I belong to the San Diego Zoo because I love going there as many times a year as I can. Nothing quells anxiety or sadness or even the blahs like a visit to the creatures I have come to love at the Zoo. Frank the baby gorilla and the various unnamed beasts I encounter there make me feel immediately that all is well with the world. They put things into perspective for me like nothing else.
Yesterday I went with my online buddy, Linda, from Philadelphia, to the Zoo. She drove, as the train has become prohibitively expensive. It was a long haul, though the traffic was not bad since it was still early when we set off from my house.
The Zoo was relatively deserted when we got there. There were no lines at the panda enclosure or the gorillas, and we were lucky to see the koalas being shifted about by the keepers and fed some of their daily quotient of bamboo. They were happily munching and climbing about, not just curled into their customary balls of fur, fast asleep. That was fun.
We heard from a zoo volunteer in the aviary about an infant sloth who was being kept in an enclosure at the children's zoo. Though the children's zoo itself has evidently not been given much TLC lately (empty cages, peeling paint, etc), we did eventually find the mother sloth and spied the tiny baby clinging to her torso, looking around with wide eyes at the world from his tenuous perch as she munched on leaves. In fact, this sloth moved around far more than any other I have ever seen. Usually, these beasts more than earn their reputation of slowest and laziest beasts around, growing algae on their backs so they resemble nothing so much as a clump of Spanish Moss hanging from a tree.
We watched a tiny black marmoset lunch on banana and enjoyed the antics of Frank the toddler gorilla as he showed off for the crowd, beating his tiny chest and turning flips for the cameras.
Dinner from Wholesome Choice and a good movie on the DVD put the cap to a lovely day. This morning I am fresh and raring to go! I hope Linda is well-rested and ready for the beach later today.
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