make the sentence. The rest of the class “read” out the sentence. Continue with other sentences.

❑ Play “human sentence”2

Invite 3 groups of pupils to stand by the table. You call out a sentence, e.g.

This sets a pattern for how to say where an animal lives, i.e. which continent and which habitat they prefer in the wild.

Respond with understanding

❑ Play “true or false?”

Show the ‘Where does it live?’ e-flashcards again with sound and text OFF. Make statements about where each animal lives e.g. “Le rhinocéros blanc vit en Afrique dans la savane”. If your statement is correct pupils say “oui”, if it is incorrect, they say “non”.

You can then ask them to say where the animal lives e.g.“Où vit le rhinocéros blanc?” “Il vit en Afrique dans la savane”.

“Le zèbre vit en Afrique dans la savane”. Group 1 choose an animal card. Group 2 point to a continent on the map. Group 3 choose a habitat card (children can draw other habitats). The first three pick their cards and stand together to make the sentence. The rest of the class “read” out the sentences. Continue with other sentences, including any animals that the children are familiar with.

CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Part B extra: Joke 2

❑ Literacy: Use the jokes as a starting point for discussion in English about jokes and what makes them funny. Look at examples of English jokes. Pupils can collect simple jokes in English that they think pupils in their French partner school should understand. If you are holding a video conference, pupils can tell each other jokes in their native tongue.

Watch film B2: animal joke 2

❑ Watch film B2 in which joke 2 is told with a cartoon.

❑ Literacy: Help pupils work out the meaning of the French jokes.

Joke: “Cite-moi 5 animaux qui vivent en Afrique”

JOKE 2

Un professeur demande à un élève: (a teacher asks a pupil:)

- Cite-moi cinq animaux qui vivent en Afrique. (Tell me 5 animals that live in Africa.)

- Facile monsieur: 4 rhinocéros et 1 zèbre! (Easy, sir: 4 rhinos and a zebra!)

Part C: Describing animals

Planning your lessons

Part C builds on your work in previous chapters. C1 talks about what animals eat, which brings in language children learnt in Ch.3.1, “Bonne santé” and before.

C2 introduces French terminology for animal body-parts, building on Ch.3.2, “Les parties du corps” and later chapters.

To round off this unit, C3 builds on how children described mini-beasts in Ch.3.4, and imaginary monsters and people in Ch.3.2 - using adjectives for size, numbers of particular body parts, colours. Describing animals gives more scope to develop this.

Activities

Warm up

Talk in French with the children and the class puppet about some of the foods pupils already know.

Watch film C1: animal diets

❑ Watch film C1 which looks at “who eats what” in the Zoo, using categories that may be familiar to children from your work in Science (“un carnivore”, etc.). Each diet is represented by an icon in the film and flashcards.

NEW WORDS AND PHRASES

C1: Animal diets

un granivore un herbivore un frugivore un carnivore un piscivore un omnivore qui mange quoi? who eats what?

- grain eater

- herbivore

- fruit eater

- carnivore

- fish eater

- omnivore

C1: Who eats what?

la tortue géante mange de l’herbe the giant tortoise eats grass ce perroquet mange des grains et des fruits this parrot eats grain(s) and fruit il est granivore et frugivore it is a grain- and fruit-eater la panthère de neige, qu’est-ce qu’elle mange? the snow leopard, what does it eat? est-ce qu’elle mange de la viande ou du poisson? does it eat meat or fish?

diet for each animal. You can also see an explanation of each icon.

Film C1: “Le panda roux est un frugivore et un herbivore”

More animals are introduced, including subspecies (e.g. Emperor Tamarin as a type of monkey) which are not meant to be part of the key vocabulary.

Get used to the sounds

❑ Echoing: Show the ‘Animal diets’ e-flashcards, which display icons representing the typical

Pupils echo the words, e.g. “Le rhinocéros blanc mange de l’herbe. Il est herbivore”. Pay attention to pronunciation of “key sounds”, and repeat until phrases are familiar.

Respond with understanding

❑ Show the same e-flashcards, with sound OFF, but text ON: children read out the sentence, then check pronunciation with the recording.

KEY SOUNDS

Listen and enjoy copying these typical sounds: where have you heard them before?

as in... piscivore, carnivore, heard before in diabolo, reptile

as in... frugivore heard before in genou, mange

as in... quoi, heard before in poids, oiseau [as in the English: wet]

as in... herbivore seen before in hauteur, poids

Now switch sound and text OFF; ask children to make a statement about that animal’s diet (it needn’t be identical to the text display), e.g. “Le rhinocéros blanc mange de l’herbe”

❑ Play “true or false?”

Show the flashcards again with sound and text OFF. You make a statement e.g. “la panthère de neige est carnivore”. Pupils say “oui” if this is correct and “non” if incorrect.

❑ Play “diet sorting game”

For this activity, children need space to move around the room. Give each child an animal card. Ask them to find out what their animal’s diet is, and then go around the room to find someone to pair up with who has the same diet, so they can go food hunting together. Note that some animals eat more than one type of food, so have a wider choice of partners.

Watch film C2: animal body parts

❑ Film C2 builds on Ch.3.2 “Les parties du corps“ and Ch.3.3, “Les petites bêtes“; it introduces some new words for animal body parts so children can describe zoo animals quite fully, using familar French structures.

Film C2: “Les oiseaux ont des plumes.”

You can use this film to re-look at classifying animals: it gives some key characteristics of mammals, reptiles and birds.

Get used to the sounds

❑ Echoing: Show the ‘Describing animals’ e-flashcards, Children echo the names of each animal body part.

You can then move on to look at the sentences which describe characteristics of reptiles, mammals and birds followed by individual animals:

Pupils echo, e.g. “La tortue géante a une carapace” Repeat this several times, paying attention to pronunciation of “key sounds”, until children are confident saying the descriptive phrases. NOTE: the shell of a snail is “une coquille” and the shell of a tortoise is “une carapace”. They are two different kinds of shell: “une coquille” envelops the soft body of a creature whereas “une carapace” is more like armour - a hardened skin that follows the contors of the animal.

(Listen to the native speakers - try to copy their typically French sounds.)

C2: NEW WORDS

C2: Animal Body Parts

la queue

les pattes (f)

le cou

la corne

la carapace

les moustaches (f)

le bec

les griffes (f)

les poils (m)

les plumes (f)

les écailles (f)

les ailes (f)

les serres (f)

- tail

- legs, feet or paws

- neck

- horn

- shell (of tortoise)

- whiskers

- beak

- animal claws

- hairs (i.e. fur)

- feathers

- scales

- wings

- bird of prey claws

C2: Identify & classify zoo animals

les oiseaux ont des plumes birds have feathers

le perroquet a des plumes the parrot has feathers

les reptiles ont des petites pattes reptiles have little legs

les rayures (f)

les pois (m)

- stripes - spots

le zèbre a des rayures noires et blanches

the zebra has black and white stripes

Respond with understanding

❑ Show the same e-flashcards, with sound OFF, but text ON: children read out the sentence, then check pronunciation with the recording.

Watch film C3: my favourite animal

❑ In film C3 some French children describe their favourite animal from the Zoo visit, mainly using familiar French structures.

Children may prefer to watch each child’s contribution separately, then share what they understood: ...what was this child’s favourite animal? ...why did they like it?

KEY SOUNDS

Listen and enjoy copying these typical sounds: where have you heard them before?

as in... piscivore, griffes

l’animal, reptile heard before in diabolo, piscine

as in... cou, moustaches heard before in genou, bouche, où est [as in the English: to eat ]

as in... queue heard before in bleu, Europe, yeux as in... écailles, rayures heard before in yeux

as in... poil, poids, oiseau heard before in bois, poisson

(Listen to the native speakers - try to copy their typically French sounds.)

Film C3: “Le rhinocéros a deux cornes.”

This is also a round-up of the whole unit, bringing together parts A, B and C.

In particular, it starts to bring together what children are able to say to describe an animal rather than just name it.

Respond with understanding

❑ Guess what’s my favourite animal?

One child thinks of their favourite animal, and says something about it to the rest of the class, e.g. “Il mange de l’herbe”. The class have one

guess at what animal is being described. If they don’t get it, the child continues describing, e.g., “Il a quatre pattes”, “Il pèse trois tonnes”, “Il a deux cornes”...

The winner is the child who managed to give the most pieces of information before having their animal guessed.

❑ “Guess who?”

Lay out all the animal flashcards face up, so all the children can see. Ask them to guess by elimination which animal you are secretly thinking of, by asking questions.

Encourage diverse and imaginative questions; ranging over diet, habitat, where they live in the wild, size, weight and physical features. Suppose you have chosen “un zèbre”; if they ask, “A-t-il une queue?”, you say “Oui” and remove all those cards where the animal does not have a tail. To start with you could involve children in this selection; take each card in turn and ask, “A-t-il une queue?” - removing that card if the answer is “Non”. Carry on asking questions until only ONE card is left. Change roles depending on children’s confidence. Winners are the chooser who holds out for most questions, and the guesser who guesses in the fewest.

CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

❑ Survey - ICT:

Pupils can find out from each other what are their favourite animals. Children can record the results of their survey on a spreadsheet and display it as a graph. You could ask a French school to do a similar survey, swap results, and talk about and compare the two sets of results.

❑ Design a new animal:

Ask children to work in pairs or small groups to design their own strange new animal. Tell them to use a “Frankenstein” approach, taking body parts from other creatures, e.g. ‘the body of a zebra, and the head of a rhino...”. Chidren prepare a picture or model of their new animal, then make sentences in French to say which body parts of which animals they had, e.g. “Mon animal a le corps d’un zèbre, la tête d’un rhinocéros”

They write these sentences under their picture, and present their work to the whole class.

C3: NEW WORDS

C3: My favourite animal: teacher questions

Quel est ton animal préféré? What is your favourite animal?

Est-ce que tu peux décrire ton animal préféré?

Can you describe your favourite animal?

Pourquoi? Why? Comments on ‘my favourite animal’

il est ... en voie de disparition it is ... endangered

...gentil (m)

...gentille (f)

...intelligent (m)

...intelligente (f)

...doux (m)

...douce (f)

- nice

- intelligent - soft

❑ Make a presentation about animals: Pupils can complete their display of pictures of animals both in a zoo and in their wild habitat - labelled in French. They could make a video or multimedia presentation, to show to an audience of parents, other classes, your local secondary schools’ MFL teachers or a French partner school.

Talking point 1

EVERYDAY LIFE IN FRANCE Zoos and animal conservation

The Zoo de Lille is run by the city of Lille. It is in the grounds of a massive fort, built in the 17th century to defend Lille after King Louis XIV had captured the area from Spanish rule and added it to France.

The huge fort, then state-of-the-art, was designed by the King’s military engineer, Marshal Vauban , to replace the city’s old medieval walls. He made it almost impregnable against attack by invaders armed with cannons and muskets. Vauban surrounded his fort with vast earthworks, ditches and walled bastions. His skill was to lay them out in a pattern that would entrap an attacking force and make it vulnerable to defenders safely sheltering inside the fort.

Over the centuries, weapons technology improved. After World War II, the fort could no longer defend France’s borders in the age of missiles.

In 1950, the city decided to use the grounds around the fort for the benefit of local people, with a Zoo, a fairground and a park. Like most good zoos, it actively works to conserve rare species. The zoo has more than 70 animal species (more than 300 animals) from 5 continents, and nearly 70% are threatened with extinction in the wild.

swing from branch to branch in the trees as if they were in the tropical forest.

One recent small improvement project was the small enclosure for grey parrots from Gabon. The parrots needed more shelter from the wind, and spaces to retreat from the gaze and noise of visitors. Zoo staff decided to add a fence of chestnut logs at varying heights around the enclosure, and planted shrubs to make the parrots’ environment more natural.

Film A2: Zoo staff designed and built the Monkey Island. The zoo is kept going by about 35 staff, who look after both visitors and the animals. A big part of their work is designing suitable habitats for the animals. Several are shown in the films, e.g. the “Monkey Island”, which gives the different monkey species the opportunity to

Film A2: Bird enclosures create a habitat for each species. The Zoo has a team of cooks whose job is feeding the animals with what they need to stay healthy. Fruits and vegetables are an essential part of the diet of many animal species. The zoo has three deliveries a week, each of over 100kg of fresh produce.

Each group of animals has a diet sheet, with recipes and quantities researched and set out to the nearest gram. In the kitchen, one cook might be mixing the dough with egg and mealworms for the myna birds. Another adds a scoop of trace elements to the bowl for the flying foxes, together with blended bananas, oranges or rice.

The animal trainers take the meals out to the animals. Some species eat twice a day; others, like the snow leopard, lemurs and owls feed only in the afternoon. They notice that the hungriest animals, the first to rush out to get at their bowls, are the tapirs and alpacas - and they eat a lot! The job of feeding the animals has to be done every day, even when the zoo is shut - they need to eat!

❑ Design your own zoo

Decide what animals you will have. Design an appropriate habitat for each animal. How will you re-create the features that matter to the animal in the wild? Work out how it will be fed by your zoo cooks.