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GREENSBORO — The Natural Science Center’s zoo will soon be a place where kids can simulate, as well as observe, animal behavior.

The Greensboro Builders Association is working with the science center to build an area called the Naturally Fit Adventure Forest, where kids can mimic the activities of the animals they see.

They can crawl through tunnels like meerkats, swing from the vines like gibbons and run through the grass like tigers and maned wolves.

The playscape — designed for children 12 and younger — will be built in the zoo’s easternmost area, near the Kavanagh Discovery House and the Davis Kelly memorial fountain.

It aims to educate kids about animal adaptations through outdoor physical activities.

Science center director Glenn Dobrogosz says it complements the Science Center’s HealthQuest exhibit, which emphasizes the importance of physical fitness in fighting childhood obesity.

Billy Tesh, president of the Greensboro Builders Association and a Natural Science Center board member, has fond memories of taking his children there when they were young.

He also has strong convictions about the importance of getting kids outdoors.

“The best part is that it gets kids out from in front of the computers and gets them out into the air and gets them exercising,” Tesh says.

Dobrogosz says $30,000 has been raised for the project so far, and an additional $30,000 to $80,000 still needs to be secured.

But work on the project can begin soon. The builders association will donate labor and materials for the project.

Tesh says playscape volunteers will be needed for weekend work projects.

“If anybody wants to come out and help, come on!” he says. “Bring the family, and come out and work and play.”

Dobrogosz hopes to have the playscape ribbon-cutting ceremony when Jack Hanna returns to the science center next May. Hanna, best known for his TV shows,

“Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures” and “Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild,” last visited the science center in 2005.

Contact Tina Firesheets at 373-3498 or tina.firesheets@news-record.com