One by one, wearing matching outfits in different colors, the 4-year-old Clayton triplets tried to trot like white-tailed deer.
It’s tricky — left hand, right foot. Right hand, left foot. Their success was limited, but their enthusiasm wasn’t. The trio of girls — Fiona, Amelia and Madeline — moved right along to their next challenge, which entailed hopping like a snowshoe hare. That one involved a “slinky” motion, moving both hands and then both feet at once.
The girls, who hail from Camas, are big fans of a lot of different animals. Cats, giraffes, unicorns, dolphins, bunnies and no fewer than three varieties of bears all made the favorites list. But on a sunny winter afternoon at the Water Resources Education Center, they got to embody animals from a little closer to home at the “Mammals of the Columbia” event on Saturday, joined by their father as one of hundreds of families who made the trek out to the Vancouver facility.
The educational meetup was hosted by the WREC as part of its Second Saturday series.
On the second Saturday of every month, the center hosts a free, public educational event to engage with local kids on a topic related to water and marine life.
This month, the turnout was huge, with 329 people showing up to learn more about the mammals living in the Columbia River, said Kelly Kirk, an AmeriCorps member who over the last three months has headed up organization of the Second Saturday events.
“This has been our biggest turnout since I’ve been here,” Kirk said, speaking outside a lecture on native beavers. “I think because it was mammals, it drew everyone’s excitement to learn about the critters that live in everyone’s backyard.”
Kirk came up with the idea for the gait-matching activity, the hit of the day for more kinetic-minded learners.
“I found out there are four different types of general walking patterns, and I just chose a type of animal for each and laid those out this morning. It took a bit of time, but I’ve been seeing the kids enjoy it.”
In addition to the walk-imitating station, the event featured skulls of various Columbia River mammals like a raccoon, river otter, bushy-tailed wood rat and deer.
On one side of the room, curious passersby could find out more about ecosystems and how each species is connected, with the carnivores, omnivores and herbivores all balancing to create a healthy and sustainable system.
On the other side was an exhibit devoted to wood-stripping, dam-building beavers and nutrias, a smaller aquatic rodent that lives in burrowed colonies. Nelly the nutria, a stuffed, mounted version of the rodent, was the big draw of the table for kids who wanted to feel the lush undercoat under her shaggy exterior.
For the pre-kindergarten crowd, there was also plenty to do. They could play with puppets of deer and raccoon and trace footprints of coyotes, beavers, deer and other local mammals.
And all ages could learn something at the back-to-back sessions in the neighboring classroom, in which lectures dove down into the details about our furry aquatic neighbors. Beavers, pikas and otters each got a spotlight.
Ideas for each of the exhibits springs from a brainstorming session between Kirk and the WREC’s interns, she said.
“I’m not a wildlife biologist, but one thing I love about doing education is you can kind of throw yourself into a new topic,” Kirk said.
The next Second Saturday event will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. on Feb. 9. The theme is “Love Your Earth — Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.” Visitors will explore ways to reduce waste and kids can make a card for Valentine’s Day using recycled materials.
The Water Resources Education Center is located at 4600 S.E. Columbia Way in Vancouver.
