Last Monday I took Hayes to the Oakland Zoo. Yes, he was sleeping when we arrived but after a few missed exhibits he woke up. It was our first time to the zoo and it did not disappoint. It seems like Mondays may be the best day to visit the zoo because there were no lines and all of the animals were out in their habitats. Win, win! Matthew works late every Monday and it struck me last week that it would be a great day to explore the Bay Area with Hayes. What better way to explore than to pretend we are tourists? Mondays have officially become our wee tourist day. I am sure that soon enough Hayes will be requesting that we visit his favorite places, but until that day comes I am able to explore new places with an agreeable infant.
Hayes and I were the only 2 people at the Tiger exhibit so we watched them for as long as we I liked. Since he was sleeping I enjoyed being able to take my time and read all of the informative poster boards. Every exhibit seemed to have information about the animal's natural habitat, their behavior and challenges they are facing in the wild or as domesticated animals.
I was also struck by the proximity of the animals to their visitors. The zoo lets you get pretty close which was fun for me and I hope it will be fun for Hayes when he is old enough to notice. I watched the elephants for quite some time. When I arrived they were separate but as I watched a bit longer they came together as a group. I was hoping that I would witness them going in for a dip, but they elected to take long drinks from their pool.
More reading for me and I have to say that after doing so, it makes me wonder what really is going on behind the scenes at the circus?
Baby boy meet baby giraffe, baby giraffe meet baby boy.
Speaking of babies...do you see the tiny silhouette above? He/she was the cutest. I think the baby baboon's papa knew we were watching.
See what I mean about the proximity of animal to visitor? "Mama, why are we so close to this gator?"
A mini door and paw prints.
When I pulled up to this exhibit it looked like his stroller and the the tortoise shell were about the same size. Tortoises are much larger than I realized. The story of the tortoise and the hare makes much more sense to me now.
I do not think I have been to a zoo (and I have been to many) when ALL of the animals were in their exhibits and active. The lions were roaring, the elephants drinking, the baboons were preening, the otters swimming...you get the point. I enjoyed the adventure and Hayes seemed to enjoy himself as well. Looking forward to our wee tourist Mondays in the future.
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