The Zoo

To continue my tale of yesterday afternoon, after lunch we went down to the Perth Zoo, which is only a couple of blocks away from Coco’s. (M’s parents J and W decided to go off to the convention centre to wander around a food expo so it was just me and M.)

It’d been years since both of us had been to the zoo. My previous visit was around 15 years ago when I took my youngest sister, JC, who was at the time a precocious toddler. The most memorable thing about that visit was JC complaining that the monkeys smelled.

It was a very nice sunny afternoon and I enjoyed wandering around the paths which were fringed with lots of plants. Actually I think I liked the plants better than the animals, especially the Australian ones: gorgeous kangaroo paw (look at that amazing red!), huge gum trees, a wonderful boab…

I didn’t enjoy looking at the animals as much as I could have because I just couldn’t help feeling sad about them all in their cages. The orangutans and the elephants were particularly dejected looking. The zoo has three elephants, and the one elephant I saw was standing near the back of its enclosure, repeatedly picking up and flinging a rock on to the concrete. The other visitors laughed at it, but to me the dull thuds were somehow awful.

The orangutans were amazing with their bright orange coats and their nimble hands, but they mostly just sat there and I couldn’t help wondering what they were thinking, if they were thinking. No doubt I am just attributing feelings to them (imagining how I would feel in a cage), and they are probably better off away from poachers and loggers. The animals in the Perth Zoo are obviously well cared for, and the cages and environment generally are all very clean.

As usual I sometimes forgot all about the camera and just enjoyed looking at the animals and plants. The crocodile was magnificent (although again we were really conscious of the size of its cage) and we watched as it lifted its head ever so slowly out of submersion, presumably to take a breath, after which it sank to the bottom again.

The rhinos and lions were all fast asleep with barely a flicker of their ears to keep insects off. The koalas too were napping, wedged up in their trees oblivious to the catcalls of the American sailors who were trying to get their attention (I think there’s a US Navy boat docked in Fremantle at the moment).

Many of the animals were obviously used to humans peering at them. The gibbon came right up to us and practically posed! So did the emu, which was probably hoping for food or something, because it quickly got bored when all we did was ooh and aah over its plumage. The kangaroos were just wary and made sure they kept an eye on us in case we tried any funny business…

All in all it was a good afternoon, despite my reservations about caging obviously intelligent creatures. Maybe I just enjoyed spending the day with M.

Categories: zoo, Perth, Western Australia