Picking up from yesterday –
After lunch, I got to go to a classroom. (As much as I love seeing the animals, I like seeing places you don’t go in the zoo on a normal day.)
And then Matilda, the laughing kookaburra came out with her trainer. And I fed her some tiny worms! (Can you believe it? Me? Holding worms – and allowing a bird to eat right out of my hand?!)
Then I got to meet a ground cuscus – one of very few in North America! So, that was pretty cool.
Then… oh then! I walked up on the gorilla roof! We got to see the gorillas from a whole different angle. None came over to be our friend. But it was still fun to be there. (And by the looks on people’s faces looking up from the normal exhibit, it seemed people had skepticism on their faces… “Are those people supposed to be up there?” I’m so bad! 😉
THEN! This was quite possibly the best part.
I got to go to some pre-exhibit. They were preparing Yellow-footed Rock Wallabies to have a home in the zoo. And they gently get animals used to interacting with people before just putting them out in an exhibit.
So, we had this little book with bios on the animals. (One thing I thought was funny was the listed “favorite activities” – such as “lurking from behind a bush.”)
We got to take notes on them. And then we jumped back in our vehicle and took a little tour to a restricted area. I got to see the outside of the animal hospital.
After that, we took a little trip on the Skyfari Aerial Tram. The line was SO long… So, having the VIP experience was pretty darn dope!
After that, we stopped by the back of the elephant exhibit and I got to see a trainer feed an elephant… He had to feed him specifically to help the elephant take some medicine (which was put in his food).
By that point, Sara and I were basically just running around the zoo to see if there was anything left to pet. So, we headed to the petting zoo and I got to pet this adorable little rabbit named Leia! Then all the kids pet her too, and I felt slightly like, “Am I being so weird right now as this random adult being the first to pet this rabbit all these kids are into?” And then I also felt a little bad for Sara being swarmed by all the kids. But I was happy everyone got to enjoy their time with Leia!
And THEN, we went to this insect place and Sara grabbed a cockroach for me to pet and I DID! It was crazy, but I thought, “I’m here to pet animals, dude. I’m facing all my fears – down to petting a cockroach! Ba-bam!”
That was the end of my fun zoo tour. And then it was time for the special zoo dinner – which I will get to tomorrow.