“A bird in the hand is worth two in the book,” says biology teacher and neighborhood resident Jim Dunlap, curator of the Living Materials Center.
On 25 acres of primitive watershed in east Plano, Dunlap watches over the home of more than 200 small animals and a 3.5-mile trail system. A 20-year veteran teacher of high school biology, Dunlap has made educating and caring for urban wildlife his mission in life.
He didn’t start with acres of critters.
“I began collecting small animals for my own class,” he says. “Soon I had a whole room full.”
Other teachers became interested in Dunlap’s living laboratory, and he often traveled to nearby schools during his lunch period with an assortment of creatures to share with students.
His program was so successful that 15 years ago, the City of Plano and Plano ISD approved the construction of the Living Materials Center.
“All of these animals have their own story,” says Dunlap.
The center’s animals were either rescued by people and dropped off, or are abandoned pets. Almost daily, animal controls officials will call Dunlap when they have captured an animal that has no other place to go. When this happens, he contacts a network of people at zoos and wildlife parks.
“Our ultimate goal is to move the animals out of here to the best possible place for them,” he says.
Currently, the Center is home to a variety of animals – monkeys, alligators, snakes, rabbits, birds and turtles, to name a few; it currently is part of the Plano school curriculum and not open to the public. Each weekday during the school year, buses arrive with 150 or more children ready to spend the day learning about wildlife.
“We break them into two groups,” Dunlap says. “Half work indoors with the animals while the other half go out on the trail. Then, after lunch the groups switch.”
The activities incorporate observational techniques, such as counting, classifying and identifying. The teachers design the projects for each individual class, and Dunlap believes this hand-on approach to science is invaluable.
Students come to love this quirky man while developing respect for his knowledge about animals.
“Mr. Dunlap was kind of a goofy guy, but we loved him,” says former student Kendell Stixrood. “We called him all the time when we found an animal we didn’t know what to do with.”
Dunlap isn’t sure what will happen if he ever steps down as curator of The Living Materials Center.
“This job is 24 hours a day and 365 days a year,” he says. “You have to be a real nut.”
