His vision, from the constantly passing bars,
has grown so weary that it cannot hold
anything else. It seems to him there are
a thousand bars, and behind the bars, no world.
As he paces in cramped circles, over and over,
the movement of his powerful soft strides
is like a ritual dance around a center
in which a mighty will stands paralyzed.
Only at times, the curtain of the pupils
lifts, quietly. An image enters in,
rushes down through the tense, arrested muscles,
plunges into the heart and is gone.
(trans. from German by Stephen Mitchell)
Showing posts with label Baton Rouge Zoo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baton Rouge Zoo. Show all posts
Friday, May 20, 2005
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
The Baton Rouge Zoo
Arglor wrote:
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.
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.
The Darth Side
Hello snaars fans! (No cheering, please! Really, please, it's too much! Thank you, thank you! You're very kind, you all are the greatest ... okay, now ... what was that? Haha. Say again? ... Ha ha, no snickering either, that's not fair, haha. What? ... Well if that's the way you feel, I don't ... Now that's just totally unnecessary. I don't know if I should even go on if you're going to-- huh? ... Oh, that's just mean. You can say whatever you like, I'm just going to carry on if you don't mind. Huh, what now? That's it! Security! Security! Sorry about that, folks.)
I've been taking a few days' respite from blogging (and most everything else) while my family has been visiting from up north. Soon I will be catching up and posting like mad. I plan to put up a few pics from the commencement proceedings and the little party afterward.
Yesterday my kids' grandparents took us all to the Baton Rouge zoo. I will post some pics of that as well.
The last few days have been some of the best in my memory, and I look forward to expressing some of my feelings here in the blog.
I also see that I have left inchoate some of the philosophical ideas from previous posts on which I promised to elaborate.
Maybe I should start a second blog for the more philosophical stuff?
Nah, the world's not ready for double the snaars.
In the meantime, I found this hilarious blog, written by Darth Vader. I post this link in honor of Arglor and Trey and Amanda and whoever else going to see Episode III next week. Who knows when or if we'll see each other again after that?
Enjoy!
I've been taking a few days' respite from blogging (and most everything else) while my family has been visiting from up north. Soon I will be catching up and posting like mad. I plan to put up a few pics from the commencement proceedings and the little party afterward.
Yesterday my kids' grandparents took us all to the Baton Rouge zoo. I will post some pics of that as well.
The last few days have been some of the best in my memory, and I look forward to expressing some of my feelings here in the blog.
I also see that I have left inchoate some of the philosophical ideas from previous posts on which I promised to elaborate.
Maybe I should start a second blog for the more philosophical stuff?
Nah, the world's not ready for double the snaars.
In the meantime, I found this hilarious blog, written by Darth Vader. I post this link in honor of Arglor and Trey and Amanda and whoever else going to see Episode III next week. Who knows when or if we'll see each other again after that?
Enjoy!
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