Eden children get suprise visit from crazy critters

It’s not every day the boys and girls at Kid’s World of Eden get a visit from a screech owl or a hedgehog, a snake and a chinchilla.

Joey Hitzig, outreach coordinator for the Natural Science Center of Greensboro, brought them along with a few other surprises for the children Monday morning. Hitzig said she travels over the area teaching children about animals, hopefully showing them something that sparks their imagination about all the different animals the world holds.

“This is a chinchilla,” Hitzig said, delicately removing an animal from its carrying cage before rows of enthralled 3- to 5-year-olds.

“Chinchillas are one of the softest animals in the world,” she said. “They have very thick, fine hair and they take dust baths to clean themselves.”

“It’s a bunny!” chirps a little girl.

“No, it’s a chinchilba,” said a little boy beside her.

And indeed, the gray chinchilla could be mistaken for a slightly defective rabbit to the untrained eye. She had large dark eyes, big round ears and hind legs designed for long, powerful hops. Chinchillas have thick gray fur, which Hitzig explained was so thick it would not dry if the animals took regular water baths. Instead, they kept their fur clean by rolling in dry dirt and sand.

Hitzig let each child pet the chinchilla. She then introduced Spot the Hedgehog, who was much happier to be out of his cage, spending plenty of time smiling for his audience as Hitzig easily held him in one hand.

“Why’s his mouth open?” a child asked.

“He’s looking for food,” Hitzig said. “Well, he was. Right now, he’s kissing me.”

Her statement was met with a chorus of ewws and yucks as Spot switched from sniffing Hitzig’s arm to licking her wrist.

Hitzig introduced Pigwidgeon the Screetch Owl, who is very small but can catch and eat 12 mice in an hour. She let the children meet Scooter the Bearded Dragon, a lizard native to the southern United States. Hitzig picked up Vader the Snake, a long black constrictor, explaining it was a good snake and ate animals that damage crops.

Hitzig said she does similar presentations two to three times a week to groups as part of the Natural Science Center’s outreach program. Though the publicity does wonders for attracting families to the science center, the real key is to engage a child’s mind.

“If it gets them to ask questions about what around them, that’s what we want,” Hitzig said.

• Staff writer Heather J. Smith can be reached at hsmith@reidsvillereview.com or 623-2155, ext. 15.