We thought that yesterday might be a perfect day for a trip to the Ft. Worth Zoo. And it was. We got there right when they opened the gates, and were still feeding lots of the animals. We got to see almost all the primates out and eating, even all the gorillas. The elephants were still eating, and the hippos were actually out of the water and eating. I have never, in all my years of visiting the zoo, seen the hippos out of the water before. The cheetahs were out and pacing their entire territory. The male Bengal tiger was pacing around and started roaring while we were watching him. The lioness was practically posing for us, but the male lion was out like a light, laying on the grass in the sunshine.
We got to see two cranes fight over a squirrel that had made its way onto their turf (he quickly exited stage left), with their full wingspan out and beaks clacking together. But we didn't think to get the camera out quick enough, we were so flabbergasted at what we were seeing. We made our way to the herpetarium (sp?), and also for the first time in my life we spotted almost every snake, lizard, iguana, frog and turtle in their habitats. The snakes were almost all awake and moving around a little. It was just so cool! Jav had never been in there before, and even though he's not too fond of snakes, he was amazed at all the variety and how active they all seemed to be yesterday.
So needless to say, Jav and I had an absolute blast at the zoo. Gabriel is still a little too small to fully appreciate it. The gorillas frightened him a little, I guess because of their size. His favorite animal to spot in books right now is the giraffe, but he can't really focus on them because they don't move around much. He liked the tigers and birds and snakes, but you can tell his brain is not really understanding that these things he's used to seeing in books are real live creatures.
And I must say a word about my thoughts on zoos. I get really sad sometimes to see these majestic creatures ripped from their homelands and stuck in captivity. I realize the pacing of the tiger and the cheetahs is probably due to frustration of being contained in a small space. No hunting, no running. The look on the oldest gorillas face yesterday, as he glanced up at his human audience (some people beating on their chests and sticking out their tongues at him to get a reaction, which made me sick), the look on that face was so full of knowledge and dignity and soul, that not only could I not take a picture of him, but I had to walk away with tears running down my face. BUT I think the Fort Worth zoo does an outstanding job as far as zoos go. I want Gabriel to experience it and learn from it as he gets older, so I've had to get past being upset and just try to enjoy it for his sake. And I was pretty successful yesterday, on our perfect day at the zoo.
2 comments:
For a while the FW zoo kept a couple of the old pens from when we were kids to show how much zoos have changed over the years (I don't remember seeing them the past couple of times we went, so they must have finally used that space for another exhibit). But it was those yucky concrete ones they had badgers and stuff in. Very sad.
Though I do miss the weird children's zoo area with the crazy little fake thatched houses. Do you remember those?
I do remember those. Who was supposed to live in those little houses? That area was right across from the restaurant, and they have a rock climbing wall there now.
I remember the tigers used to be in a tiny concrete "den", and they were just pacing back and forth the whole time. Thank God zoos have come a long way!
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