The Baton Rouge Zoo

Arglor wrote:

DUDE! BATON ROUGE ZOO! how was it?

First off, I have to say I was a little sad to see all those magnificent animals in cages. Mostly they kind of behaved as though they were a little depressed.

But we did see some really neat things. There's a white tiger and a bunch of other big cats. They have two elephants, Judy and Posie (not sure if the latter is correct). The trainers explained that one of them has a bad leg, so when they go out for daily exercise they do not walk around as much as they once did.

They have a grand assortment of very colorful birds. There's an aquarium. They have some primates. I think that's about all we saw. The girls were getting tired so we didn't see everything.

There were two highlights for me, other than watching the two smallest primates we brought with us. (I am speaking of my own progeny, of course.) I'll tell you about both things.

First, I was awed by the giraffes. There are three of them, and I got REALLY close to two of them. The first was the male. He had stretched his neck out as far as he was able, to nibble on some shrubs beyond his fence. Also he was rubbing his head against a tree. He was not rubbing his horns, so I think he either had an itch or he was marking his territory - but I don't know if they do that. Do they do that?

Anyway, he was leaning way out over the fence, just a few feet from me. A young couple came by and held out some grass, and he ate it from their hands. We struck up a conversation and they explained to me that they come to the zoo all the time, and that they have fed the female giraffes often, but that this was the first time that the male had taken anything from them. They moved on. I observed him for several more minutes. He was almost close enough that I could have pet him.

Just when I decided, what the hell, I was going to try to feed the giraffe, a group of about six or eight teenage boys came along whooping loudly and hollering and gesticulating wildly and cursing and generally behaving in a way that made me ashamed to be of the human species. They made me feel insecure. I don't know about the giraffe, he seemed to remain placid, but I think he wasn't too sure of me after that and he soon moved away.

A little aside: some people who are highly critical of evolution theory claim that there is no link between earlier primates and human beings. I disagree. We are the missing link between other primates and human beings.

Anyway, later on we came that way again and one of the two females was at a different part of the fence, nibbling at the grass. (The way their area is arranged, they are lower than ground level, so they do not have to bend all the way down to reach the grass there.) This time my wife and daughters were with me (the first time they were in a kid's play area nearby). I looked around, saw a choice bit of grass where the giraffe couldn't reach, and held it up for her. She was a little distracted by my kids, but when she saw the grass, she didn't hesitate. She pivoted her neck like a crane until her head was a little bit away from my outstretched arm. Then her long tongue snaked out, curled around the little stalk of grass, and slurped it right up.

Michelle fed her also. Havilah was so impressed, she fought her fear and did it too. Simcha tried as well but lost her nerve. She shrieked and dropped her grass.

Yeah, the giraffes really impressed me. They are so powerful and so gentle. They move slowly and deliberately. I think they have a peaceful nature. I think I could have jumped over the fence and not been in any danger whatsoever (not that I will ever put that conviction to the test)!

The second thing that I will remember for a long time was that in one of the primate cages there was a little baby. (Sorry, I forgot to note which kind of primates they were. They were black and smaller than chimps.)

We didn't notice the little guy at first. What we saw is two females huddled up at the far side of the cage, with their backs to us. They kept looking over their shoulders at us, as if they wished we would just go away. Well one of them must have been the mom. I assumed it must be the one holding the baby. After a minute or two she moved and we caught a glimpse of the little baby monkey. I think the first thing I saw was his little outstretched hand. The other female followed her and again huddled up next to the mom so that we could not see anything. They kept looking at us, moving every once in a while.

After a few minutes we decided to go and give them some peace. At this point they seemed to change their minds for some reason. Maybe the little one was being too energetic. They decided to let him go for a little while. He couldn't have been very old at all, and yet he was able to climb the sides of the cage all on his own. The two females stayed close to him the whole time. For a while he clung to mommy while she swung around with him.

After the girls were good and tired, we took a train ride around the perimeter of the zoo. The little train was a novelty, but the ride was very disappointing, as mostly it just went through the woods and there was not much to see.

All in all it was a great time to spend with family. My parents gave us a zoo membership, which means we will be able to get in free for a year.

I've got some good pictures of the zoo trip, which I will post later.