Crowds gathered round to see the beautiful animals at the zoo today, and displayed a frightful amount of ignorance as they did so. I feel I must report:
People mistook the African wild dogs for spotted hyenas because the two are rotated through the same enclosures and apparently, if there’s a sign that says “hyena” on it, that must be what you’re looking at, even if it’s actually a multi-colored canine that looks nothing like the picture of a spotted hyena on the same sign, and even if the actual hyenas can be seen simply by turning your head to the left and looking in the adjacent enclosure.
“It’s a Savannah Stalker!” This is what people think servals are called, because the sign giving information about them is titled “The Savannah Stalker,” with “serval” written in smaller type down below. There's no excuse for the person who thought that this was a bobcat.
“It’s an anteater. I didn’t know they got so big!” They don’t, lady, and they don’t spend much time submerged in water, either. Ok, apparently they are capable swimmers, but think about it: do ants live under water? Don't answer that. You’re in the pachyderm house, and you’re looking at a Malayan tapir. Don’t worry, your small son is smarter than you and is happy to correct you.
Finally, parents seem to have slacked off on their duty to tell their children not to pound on aquarium glass as it harasses the fish or other animals inside. I'm not saying the kids are dumb, because they're just kids. All I'm saying is that a responsible adult needs to step up and threaten to throw them in with the Siamese crocodile if they don't stop tapping on its glass.
Luckily people weren't the only thing on display, and I'll talk about the actual animals in a minute.
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