scenes from a zoo trip

[kate_nepveu]

We did our annual mid-December trip to visit my mom & her husband in Florida, and their Christmas gift to us was a trip to Tampa's zoo, including a behind the scenes tour. The Pip got a little antsy during the more logistical sections, because he is six, but I found it all very interesting. And in more kid-friendly happenings, we:

1) scritched a rhino (such hard skin!);

2) witnessed the rather amazing quantities of bodily waste that an elephant can produce (literally, the sound effect was "splat"; I will spare you the picture);

3) fed a giraffe, well, the kids did anyway: one big leaf of lettuce just sucked in whole;

4) watched elephants play with Christmas trees decorated with produce as an enrichment activity, including one who just picked up an entire tree and carried it around upside-down.

So that was pretty great.

Here's SteelyKid mugging for the camera and the Pip contemplating life while brushing a goat.

(Yes, I completely failed at everything DW again for . . . many weeks, idek. Hi! Sorry!)

Comments

[larryhammer]

Our local zoo also has giraffe feedings -- usually of carrots. Long tongues are VERY long and dexterous. (And slimy!)

[kate_nepveu]

Yes, they were so close that the tongues didn't really come out on full display, but the staff were telling us about . . . I don't know if it was a giraffe or an okapi, actually . . . that can lick its own ear, which sounds amazing.

[kass]

Last year when we were visiting the zoo in San Antonio we got to feed lettuce leaves to a giraffe. It was awesome.

[kate_nepveu]

Yay charismatic megafauna!

[jesse_the_k]

Both kids have (not surprising) eloquent faces.

(I wish lawyers could deploy face-pulling in court.)

[kate_nepveu]

You can, you just have to be very very subtle about it!