(upbeat intro) - [Molly The Cockatoo] Hi!

Hi!

- [Hannah] Hello.

- [Joy] Hey, Hannah, what's up?

- [Hannah] Hi, Joy.

Hi, Molly says hi.

- [Joy] Hi, Molly.

- [Hannah] Can you wave?

- [Molly] Hi Molly.

- [Hannah] Good job.

Yeah, we're just hanging out, learning about animal adaptations.

- [Joy] Adaptations.

What do you mean by that?

- [Hannah] That's a great question.

So adaptations are things that help animals survive in the wild.

- [Joy] I see.

- [Hannah] So humans have adaptations too.

- [Joy] We do.

- [Hannah] We do.

Can you guys give me two thumbs up?

- [Joy] Two thumbs up.

- [Hannah] So humans, thumbs are an adaptation.

They help us hold on to things that make our lives easier.

- [Joy] I see.

So you're telling me that she has adaptations?

- [Hannah] She does have adaptations.

Do you see her really big beak?

- [Joy] I do.

- [Hannah] That helps her break open her favorite food, which are nuts.

So she likes the crack open peanuts and almonds.

So how much do you think she weighs?

- [Joy] I'm going to guess six pounds.

- [Hannah] That's a good guess, but she only weighs about one and a half pounds.

- [Joy] Really?

- [Hannah] And that is because birds have adaptations to help them stay light so that they can fly.

So she has hollow bones.

That means they're empty in the middle - [Joy] Okay.

- [Hannah] And she has feathers all to help her fly.

- [Joy] That's great.

Nice to meet you, Molly.

- [Hannah] Say bye!

(upbeat music) - [Joy] Now we're heading over to rhinos and we're going to learn about their amazing adaptation.

- [Will] Hi, I'm Will.

With me today is Johari.

He is our 27 year old black rhino here at the Little Rock Zoo.

Black rhinos are very special because they have this triangle shape lip to grab trees and bushes.

As he is chewing on these branches, he's trying to rip the leaves off the branch.

That is one of the really cool adaptations that black rhinos have, allowing them to have a much variety of diet and living in many different habitats in the wild.

(playful music) (water sprays) - [Joy] (laughs) You're getting my hand nice and wet.

Yes, you are.

I've been talking about adaptation.

So what kind of adaptations do elephants have?

- [Kristin] The one thing you'll notice if you look at an elephant is the size of their ears.

That's usually the first thing people look at.

Elephants have large ears because they have large blood vessels inside those ears and they actually flap their ears to cool off that blood, that blood then travels through the rest of their bodies and then can actually cool their bodies down about up to 10 degrees.

Another thing that they do actually, and this is how they keep cool is they love to throw dirt and mud on themselves and that will cool their body temperature down.

- [Joy] So, Kristen, it sounds like all the adaptations that we've talked about have to do with keeping them cool.

Why is that?

- [Kristin] Elephants live in very warm climates.

So they've had to adapt over the years in order to survive in this environment.

- [Girl] How long do elephants live?

- [Kristin] So in the wild, they say about 50 to 55 is average, but it's not unusual to see an elephant reach their sixties and even early seventies in captivity.

- [Boy] How much do they eat on a regular basis?

- [Kristin] That's a good question.

So each elephant is kind of individual, but our largest elephant, Babe, she eats up to two bales of hay a day.

Plus she eats about 10 pounds of produce and she also gets tree branches.

So she eats quite a bit.

- [Girl 2] Why do they have spots on their trucks?

- [Kristin] That's a good question.

So Asian elephants, as they get older, they actually lose the pigmentation in their skin.

So it's actually like a reverse freckling and that is only Asian elephants.

African elephants stay solid gray their entire life.

(upbeat music continues) - [Hannah] Are you ready to meet another bird friend?

- [Joy] I am.

All right.

Well, I want you to guess what it is.

- [Joy] Okay.

- [Hannah] I'm going to give you some clues.

Just tell me what you think.

- [Joy] Gotcha.

- [Hannah] He's nocturnal.

He has a, he has big eyes.

He rotates his head.

Who is it?

- [Joy] An owl.

- [Hannah] Who?

- [Joy] An owl.

- [Hannah] Who?

- [Joy] An owl?

- [Hannah] Who?

(They laugh) - [Hannah] So this is Lincoln.

Lincoln is a great horned owl.

And he's got some really neat adaptations for helping him hunt because he's a carnivore.

Do you see anything that might help him grab his prey?

- [Joy] Definitely his talons there.

- [Hannah] Exactly.

He's got really sharp talons, which is why I have this big glove.

Those help him catch his food, but the mice that he has to hunt, which are his favorite food, have really good hearing.

Cause they have really big ears.

So he has to be able to sneak up on his prey.

So he has a special ability called silent flight.

- [Joy] Okay.

- [Hannah] So I want you to try something with your hands.

- [Joy] All right.

- [Hannah] Hold your fingers together and wave them by your ear.

- [Joy] Okay.

All right.

Now open your fingers and try again.

It should be a lot quieter.

That's because owl wings have fringes, so their feathers are like this, so they're completely silent when they fly.

So that's how they sneak up on mice.

- [Joy] That's amazing.

What a beautiful creature.

- [Hannah] He's pretty cool.

(upbeat music continues) (train bell tolls) (train bell tolls)