A day at the zoo

Yesterday, my son and I decided to do a spur of the moment trip to the Los Angeles Zoo.  We had planned on a trip to the zoo over Christmas break, but the one day when everyone could do the trip, it started to rain, so we didn't go that day.  On Friday of this week, it had been cold and rainy, so I thought perhaps that might keep the crowds down which is why we decided the trip might be a good outing.

I hadn't looked closely at the zoo's website.  The past two days had been advertised as "snow days."  They trucked in a lot of snow and deposited it in several of the exhibits.  The snow leopards were in their element as were the river otters.  Siberian tigers and the American Black bear had snow in their pens as well.  Needless to say, the zoo had lots of people there, but really no more than usual.

The zoo, over the past 5 years or so, has been undergoing some major renovations, including expanding their elephant facilities.  When they expanded the elephant grounds, the reptile house was taken down.  The past year or so has seen construction on a new reptile house called the Lair.  Yesterday was the first time we were able to walk through that exhibit.  They did a good job in there, although I think they could have made the aisles a little wider to allow a less claustrophobic feel to the place.

My wife hates zoos and her opinion has rubbed off on me to a degree.  I don't hate them, but I tend to have mixed feelings about them.  Looking at them one way, they are viewing pens for people who don't have the wherewithal to take a trip to the different continents to see the animals in their native habitat.  In essence, they are a kind of prison.  They do, however, help educate many people, some of which would never be able to see them any other way.  And they do perform a necessary function by keeping species alive that would probably be extinct due to shrinking habitat which is mainly the cause of our actions.  Zoo are like a double edged sword.

The shot of the desert bighorn sheep above is one of the shots I took yesterday.  My son and I went to Zion National Park this past summer and saw some bighorn sheep in the park.  That was the first time I'd ever seen the sheep in their native habitat.  We saw yearlings and females but didn't see any males like the one above.

I had a great amount of success taking shots at both the orangutan and gorilla exhibits.  I think their particular exhibits bother me the most.  You can't help but see their human-like behavior and wonder about our common ancestry.  Looking at the shots I took, I chose this one of Evelyn, mainly because it made me wonder what she was thinking as she watched us watching her.  Evelyn has known nothing but the zoo as she was born there in 1976.  She knows nothing about the outside world, or what it was like in the wilds of Africa.  This has been her entire existence.  

Knowing the laws of our country, you know she's been treated well, has had the best medical care and has been fed a balanced diet, probably much healthier than any of us have had over the last 37 years.  And yet, you can't help but look into those eyes and wonder what she's thinking about all this.