Yesterday was a fun day, I went to the Bronx Zoo with Gen. It was a busman’s holiday for her as she has worked much of her life in wildlife conservation and seen most of what we saw in the wild. Of course, out on the veldt she didn’t have my scintillating conversation.
I’m trying to walk anyplace that’s practical in the Bronx. The zoo is a 40-minute walk away, that makes it practical. We were going to meet at the Zoo Center, I chose that because it’s a prominent landmark. The problem is that the Zoo Center is nowhere near the center of the Zoo and Gen was coming from the opposite side. She underestimated the subway ride, so I got there first and decided to walk to the Bronx River entrance, the one closest to the subway. That’s the entrance we always used when driving to the zoo, since I was a kid. It’s the least developed part of the zoo. It’s a walk to get to most of the exhibits.
The Bronx Zoo is in Bronx Park. Most of the area is parkland. Are there other zoos like that? The first exhibit you come to when entering from the Bronx River entrance is, not surprisingly, the Bronx River. There’s a beautiful little waterfall. There’s native wildlife. It’s a nice transition to the trip you take around the world in the rest of the zoo.
We didn’t have that much time and only saw a fraction of what the zoo has to offer. Not much time is three and a half hours. It’s a big zoo. The first stop, just as when I was a kid, was the bison. There used to be a sign there that all Bison in the wild have a Bronx accent. When the wild herds were almost hunted to extinction, they brought in bison from the Bronx zoo to repopulate the west. Bison are not real animals. Their heads are much too big for their bodies. They are some sort of chimera created in a lab by mad scientists.
The first stop was the World of birds. There are no cages. A few of the birds are behind glass but for most there is no barrier. They just like staying in their own custom habitat where it’s light, the right temperature, and there’s food. There were some birds in the wrong exhibits. We had two hypotheses to explain this. The first is that sometimes the birds like to visit each other. The other is that they are messing with us and the birds change the signs when there is no one around. That’s to get back at the people that try to annoy them by banging and making noises in the hope that the birds do something. My money is on the second.
You go through the building and think, that was a great exhibit. But when you exit you see a ramp up to the second floor, and that’s even better. There’s a rainforest that you walk through. You are on a catwalk in the treetops. Gen was a great person to zoo with. Just like me she wanted to stay and find every bird that’s listed as being there. You have to search for many of them. We never found a few, an as I said, we found a few that weren’t listed.
It’s pretty rare for me to go to a zoo with someone that knows more than me. I could give info on the zoo, but Gen told me about all the animals, many of which she encountered in the wild. It reminded me that one of the surest ways into my heart is being able to teach me things. Another is being to learn things from me. I’m a perpetual teacher and student and I’m drawn to others.
Then we were off to Tiger Mountain. That’s usually best in the winter because these are Siberian tigers. Yesterday it hit 92°F. In the first viewing area we saw nothing. In the second we hit pay dirt, a tiger was swimming to keep cool. I have not seen that before. The second was just lounging around and either swatting at birds or waving at us. The first hypothesis is Gen’s, the second mine. Some parent picked his kids up and stood them next to the glass. The tiger that was swimming was not happy about that. He started pacing back and forth in front of the glass. This was the behavior I’d see as a kid when they kept the animal in cages, not in large enclosures. A miracle happened, Gen spoke to the parent and he put the kid down. Sometimes people are just ignorant not stupid or uncaring.
We moved on to Madagascar. Like Australia it has a unique fauna, animals found nowhere else in the world. The most famous and fun are lemurs. There was a large exhibit that gave them room to hop around in their inimitable style. It’s a lot of fun to watch lemurs. Another highlight was the crocodiles. They are in a room that’s largely a pond for them to swim in. When you are a few feet from a croc, even a small one, it feels like you are in Jurassic Park.
Then we were off to get ice cream but, on the way, we saw the rhinos and Komodo dragon lizards. Like bison, rhinos are also fake. No way something that odd comes about naturally.
After refreshing ice cream, we were off to watch the penguin feeding at the sea bird aviary. When we got there, nobody was feeding the penguins. That’s because I’m an idiot that didn’t put on his glasses, so we were a half hour early. We went back to see the aquatic bird house that we rushed through to get to the penguins. That took just about half an hour, we got back to the penguins just in time, except there was still nobody there. They explained they were held up an apologized for being late.
The keepers don’t just throw fish into the water. They don’t just toss fish at the penguins. They feed each penguin by hand. While one keeper was feeding the penguins, another was hijacked by Piggy, a particularly friendly Magellanic penguin. She had been had raised since hatching. She didn’t want food, she wanted love. She waddled over the keeper for hugs and cuddling. Everyone spontaneously said, “Aww;” anyone that wouldn’t when seeing that is a sociopath. Gen and I now want penguins. Hers is named Kevin, mine is Jeeves. They are already dressed like butlers. You want to feel good? Go to the Bronx zoo and watch Piggy with her or his keeper. They spent the entire time cuddling. She didn’t even eat while we were there.
We went by the birds of prey on the way to the Reptile House. This was one thing that hadn’t changed since I was a kid. I still love seeing the bald eagle, the condors, vultures, and owls. There were dead mice in the owl cages, they must have just fed them.
We stopped at the gift shop next and the skies opened. It started to rain. It was near closing time, so we headed out when the rate abated a little. We had to seek shelter when it got hard again. Then it cleared up as fast as it started. When we were back at the Zoo Center the sun was shining. Too bad there were trees blocking the rainbow. That’s where we parted as we had to exit from opposite sides of the zoo, me to the west and Gen to the east.
I’m not having any adventures today, so I’ll have to find something to write about tomorrow. I have a few ideas. Now plan a trip to the zoo, and if it’s on a Wednesday, when it’s free, ask me to join you.
Wise Madness 