Brookfield Zoo 2008

I didn't write about our annual trip to the zoo as soon as I meant to. We went on 23 October, and here it is 15 November. I guess this year's trip just didn't feel as special to me as going to the zoo used to, even as recently as last year.

As nice as the Brookfield Zoo keeps getting (and they keep adding a lot of neat new houses), it feels like the actual zoo population is shrinking. I remember when they had three lions instead of one. I remember when they had two walruses instead of none at all. I remember when Tropic World was teeming with monkeys; now it's one of the quietest places inside the zoo. And as things get sparser, it gets easier and easier for Becca and I to kind of just breeze our way through the zoo. They didn't have Cookie, the cockatoo who is the oldest resident at the Brookfield Zoo, on exhibit the day we were there (Becca was disappointed).

The thing that still pisses me off most of all is the Australia House. I used to love to walk through it and be in that room with the free-flying fruit bats. Last year, I saw they covered the bat area with a fence. Probably some mother with little kids complained and ruined it for everyone.

Maybe the magic's gone out of it a bit. Maybe we should skip a year or something.

Not that I didn't enjoy it. It just didn't feel like a big deal. We didn't take many pictures, but here are a few of them.

This was the first orangutan we'd seen there in years. Are they always hiding, or indoor somewhere?

The lion was out sunning itself. We went on another chilly day so animals were up and active and enjoying the sun (it was very bright that day).

The observation window for the lion was closed, but the one for the snow leopards was open. It's intimidating as hell being at eye level with them. I could tell this one kind of wanted to kill me. (It was feeding time that morning.)

The gorillas are Becca's favorite. And you could watch them for a long, long time.

Hudson the polar bear. He was very playful first thing in the morning, batting his food around like crazy.

Becca shot a film of him throwing his food around and diving after it.



And, finally, my favorite animal, the African elephant. This one trotted over and hung out for a while. After that, we were finished. We left really early and skipped about a quarter of the zoo. It felt routine this time.

Still, there are a lot worse ways to spend the day.