Today, I went to the San Diego Zoo. I found out that it was a huge zoo the moment I went in. This was proved as when I was done doing my rounds around the zoo, I thought my legs were going to break off…
When my family and I when to buy our tickets, we chose one that enabled us to go to Sea World, the San Diego Wild Animal Safari and the San Diego Zoo. Then, before venturing inside, we decided to buy a backstage pass. This pass allows you to sit in the front row seat on the bus tour, sit in the priority sitting place of shows (two, specifically: Take Flight and Sea Lions Rock), and venture backstage and interact with some animals. I will tell you more about the backstage pass later on.
The first thing my eye wandered to, the dominant thing was the bus tour. It is really easy to spot, as the vehicle was large, added to the fact that it was right in front of the entrance. It was a two story bus, huge. Its width was quite significant. It was open-topped so, it was a bad idea to sit on the top if it were to rain. As we didn’t expect it to rain, we sat at the top. This was a good choice most of the time because the animal was usually resting somewhere where we could see it from a bird’s view or we were eye-level to it. I took some photos there, but most of them I didn’t because I was too absorbed looking around rather than taking the photo. Some on memory and some not, I saw quite a large amount of animals. Some animals are: elephants, monkeys, giraffes, a hog, flamingos, ducks, birds, and meerkats (OMG, aren’t they cute!)…
So, after the bus ride, we were on foot. The zoo is split into nine main parts: discovery outpost, urban jungle, African rocks, outback, polar rim, and elephant odyssey. You can guess what a lot of them are about when you see the title. For example, when you read ‘elephant Odyssey,’ you can assume that it is going to exhibit elephants. However, places like outback are a little harder. Outback is where you see koalas and wallabies and camels! We had rounded all of that (well, almost) when we decided to go to the place where the backstage thingy was happening. During the time that we were waiting, we decided to take a look at the meerkats. I swear that I could pass my whole entire day just watching those funny little creatures! Their lying positions are absolutely ridiculous! They look like they are trying to sun tan their backs! It looks like they are saying: “I’m too tired to pose for the camera, so don’t photograph me…”! It is simply so amusing! Others stand and ‘pose’ (stand up straight in a begging position) for the camera! What are they? Fashion models? Sometimes, I really wonder what is going across an animal’s head when they do something. I also got to feed the giraffe. I could hardly believe how long their tongues were! They were like three inches long! They just snatch the food pellet out of your hand and munch munch, it goes down the digestive track. I really liked feeding the giraffe, so I wanted to do more. Well, wish came true!
We lined up for the backstage pass thingy and when the keeper finally came, we were split into teams. There was the blue team and the green team. I was in the blue team and same for my mom. My dad didn’t go in because we only bought two passes and I chose my mom to go with me only because I knew she didn’t want to go and that whe was afraid of the animals. Otherwise, I would have chosen my dad (as he is better at taking pictures than Mom). So, the animals… We saw a kookaburra and tempted it to cry. We made this thee-thee noise to tempt it. You put your mouth into an o shape and then you kind of separate the tongue and the upper part of your mouth at the same time. It is kind out hard to explain. The zoo keepers also introduced some kind of beaver. I thought it was a wood chomper. When it came onto the stage, it was eating a banana. It left some on the floor when it left. The next visitor, a wolf being tamed by a dog (my mom thought it was the wolf’s food when she saw the dog lying there) went and sniffed at it! I thought that that was pretty funny. Well, most the people did. After the wolf (which we took pictures with) went, then came a cheetah being tamed by a dog. We also took pictures with that one, too. We also saw this big black bird that had a long curved beak. We saw what it does to a lizard (boy, I wouldn’t want to be that lizard for anything!). First, it grabs it by the neck, and then it starts swinging it all around. It is proved that that black bird isn’t the sharpest pencil in the pencil box when the keeper states that it has been trying to kill it for the past three years! We then change with the green group and go to feed and pet (and brush) the rhinoceros. At first, my mom didn’t want to try to feed the rhino, but eventually she fed them. They have an unusual texture in their mouths and two big molars. They have a scaly skin and they have their personal cool shade. It you slip your hands into the folds, it will be really cool. Finally, we got to brush them with these big floor brushes. They were blue and kind of proved as a scratcher. Finally, after washing my hands several times, we finally left. By that time, I sincerely wanted to be a zoo keeper. All the fabulous animals you get to meet! We went to this private box place and we met two animals. I started with the anteater and then the flamingos.
One of the zoo keepers fetched an anteater. Did you know that anteaters prefer ants’ eggs to ants? That came of a surprise to me as I had always believed that anteaters ate ants only due to the name! However, sometimes names lie and this was one of the times. I touched the anteater’s fur while it was eating jam. It was very matted and raggedy. It felt sleek though, too. We then went to feed the flamingos.
We got a cup for every two people, but since I was paired up with my mom and she didn’t want to feed them, I fed all of the food. The food is food pellets soaked in water. You want to keep the cup down so the water doesn’t splatter all over you. It feels strong (the pulls) when they eat. If you don’t hold on tight, you might have a spill. Did you know that if a flamingo pecks at you, it means that they are trying to groom you? Also, they get their pink colour from all the shrimp they eat! I was really amazed by how many flamingos there were and how fast they ate (probably even faster than me!).
Finally, the backstage was over and we all made our way to the restaurant in the mall we were going to eat at. After eating, we shopped a little and got a dress for me. Now I am too tired and am going to sleep. Good night. To make a longer story short, today was an awesome day and I hope tomorrow will be as good as we venture at Sea World.
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