AUDUBON TEACHES RIVER HERITAGE

The best way to teach a 10-year-old about Mississippi River ecology isn't by using maps or diagrams.

Try turtles.

Stink pots, red-eared sliders and map turtles can tell the story as well as human beings, as students from the Trinity Lutheran School discovered in downtown Cape Girardeau Tuesday morning during a National Audubon Society program.

"Whoa! He tried to bite you!" 10-year-old Alex Cano said to an Audubon worker who held a stink pot -- so named because of its smelly defense mechanism -- that had its mouth open in a menacing show of displeasure.

"And why is he trying to bite me?" the worker asked the students who crowded around the display.

"Because he thinks you're an enemy," Alex and the others replied.

"That's right, and I need to respect that," the worker said as he returned the turtle to its tank.

Audubon representatives brought their Upper Mississippi River Campaign 2000 to the Cape Girardeau riverfront, inviting youngsters to learn about the river, its ecology and their role in keeping the river alive and healthy.

Dozens of students sat cross-legged on the pavement in front of the pavilion at Main and Independence streets, listening to a presentation about the river and singing along to songs by folk singer Larry Long and The Folk Connection.

Afterward, students were roamed the lot and explored the interactive ecology exhibits about river history, river parasites, photographs, maps and artifacts.

One table displayed river artwork created by Cape Girardeau students.

"Hey, there's mine," said Rachel Harris, 12, as she and other students looked the pictures over. Harris explained that her drawing was of a person on a boat fishing in the river under the Cape Girardeau bridge.

Another popular exhibit was a river treasure hunt where students found parasites and looked at them under a microscope.

"It's cool because you look at the little animals walking around on the bottom and pick them out and look at them under a microscope," said 12-year-old William Zickfield.

Then, using a forceps, William and Alex carefully picked four tiny parasites out of a tray of river gunk and placed them in a petry dish full of water. William peered into the dish at the leggy, swimming creatures.

"This one looks like a cricket because it has lots of legs," he said, "and these two look the same except one is longer than the other one."

Although 12-year-old Danny Hampton's favorite exhibit was the turtles, he was able to explain the workings of a ponar, a device used to retrieve sediment from the river bottom, which was displayed on one table.

"We looked at all the displays, but we like hanging out at this one," Danny said as he stood on his tip toes and looked into the turtle tank. "It's the best one."

After checking out the exhibits, students were invited to take a closer look at The Lilly Belle, a sternwheeler adopted by the National Audubon Society as part of its river campaign. The red and white boat, which was built in 1958 and travels 4 mph, was docked at the riverfront at Broadway.

"They got a parrot! Cool!" Alex said as he approached the river's edge to get a better look at the bird, which squawked in its cage on the boat's deck.

Dan McGuiness, director of the Audubon Society's river campaign, said one purpose of the program is to educate people who live in river communities that they are important to the river's habitat, just as birds, fish and other wildlife are.

"We hope the kids will realize that they have a connection to the river," he said. "If they live by the river, it's really part of their habitat too."

The group is interested in meeting people and talking to them about why the river is important to them and to see firsthand how the river is doing, McGuiness said.

The society's long-term goal, he said, is to have a permanent boat on the river to take people onto the river and educate them about the environment.

"There's nothing that really beats getting out on the river and seeing it firsthand," he said.

Matt Petzoldt, 13, had a good time at the exhibits and surmised it was worth doing to get out of school.

"Anything is worth getting out of school for, but this is actually kind of fun," he said.