THEME PARKS : This Creature Feature Taps Into Kids’ Wildlife Dreams

Chris Kratt is so excited about the Creature Heroes tour he could just burst.

That’s the typical reaction of preschoolers who are fans of the “Kratt’s Creatures” and “Zoboomafoo” nature programs for kids--but it’s slightly unexpected from the 30-year-old co-creator of the TV shows.

It’s that kind of enthusiasm, however, that kids find contagious. The exuberant Kratt and his brother, Martin, are raising a ruckus among youngsters across the country with a live interactive stage version of their animal adventures, which they hope will raise money to create a wildlife refuge for endangered species. The last leg of the tour slithers into Universal Studios, Hollywood, over Labor Day weekend.

“The kids like the animals so much they want to help,” Chris said, explaining that it was children’s eagerness to do something for the wild and woolly critters they see on the Kratts’ PBS shows that led to the idea for a Creature Hero Society they are developing.

The adventure planned for the Universal Studios Animal Actors Stage, which will be reenacted three times each day, is based on an actual incident that took place while the brothers were filming in the Amazon. Chris said they want to keep the plot a surprise, but he did share a few points.

“When we went out to film giant river otters--which are 7-foot-long otters that live in packs--we were filming from a boat and something happened,” Chris said with a nervous giggle. “We had a misadventure.”

The brothers play themselves in their Amazon adventure, and the kids get to play the animals. The Kratts teach the children the animal sounds, and whenever those creatures appear in the story, the kids act out their “characters”--howler monkeys, giant river otters, crocodiles and white-lipped peccaries (wild pigs).

One of the most important parts of the national tour, Chris said, comes after the shows, when they meet the kids one on one.

“The kids can join the Creature Heroes and take an active part in every step of this,” Chris said, “choosing where the refuge should be and what types of North American animals they want to help.”

He laughs about the little girl at a recent stop who excitedly told him how she saved a horse’s life--by grabbing a Styrofoam cup she was sure the horse was about to eat. Another little girl ran a lemonade stand to raise money to help animals. She sent the Kratts the profit: $3.16.

Chris gleefully relays a story one mother told him about finding her children sitting in a laundry basket, holding broomsticks. They said they were paddling through the Great Barrier Reef and told her the sock on the floor was a nudibranch.

“She said, ‘a nudi-what?’ Chris said excitedly. “They said, ‘A nudibranch--come on, Mom, it’s like a sea slug!’ ”

The brothers began taking creature adventures in their own backyard as children growing up in New Jersey. Chris, a biologist, and Martin, 33, a zoologist, never dreamed their love of wildlife would lead to television.

“When we were kids, all my friends used to tease me about being Jacques Cousteau, but I never really took that seriously,” Chris said.

Some might say that the Kratts now do kids’ versions of the Cousteau nature show. Their animal adventures take them from Australia to the Amazon, and the kids go along for the ride through television.

“In college we realized there were no wildlife shows for kids,” Chris said. “Growing up, we watched ‘Wild Kingdom,’ and it was great, but it wasn’t designed for kids. So in college we went out and made a video . . . and kids loved it.”

The venues presenting the tour are donating $1 to the wildlife refuge fund for each paid admission. The brothers plan to make the tour a yearly commitment. They hope to establish the first refuge within a year and a half. Possible locales are California, where condors are still high on the endangered list; Florida, where manatees used to thrive; and the Rocky Mountains, where civilization has pushed the Plains grizzlies into the mountains.

“Martin and I are basically on a creature mission, to meet all the creatures on the planet,” Chris said, “so we have a lot of animals to meet.”

BE THERE

“Zoboomafoo,” Universal Studios, Hollywood, Universal City. Shows Saturday-Monday, 11 a.m., noon and 1:30 p.m. Autographs, 2:30-4:30 p.m. (818) 622-3801. Prices for Universal Studios: $10 off for some Southern California ZIP codes, otherwise: ages 3 to 11, $29; 12 and older, $39; 60 and older, $34. Hours over Labor Day weekend: 8 a.m.-10 p.m.