news-record.com

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 where kids can mimic the activities of the animals they see there.

They can crawl through tunnels like the meerkats. Swing from the vines like the gibbons. And run through wild grass like the tigers and maned wolves.

The adventurescape, now called the Naturally Fit Adventure Forest, will be designed for children 12 and younger. It 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.

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 can begin soon. The builders assocation will donate labor and materials for the project.

This addition is the fourth major project the science center has launched since 2006. It's all part of $15.2 million expansion plan that's already increased the science center's attendance and budget by more than 30 percent.

Dobrogosz hopes to have the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the adventurescape when Jack Hanna returns to the Natural Science Center next May. Hanna, an animal expert, is most known for his nationally syndicated television shows, "Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures" and "Jack Hanna's Into the Wild." Hanna last visited the Natural Science Center in 2005.