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Lion!Joe
Let's talk a little about last Saturday before it recedes any more from my memories:
Just about the first thing I said to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
heuradys when she asked me what I wanted to do during my visit was "Well, I've already seen the Mall of America!"
To which she replied,"Oh thank god!"
We started the day by meeting for a really nice brunch at the Nicollette Island Inn, so I got to seesister_wolf again and meet doll_revolution in a very nice setting indeed -- we had a table in a quiet room with a panoramic window view of the park and a picturesque bridge -- which was so damn picturesque that as I sat and watched, a line of people in crash helmets, all riding on Segways went past like a hallucinogenic dream.
Certainly this will turn out to be one of my top ten meals this year -- the food was good, the company was spectacular. Doll turns out to be well-dubbed, by the way.
We dallied among the remains of brunch for quite a while, then we walked over to the park at the tip of the island and hung out for a bit, looking for the muskrat thatheurady insists exists there, but all we saw were bunnies and ducks, which you never know, might well cross breed and produce muskrat-like young...
We next adjourned to the Minneapolis Zoo, which was quite a ways from where we were -- I don't know anything about MN geography aside from the Twin Cities, that there used to be a lot of glaciers up there, and being able to pick the state by outline on a map, so I suggested this in all innocence, it could have been half a state away and I'd never have known it.
Happily, it was only a picturesque drive away. Alex took Doll in her car (we were going to split it up different, but Doll knew the way to the zoo, so it seemed like a good deal to have one navigator along for the ride, at least in theory until Doll tried to go to the zoo via Wisconsin, which is probably not the most efficient way to do it. But we coordinated via cellphone, and met up in front of the Monkey Pit. H & I had a fun time observing the Japanese Snow Monkeys who were mostly lazing in the grass, or idly grooming one another -- yes, real monkey-grooming social rituals, Buffistas!
I won't go through every animal we saw, mostly because I don't recall them all, just the highlights in my personal favorites:
* We'd gotten to the zoo just too late for the bird show, but as we passed by, there was a handler showing off a bald eagle, so I wandered down to see it up close... the bird was so damn beautiful from five or six feet away, and so very large, too! She was perching on the handler's arm, with jesses on her legs to encourage her to stick around. It turns out she was captive-bred with an eye to releasing her back to the wild, but her hunting skills (and avoiding-humans-skills) weren't very good, so she's living the high life as a demo bird.
* We almost immediately found the meerkat enclosure, which are the sorta-kinda-weaselly creatures like Pumba in The Lion King, only these guys were in a raised enclosure so they were about counter-height to us, standing up and staying on guard just feet away -- so incredibly cute. They looked so damn stoic, which I suppose you have to be if you're going to guard your entire family from bad lions and evil hyenas.
* The tigers were mostly doing what tigers do in the heat of the day, which is to lie down and pant in their sleep. Usually behind something tall, it seems (which also seemed to be the strategy of the moose we tried to see later). However, Doll (I think it was) pointed out the presence of a Whole Dead Caribou lying to the side in one enclosure. I do mean whole, looking like it was waiting to be cleaned by a helpful passing Mountie, or possibly used for snacks by the tigers. I wish there'd been a docent around to ask about it, because I didn't realize they gave zoo animals quite this kind of enrichment, though the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.
* Actually, we did happen upon a docent a little while later -- we were headed back to see if we could get in the dolphin show, and I noticed a docent displaying a tiger skull and some other stuff, so I zoomed over there, noticing as I did so that she had it on top of what looked like an really splendid imitation of a tiger skin... so I asked. No, not an imitation, it turned out to be the pelt of one of the zoo tigers, still being of service. We all took turns petting it, and she unfolded it a bit to show us the head, with all the markings and the whiskers still attached -- I guess they keep that out of sight so as not to scare little passing kids. So although I've never petted a tiger, I have petted a tiger skin, which is still cool. They're coarser than pussycats, but the color is amazing, and it was neat to feel and see the texture change as it got more towards the belly.
* Among the other charismatic megafauna (I love that term) we saw: buffalo, takin (sort of like a Chinese gnu, and it lives in the same forests as pandas, so it's equally endangered, just not as endearing -- it looks like it was put together by somebody working from a mistranslated description of a goat...), bactrian camels, including one that was lazily trying to right itself from where it had been snoozing on its side. That involved a whole lot of leg-waving (and they have such long legs!) and rocking, and generally the impression I got was that it was just fooling around.
* The prize of this portion was the prairie dogtowncity, which was quite extensive, and full to the brim with bustling civic life, squabbling and grooming and begging for handouts from the zoo visitors, and posing for pictures, or just hanging out. There were pint-size ones, too, so we're assuming they were adolescents. Cute as all hell, and totally unafraid of humans, too. People were bringing them plant fronds for them to nibble on, and we speculated this must save the zoo a lot in prairie dog feed.
* I'm pretty sure we saw an emu at one point. And Mexican wolves, which are part of their Species Survival Plan, and looking quite chipper for animals that are extinct in the wild. There was a whole family group, which included two wolf cubs who were still all fuzzy and short-tailed and jumping over things and bothering their parents a whole lot. I wonder how well they do in the MN winter, because compared to yourDiefenbakerArctic-type wolf they're kind of scrawny, small, and lightly furred.
Okay, there's more zoo, but I'm going to quit here for now because this has gotten way way too long as it is....
Just about the first thing I said to
heuradys when she asked me what I wanted to do during my visit was "Well, I've already seen the Mall of America!"To which she replied,"Oh thank god!"
We started the day by meeting for a really nice brunch at the Nicollette Island Inn, so I got to see
sister_wolf again and meet doll_revolution in a very nice setting indeed -- we had a table in a quiet room with a panoramic window view of the park and a picturesque bridge -- which was so damn picturesque that as I sat and watched, a line of people in crash helmets, all riding on Segways went past like a hallucinogenic dream.Certainly this will turn out to be one of my top ten meals this year -- the food was good, the company was spectacular. Doll turns out to be well-dubbed, by the way.
We dallied among the remains of brunch for quite a while, then we walked over to the park at the tip of the island and hung out for a bit, looking for the muskrat that
heurady insists exists there, but all we saw were bunnies and ducks, which you never know, might well cross breed and produce muskrat-like young...We next adjourned to the Minneapolis Zoo, which was quite a ways from where we were -- I don't know anything about MN geography aside from the Twin Cities, that there used to be a lot of glaciers up there, and being able to pick the state by outline on a map, so I suggested this in all innocence, it could have been half a state away and I'd never have known it.
Happily, it was only a picturesque drive away. Alex took Doll in her car (we were going to split it up different, but Doll knew the way to the zoo, so it seemed like a good deal to have one navigator along for the ride, at least in theory until Doll tried to go to the zoo via Wisconsin, which is probably not the most efficient way to do it. But we coordinated via cellphone, and met up in front of the Monkey Pit. H & I had a fun time observing the Japanese Snow Monkeys who were mostly lazing in the grass, or idly grooming one another -- yes, real monkey-grooming social rituals, Buffistas!
I won't go through every animal we saw, mostly because I don't recall them all, just the highlights in my personal favorites:
* We'd gotten to the zoo just too late for the bird show, but as we passed by, there was a handler showing off a bald eagle, so I wandered down to see it up close... the bird was so damn beautiful from five or six feet away, and so very large, too! She was perching on the handler's arm, with jesses on her legs to encourage her to stick around. It turns out she was captive-bred with an eye to releasing her back to the wild, but her hunting skills (and avoiding-humans-skills) weren't very good, so she's living the high life as a demo bird.
* We almost immediately found the meerkat enclosure, which are the sorta-kinda-weaselly creatures like Pumba in The Lion King, only these guys were in a raised enclosure so they were about counter-height to us, standing up and staying on guard just feet away -- so incredibly cute. They looked so damn stoic, which I suppose you have to be if you're going to guard your entire family from bad lions and evil hyenas.
* The tigers were mostly doing what tigers do in the heat of the day, which is to lie down and pant in their sleep. Usually behind something tall, it seems (which also seemed to be the strategy of the moose we tried to see later). However, Doll (I think it was) pointed out the presence of a Whole Dead Caribou lying to the side in one enclosure. I do mean whole, looking like it was waiting to be cleaned by a helpful passing Mountie, or possibly used for snacks by the tigers. I wish there'd been a docent around to ask about it, because I didn't realize they gave zoo animals quite this kind of enrichment, though the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.
* Actually, we did happen upon a docent a little while later -- we were headed back to see if we could get in the dolphin show, and I noticed a docent displaying a tiger skull and some other stuff, so I zoomed over there, noticing as I did so that she had it on top of what looked like an really splendid imitation of a tiger skin... so I asked. No, not an imitation, it turned out to be the pelt of one of the zoo tigers, still being of service. We all took turns petting it, and she unfolded it a bit to show us the head, with all the markings and the whiskers still attached -- I guess they keep that out of sight so as not to scare little passing kids. So although I've never petted a tiger, I have petted a tiger skin, which is still cool. They're coarser than pussycats, but the color is amazing, and it was neat to feel and see the texture change as it got more towards the belly.
* Among the other charismatic megafauna (I love that term) we saw: buffalo, takin (sort of like a Chinese gnu, and it lives in the same forests as pandas, so it's equally endangered, just not as endearing -- it looks like it was put together by somebody working from a mistranslated description of a goat...), bactrian camels, including one that was lazily trying to right itself from where it had been snoozing on its side. That involved a whole lot of leg-waving (and they have such long legs!) and rocking, and generally the impression I got was that it was just fooling around.
* The prize of this portion was the prairie dog
* I'm pretty sure we saw an emu at one point. And Mexican wolves, which are part of their Species Survival Plan, and looking quite chipper for animals that are extinct in the wild. There was a whole family group, which included two wolf cubs who were still all fuzzy and short-tailed and jumping over things and bothering their parents a whole lot. I wonder how well they do in the MN winter, because compared to your
Okay, there's more zoo, but I'm going to quit here for now because this has gotten way way too long as it is....
no subject
great imagery!!! :-)
no subject
Thanks for writing this down! I'd already forgotten about a few parts of the day! *hug*
no subject
it was great meeting you; i hope you come back soon, so we can resume our fascinating discussion of penis hats.
no subject
Haven't seen the new giraffe house. It hadn't opened when I was there.