The city life. In my dreaming fog, I heard voices outside on the sidewalk. Then the sound of a dentist drill revving up. I’m having a tooth drilled??? It doesn’t hurt. Then I realized that these drills and voices were trimming the trees that were very close to the condo windows. 6:40 AM!! They continued to work until 9 AM on the trees around the neighborhood. Now the chipper grinds and spits wood chips and cut leaves into the truck. It did let more light into through windows.
We are in West Los Angeles with Elsie and Peter, former neighbors from Andover.
After retiring, they moved to this other coast. Two of their three children had located in LA. With two young grandchildren, Peter and Elsie have much to do. Yesterday we took the two young grandchildren, 1 and 3 years old, to the Los Angeles zoo. Strollers, cameras, lunch, and all the assorted kids gear. Arriving at the parking lot there were 3 dozens yellow school buses lining the curb and in the lot. There must have been a thousand grade school kids with their chaperones continually counting heads. Each group in their bright colored and clean school T-shirts. Tight herds on the move, looking for the next view. Inside the zoo everyone was well behaved. Even the adults maintained their self control.
Animals in the zoo must be used to the swarm of viewers on their front porch. Young children get all excited when an animal or bird looks them in the eye.
An orangutan looks sad and withdrawn,
A bored male lion with a piece of wood shaving hanging over his right eye.
A giraffe, chewing on a twig, looks me straight in the eye without expression.
A merket standing guard looks directly at all the viewers.
It turns and looks at the spectators on other side of the enclosure. None of its friends show their faces.
Field trips and young children run their trips on tight schedules. The school buses must be back in time to transport other school kids. So the buses leave before 2 PM. Little kids need the stroller, then fall asleep or begin to cry. This gives us old folks an excuse to exit. We would never admit that we were also tired and wanted to take our naps. The early drilling took away an hour of zzzs. Time to recoup.
I'm glad you went to the zoo ... it's a great place. I go very often, and also research animals as much as I can.
ReplyDeleteI've found the orangutans at the LA Zoo to be quite active and content for orangutans. Orangutans in the wild (or captive) are often referred to as "daydreamers" because they sit and think so long. They give no expression because they live very solitary lives in the forest normally and have no need to make expressions.
You were lucky to find the lions awake, as lions normally sleep up to 20 hrs a day when they are not hunting, which is only every few days or more. Wild or captive, lions usually look bored and tired.
Giraffes do not normally make expressions, but they will often come up and look at guests, as they are quite curious.
The meerkat you saw standing was on "sentry" duty. They normally live in large groups and take turns playing the sentry or "look-out." They watch for predators such as birds of prey and will sound an alarm to the others who are foraging if they spot danger.
I hope you are able to visit the zoo more often ... it's a great place to learn about the animals and their conservation.