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Animal Studies At Home with Live Zoo Cams

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All across America, parents are suddenly being thrust into homeschooling. Some are trying to emulate school at home while others are like Extended Spring Break!!! If you are trying to find a middle ground, you'll love these ideas for Virtual Animal Studies! We've rounded up a bunch of live zoo cams and paired them with some fun books to keep your kiddos learning!

30 Live Animal Cams

Watching animals is a great way to spark what I call sneaky learning. You can ask questions about what you are seeing, read a book, or watch a documentary. You can print off worksheets and unit studies to keep them learning as long as they are interested. Check out my homeschooling Pinterest board for tons of ideas!

We love to cast from a phone or computer to the TV so a live cam is on the tv while we read or do school at the table. All of a sudden someone will get all excited and we'll be distracted for a little bit while an animal does something interesting. Then we can have a conversation before returning to our normal work.

I've put together a few books for each animal we've seen a live cam for, to help give you some ideas on where to start. Some of the books are available through Kindle Unlimited, so you can download and start reading right away!

Alligators

Explore has a lot of animal and nature live stream cams. This one focuses on alligators but catches other wildlife too!

Ape

The San Diego Zoo has several live zoo cams you can check out. Their ape cam is one of my personal favourites!

Baboons

What virtual zoo tour would be complete without the crazy baboons? We also have to spend time watching them at our local zoo!

Bats

I'm not a fan of bats, at all. One got in through a tiny hole in my window screen once and way traumatic experience, but the kids find them interesting to watch. If you like these misunderstood creatures, you'll love this bat cam!

Bison

Did you know there are no buffalo in North America? They are actually bison & you can track a small herd on this bison cam from Illinois!

Burrowing Owls

The San Diego Zoo's Safari Park has a pair of burrowing owls. You can watch both their aviary and the burrow on live cam! To the right of the live streams, check out the link to become an owl spotter! Even if you aren't interested in helping out there is a lot of information about burrowing owls.

Cheetah

The Pittsburgh Zoo also has a wonderful cheetah cam! Not only can you watch the cheetah you can control the camera for a full minute! There are 8 camera angles to choose from.

Chimpanzee

The Houston Zoo has a Chimpanzee live cam available from 7am to 7pm CST every day. You can also control this one! There was a bit of a wait so I wasn't able to see how many different camera angles you get to choose from.

Condor

San Diego Zoo's Safari Park has a socialization habitat for Condors. You can watch as fldglings learn how to behave from the adult birds.

Elephant

Check out this elephant cam from the Smithsonian's National Zoo too. Volunteers update the cams during normal business hours normally, but they will be fixed while the zoo is closed.

Giant Panda

The Smithsonian's National Zoo has two Panda cams for you to check out. Just click back and forth on the tabs to switch cameras. Scroll down below the cams for more information about Giant Pandas.

Giraffe

There's also a giraffe cam from San Diego's Safari Park! I can't believe how still giraffes can stand while eating. I was showing Nick because I thought it was frozen & a jeep drove past. Then he realized one was chewing but otherwise wasn't moving. I wanna know the momma's secret for keeping her little one so still!

Gorillas

This one isn't from a zoo – it's a live gorilla cam from the Grace Center in the Eastern DRC.

Grizzly Bear

Woodland Park Zoo's bear cam focuses on a pair of Grizzly Bear brothers.

Hummingbirds

Jaguar

ZooView.tv is provided by the Milwaukee Couty Zoo and Zoological Society. On the right side of the screen, click the camera you want to watch. They have an indoor and outdoor jaguar cam.

Jellyfish

Koala Bear

The Edinburgh Zoo has a live Koala cam. I'm partial to these cute and cuddly looking creatures. And jealous of how much sleep they get!

Lemur

Reid Park Zoo has a live lemur cam, so you can watch the crazy antics they get up to!

Lion

The Smithsonian Zoo has a webcam set up for their outdoor lion exhibit too.

Meerkat

I think Meerkats are so much fun to watch! We used to watch the show Meerkat Manor but I tend to cry whenever something bad happens. Watching Zoo Miami's live cam of these cute little guys is much more my style!

Naked Mole-rat

Naked mole-rats are probably the only rat I can handle looking at without getting chills. They are so ugly they are cute! And apparently so popular the Smithsonian's Zoo has 2 camera angles for them!

Penguins

Polar Bear

Rhino

The waterhole above is most active from about noon to 10pm CDT. If you can't catch a rhino there check out this live rhino cam from the Houston Zoo.

  • Rhinos: Horned Beast of the African Grasslands
  • Rhinos: Children Book of Fun Facts & Amazing Photos on Animals in Nature
  • Rhinoceros: Learn About The Rhino
  • Rhino Rescue: And More True Stories of Saving Animals

Sea Otters

The Vancouver Aquarium also has a sea otter cam! I got to watch one just floating on his back and occasionally moving a paw to adjust his float. So cute!

Sharks

Tiger

Walruses

The Indianapolis Zoo has a live Pacific Walrus cam. It's at the bottom of the page, so you have scroll down to see it. There is a lot of cool information available to read too!

Wolves

The cam above is from Transylvania and shows a variety of animals. I've seen a bear, boar, and a fox so far! If you just want a wolf, check out the Wolf Conservation Center. They have 8 different sets of wolves you can watch!

Which animal is your favorite? Leave a comment & let us know!

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