Rat’s entertainment as children go wild

Zoologist James McKay, who appears on television and supplied owls for the Harry Potter films, tours classrooms with the Animal Roadshow, which also includes a 150-year-old tortoise and an African bullfrog.

Children at Branton St Wilfrid’s Primary School in Doncaster were the latest audience to view the show, which Mr McKay said captures the attention in a way that no other classroom session can.

He added: “I am a qualified teacher, but as far as the children are concerned I am just a man who has brought some animals in for them to look at.

“But as part of the lessons we manage to get across to them the difference between how certain animals use their senses and what they use them for.

“We also talk about habitats, where animals live and why they live there and also talk about life cycles.

“This time I took a giant African bullfrog, which has long teeth, is one of the largest amphibians on the planet and would hang over the edges of a dinner plate.

“That allows us to talk about how the frog starts as frogspawn and grows into tadpoles and then the frog and talk about which animals care for their young and which leave them to it.”

Mr McKay, who is based at Ashover, near Chesterfield, is a scientific fellow of the Zoological Society and a former chief executive of the UK Federation of Zoos.

He has run the Animal Roadshow for more than 30 years.

He said: “The children simply learn much more because they are enjoying themselves and they remember much more of what has been talked about than they would if they were sitting at their desks looking at pictures in books.

“Animals like Norman have also appeared on things like Children’s BBC and they are happy with an audience and some of the children will already have seen them.”

As well as being called upon by teachers for lessons, Mr McKay and his animals can also be seen at country fairs around the region.

He also supplies an owl which has been trained to carry the rings to the vicar or registrar during wedding ceremonies.

For more details of the roadshow visit Mr McKay’s website at www.animal-roadshow.co.uk