Greensburg Salem High School show-and-tell introduces fourth graders to exotic species

Jayceona Smith had something to prove when she gingerly touched her finger to the back of Arthur, a curly-haired tarantula.

“I want to see the alligator, the snake and the tarantula,” said Smith, one of the fourth-grade students at Greensburg’s Nicely Elementary who had a chance to see and learn about 20 mostly exotic animals at close quarters recently at neighboring Greensburg Salem High School.

The Critter Cruise program has become a tradition at the school, hosted since 2008 by instructor Andrea Redinger’s plant and animal biology class.

”I’m scared of spiders, but today will be the day that I will overcome my fears,” Smith declared.

She made good on her intent. For good measure, she also touched a Madagascar hissing cockroach, building up her courage for the experience with the support of a classmate.

High school junior Theresa Schuetz explained to the younger students that the cockroach is a detritivore. “They like to eat what’s decaying on the ground,” she said.

As for the name of the species, she said, “They hiss if they feel threatened or if they’re attracting a mate.”

Junior Oakley Decker, who presented Arthur to the fourth graders, said she was afraid of spiders until she got her own pet tarantula.

“They are the only fuzzy tarantula breed,” she said of the curly haired variety. “They have little grippers on their toes so they can stay upside-down.

“They live in the rain forests between North and South America, and we’re destroying their habitat, which is very sad.”

Mike Pearce of Pearce’s Pet Place in Indiana County came to the Critter Cruise with a 10-year-old male alligator he obtained through a rescue and three smaller ones.

Referring to the recent instances of alligators let loose in the region, he said, “I don’t understand why people release them; that upsets me. I’d take them all.”

Young students who visited the alligator station learned the reptiles can grow up to 15 feet long, living for about 50 years in the wild and as many as 80 years in captivity.

Junior Gabby Conway showed her 3-month-old red iguana, Maple, which can subtly change color under certain conditions.

Fourth grader Carson Iarussi was a quick study when it came to learning about the animal.

“If they want to be warm, they change to a darker color,” he said. “If they want to be cold, they change to a lighter color. The dark colors absorb sunlight and the lighter ones reflect light.”

He was impressed that the iguana has a third “eye.”

Conway said an organ on the top of the iguana’s head that resembles an eye in shape has a different function. “It’s just for sensing, instead of seeing,” she said.

Junior James Hugus told the younger students about a yellow-footed tortoise as it roamed inside an enclosure on the classroom floor.

Explaining a distinction that may confuse many not in the know, he said, “A tortoise and a turtle are two different species. Turtles live in water mainly.”

With encouragement from Hugus, the younger students offered a banana for the tortoise to nibble. “He loves bananas,” Hugus said. “He’ll eat the peel, too.”

With hand sanitizer at the ready, the fourth graders were invited to touch several of the species, if they desired.

The excitement was a little too much for a mini donkey, which made an early exit. But a miniature horse and a llama were able to stay to greet the kids.

Redinger has learned through the years that not all animals are suited for the indoor presentation.

“The cow will never come back,” she said. “It did its business the whole way down the hallway.”

After this year’s event at the high school, she said, some of the animals likely will be featured in lower-key settings during STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) fairs at each of the Greensburg Salem district’s three elementary schools.

The Critter Cruise hasn’t missed a year since 2008. During the initial year of the covid pandemic, Redinger said, her high school students produced video presentations about the animals that were played for the elementary pupils.

Some biology students who conducted animal presentations this year flashed back to their earlier experiences attending the Critter Cruise as fourth graders.

“I’m remembering some of the things when I was a kid coming up here,” said junior Everett Redinger, the instructor’s son, who displayed a lizard at his station. “I definitely remember the llama being here.”

Classmate Cole Savage has pet dogs at home but was happy to show the biology class’s docile ball python, Helix, to this year’s fourth graders.

“I feel it helps a lot of the fourth graders,” Savage said of the Critter Cruise. “It helped me to start to appreciate biology. That’s how I’m centering my classes now.

“Whenever I go to college, I want to major in ecology. I’d like to get into how water is affected by pollution.”