Finger in the Butt; Finger in the Mouth. Ewwww!!!
Ah, what a beautiful day!
Unless you’re a gorilla.
I went to the Seattle Zoo today (AKA The Woodland Park Zoo) and, of course, I brought the camera along. If I didn’t, going to the zoo by myself would have been kind of weird, but with it, it’s like all of you were coming with me!
I had a good time, but yet, there is something sad about zoos. Sad in that most of the animals really don’t look like they want to be there. Sad because zoos are necessary as a last line of defense for endangered species.
Now, in support of my non-video-able friends, I have some “frame grabs” to share with you too.
Of course, I went to the zoo on my trusty bicycle, which itself was looking very good as I just had it “detailed”.
Have you seen the movie “Madagascar”? In that film, the penguins were always scheming on how to escape from the zoo. From what I saw today, the penguins looked to be the happiest animals in the whole place.
Oh yeah…. Right there…. Yeaaahhh…
Can you spot the animal in this photo? Kinda hard to see.
I’m sure there are lots of zoos that have cockroaches. Probably running around in the bushes and under the buildings. Up here in the northwest, it’s a bit too cold for cockroaches, so they put them in cages and put them on display.
One thing that is frequently disappointing about zoos is that animals just lie there, sleeping or hiding. Not true with the Liberal Lemurs! See, the political zoologists at the zoo mistakenly housed the Lemurs right next to… or left next to the Vic d’Monkeys. The calls of the right-leaning primates next door agitate the Liberal Lemurs to no end. They reacted. D would be proud.
Of course, there was a lot of nom nom noming going on…
And the animals pitched in to help maintain the place. Who knew you could train a turkey vulture?!?
Now, I saw several exhibits where they housed two different species of animals in the same enclosure. Usually closely related, compatible animals, or ones that took up very different areas of the space (like ground and tree), but the strangest mix was moose and wolf.
I mean, don’t wolves EAT moose? I know a single wolf wouldn’t even try to take on a full grown moose, but it can’t be good for the moose’s nerves to have a lupine roommate!
Certainly the most contemplative looking animals in the whole zoo were the orangutans. Having a 28x zoom lens on my video camera allowed me to look into the eyes of these intelligent creatures in a way that just looking at them from 60 feet away would not. Look at these eyes…
As I mentioned in the intro, I had a problem with the gorillas. Or, perhaps I should say, the gorillas had a problem. Finger in the butt. Finger in the mouth. You can hear in the video, the crowd go “ewwww!!”
And here’s the video itself! Enjoy!
Are you a zoo critic? A zoo lover? Ever put your finger in your.. Err.. Never mind.
Oh, one last thing! All throughout my day, I kept hearing children yelling “PLATYPUS!!”… So I looked around for the platypii exhibit… It was never there!
It only occurred to me later that they were referring to ME when yelling Platypus. It’s Percy the Platypus on my T-shirt
That was great Joko.
I like zoos only cos I have the chance to see some animals that I never had the chance to see them otherwise.
Why didn’t you free Lemurs? 🙂
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It’s hard to look a Orangutan in the eyes and not be taken in by it’s sheer humanity. I’ve met grumpy old codgers with less humanity in their eyes than some of the orangutans that I’ve seen.
As for the wolves and moose(es?) I think they’ve got a loose peace alliance going while this fad of helicopter hunting is going around. 😉
I can’t go to zoos. I pick up on the vibes of the animals, and they all feel like they are in prison. The circus is even worse. They abuse the animals to make them perform. You won’t see it in the show, but it goes on off stage
😉
Is it right to keep animals in Zoos? I respect almost everything you say and do but I cannot bring myself to agree with you on the concept of zoo’s. Animals should be left in their natural environments in my opinion. They do not deserve the miserable lives they are forced to undergo in zoos and pseudo sanctuaries
Keep an eye out for white shorts
>> http://youtu.be/66LcSeNxYmQ?hd=1
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_Zoo
One of your best videos! Of course I like the subject. I don’t think most zoos are cruel to animals. As you said, if it weren’t for the zoo some species would already be extinct. the individual animals in the zoo, while not “free” are not going hungry, being hunted by man or other animals, and are generally well cared for. Now then the circus is another story!
Glad to see your bike got fixed.
I personally always enjoy a trip to the zoo. I love the opportunity to see animals, reptiles, birds, etc, as up close and personal as I probably ever will. I have been to the Central Park Zoo and I have to say I think your zoo has more animals. Thanks so much for taking us along on your trip. 😀 BTW, the lions are ALWAYS sleeping no matter where you go to see them. 😆
Ohhhhhhh, and about the gorilla, he must not have learned this lesson yet. 🙄
I do not understand but I am new here maybe I will in time.You do not have car,you only ride bicycle ?
Excellent blog, Joko. Very entertaining and informative. I hate the idea of creatures being in cages too, but it is a fact that there are positive things about it, one of which is allowing people to actually see, in person, some of our cousins whom they would otherwise never see at all. So how do you get the black blog background?