SA: New education centre opens in lead up to panda arrival

AAP General News (Australia)
04-03-2009
SA: New education centre opens in lead up to panda arrival

By Larine Statham

ADELAIDE, April 3 AAP - As far as crowd pleasers go, it's hard to beat a couple of
rotund giant pandas.

And Adelaide Zoo is determined that visitors who'll flock to see Wangwang and Funi
leave with a better understanding of the threats to the endangered species.

The pandas will arrive in September on a 10-year loan from China. As the only pandas
in Australia, they're expected to double the number of people visiting the zoo each year.

As part of its preparations, the zoo on Friday opened a new $4 million environment-focused
education centre.

The interactive facility will ensure visitors leave with a good understanding of the
threats faced by so many species across the world, including the giant panda and native
Australian fauna.

Adelaide Zoo chief executive Chris West said he didn't want the zoo to be recognised
solely as a panda zoo.

But he understood they would pull a big crowd and give the zoo an opportunity to spread
key conservation messages to a wider audience.

"People will come from far and wide and ... so we can tell stories, have messages about
deep conservation ... backyard conservation and the native species work that's being done,"

he said.

The new centre, called the Envirodome, features plants and animals and also offers
visual and aural displays to show how human activity affects water supply, natural habitats
and carbon production.

"(It's) a place adults and children alike can learn about the life on our planet and
our part in saving it," Dr West said.

"Whilst the primary purpose is education it's really interesting and fun too."

The education centre, which will be open to the public from Sunday, is part of a broader
$35 million redevelopment that also includes a special panda enclosure.

With fewer than 1,600 pandas living in the wild, the zoo intends to help save the panda
from extinction by breeding the new arrivals.

AAP lcs/tnf/de

KEYWORD: ZOO (WITH VIDEO)

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