A Weekend Trip to the L.A. Zoo

After an early lunch Friday, we packed our family into the car for the long drive to Los Angeles, California, anticipating our long Memorial Day weekend getaway together as a family.

We stayed overnight with friends in Long Beach, and got up early Saturday morning to meet up with Uncle Butch and Aunt Frances for a trip to the L.A. Zoo and Botanical Gardens.

As the family photographer, I was really looking forward to the prospect of taking dozens of pictures of not-often-seen animal and plant species, and capturing a couple of memorable shots of our boys in these unusual surroundings.

This might have gone fairly well, except that I somehow missed the memo that it was mating day at the zoo.

Though there are many species of primates at the zoo, my pictures of the day are entirely devoid of monkeys, because (to keep this blog G-rated) there was an awful lot of monkey business going on in those particular habitats.

It was the same story in the tortoise exhibit, where there was much territorial pushing and shoving amongst the males, competing for the attention of the lone female.

And did you know that female camels find foaming at the mouth attractive on a male camel? Blech!

I will spare you the details of the flamingo courtship, except to say that it was perhaps the most awkward and ungainly thing ever to happen upon in polite company.

Except perhaps having your 11 year old son suddenly blurt out in an overly loud voice, "What are they doing?!!" his face all screwed up in morbid fascination.

Made even more awkward by the fact that Jericho knew full well what the flamingos were doing (we're pretty frank about such things in our home) and just wanted to embarrass his poor mom, who was the unfortunate soul who happened to witness the spectacle with him.

If you've not yet had discussions on the "birds and bees" with your young children, I don't recommend going to the zoo in the spring.

Because that is a sure-fire way to launch yourself full-tilt into having to answer all manner of curious questions about the facts of life...things you might not be prepared to discuss with your child right then and especially not in front of amused strangers crowded around you at the exhibit. *blushes*

Now normally, when in vacation-mode, I am able to concentrate and take great photos. But due in part to the mating going on in every other exhibit we visited, it turned out to be a day of disappointments for me photographically speaking.

During our lunch break on some benches outside of the Aviary, I was enthralled by local hummingbirds coming to sip nectar from the giant African bird-of-paradise plants.

Being my favorite bird and the giant specimen of plant a close cousin to one of my favorite flowers, I absolutely had to capture one frameworthy shot for use as a screensaver on my laptop.
However, for the better part of a half hour, I'd painstakingly get the camera set up just so, hold perfectly still for a period of time until another hummingbird would happen by, and just as I would go to depress the button on my camera, the slightest movement would cause the elusive little bird to zip out of the frame.

It was frustrating, to say the least.

What I ended up with is one that includes what appears to be an impaled hummingbird.



You may be able to find the hummingbird in this one if you look really closely. With a magnifying glass.



Then there was the little problem of the zoo animals simply not cooperating with me as I was trying to arrange my photographs properly.

Here, the kangaroo jumped out of the picture just as I pushed the button.



These antelope refused to either stand still and graze, run or leap as would be expected of them.



NoOOooo, instead they spent the entire time standing up on their hind legs and eating the ivy at the edges of their habitat.

And the prairie dog exhibit? B-o-o-o-o-ring.

The only little cuties I saw popping up out of the holes were my own kids.

And my sister-in-law, Frances.



The solitary inhabitant in that so-called exhibit wouldn't even turn around for me to take a picture of his face.

Neither did the rhino or the hippo.

(And in case you're wondering why in the world I would take a picture of such a thing...the backside on this rhinocerous was easily the width and heighth of a Volkswagon bug. Nature shows don't do these things justice. They are enormous animals.)

Or the giraffes or zebras, come to think of it.

And do you see the zebra on the left, shaking his head just to mess up my picture? Outright defiance, I tell you!

In fact, the only creatures that did show their faces were the ones that felt somehow threatened or agitated by our presence there.

Like this ginormous vulture, which came hobbling towards us as though trying to scare us away.

We merely laughed at his absurd movements, which I'm pretty sure took the wind out of his sails, as he hung his head in shame. A more homely bird I'd be hard-pressed to find.

After this zoo experience, I have developed a theory that the animals may actually be conspiring together against zoo visitors. Showing only their worst sides or sleeping during visiting hours, thinking that if they bore the visitors for long enough then they'll all go away, the zoo will close, and they'll eventually get released back into the wild.

Case in point? The big cats.

They either turned away or slept the entire time we were there!

How very rude of them!

While standing in front of the sleepy lion habitat, we were wondering aloud where the male lion was hiding, when suddenly from up behind us someone bellowed in a very deep, very loud masculine voice that echoed off the walls like a gunshot, "GET UP!"

The male lion, who had been sleeping peacefully behind a tuft of grass and some other vegetation shot up suddenly as if to roar, "Who dares to disrupt me from my slumber?!"



The deep, 15-foot gulf separating the lions from the spectators suddenly seemed rather paltry and insufficient to contain that creature in light of his aroused anger and powerful presence.

I actually felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and urged our little party towards the next exhibit as quickly as I could.

But I needn't have worried. He just yawned, flashing his menacing jaws and teeth, and then rolled over on his back and slept like a spoiled and overfed house cat.

While the majority of my animal photos were a bust, I did get some pretty good shots of some of the beautiful botanical specimens in the gardens, which helped to redeem the occasion somewhat, at least for me.

This delicate blossom was about six inches in diameter at the bottom, and was called Angel's Trumpet. It looked as though it were made of silk.

And at long last, a nice candid and loving shot of our boys.



Though we had a nice time visiting with Butch and Frances, I doubt we'll be going to a zoo again anytime soon.

There is something about going to the zoo that makes our oldest son go absolutely ape, resorting to very odd and unusual behaviors.

Like climbing into the rafters in the Lemur exhibit, and making sounds like a howler monkey.

(Which made it difficult to get a decent picture with Aunt Frances and Uncle Butch)

Then again, maybe that is normal for boys his age.