Family visit to Philadelphia Zoo. The zoo has changed over the years, mainly for the better. Cages have given way to more natural-looking habitat-enclosures, and the animals look well-cared-for and free of the obsessive repititious behavior that occurs when animals are too confined.
On the not so happy side, the zoo is now part of Corporate America, which means that the most prominent exhibits have to do with selling something. It is possible to bypass the cash-register for some of the more genuinely attractive items by purchasing a special all-inclusive ticket, which is expensive unless you plan to visit the place so often that the kids are mistaken for docents.
As you can see from the pictures, some of the most popular activities (available at additional cost) have nothing to do with their particular location, but are of the generic fun-at-the-fair variety, such as face-painting, pony rides, and trips on the shriveled kiddie-train.
Madeline seemed genuinely interested in hearing about the giant tortoises from a young zoo intern, and I tried to enrich the experience by asking questions that I though Madeline might relate to. She listened very attentively and examined the shell and skull that the volunteer used as visual aids.
Colton was quite taken with the goats in the petting zoo, but I think he was also overwhelmed by the number of goats, the assortment of brushes available for grooming the animals, and the Brownian motion of the children who were in the enclosure with him.
He responded to ALL of the elements in the situation, which means that he went quickly from one animal to the next and even seemed frustrated to find that there were additional goats who were seeking refuge in an enclosure that was closed to visitors. The bucket full of brushes posed an additional problem, making him feel anxious and dissatisfied with whatever brush he held at the moment. And the other children served as unwanted competition for both brushes and goats, even though he always had at least one brush and a reasonable large section of a goat to pet and groom.
This doesn't strike me as odd, given his age, and I must say that I saw some pretty obnoxious behavior on the part of other kids who seemed to be about his age. One little monster took a real whack at one of the roaming peacocks, leading me to think that there are some species that have a shorter lifespan in captivity than they have in the wild, though in most cases the situation is the other way round.
