It's One Of The Reasons I'm Afraid To Watch King Kong, Actually

Yesterday, as promised, I served as an escort for a field trip to the Toledo Zoo for the day. I am, as usual, glad I did so for a couple of reasons. For one thing, I really don't trust other people, particularly when it comes to taking care of my kids. The bigger reason, though, is that I freaking love going to the zoo.

The first thing I observed is that, like most trips to the zoo, it largely involved watching animals sleeping. Take the lions for example. Everyone always get's excited to see the lions, and when you finally get to them, what you see is a small pile of lions taking a nap on a rock. If you're lucky, one of them might roll over. When looking for entertainment, one should never count on a cat unless you have a way to taunt it. Just one I want to go in there with a little remote controlled car made to look like a rabbit.

Nevertheless, the whole zoo scene never fails to fascinate me. I love to look at the animals that are actually conscious and try to figure out what they're thinking about. As someone who thinks almost entirely in words, it boggles my mind to try and even consider what's going through a monkey's brain as it sits there looking at us. Does it wonder about us? Does it care? Or is it simply sitting there processing it's current systems? (Do I have to go to the bathroom? Nope. Do I feel like eating? Nope. Should I pick this up and fling it at someone? Maybe later.)

Of course there is always the temptation to think of them as deeper than they probably are, particularly the monkeys. I stood there with my little girl, and this monkey sat on his rock looking back, and as it watched us, I wondered what his impression of me and my daughter might be. Then he turned around, dropped a duece, and proceeded to start walking away from it, only to see his little doody out of the corner of his eye and, looking vaguely surprised, turn to inspect it. Three times.

God I love me some monkeys.

Overall the trip was a rousing success. The hippos played and pulled leaves from the trees. The seals did tricks in the water for us. The wolves chased each other around. The lions and tigers...well, they slept, but one of tigers rolled over, which is kind of a win. The kids had a good time. In fact, there was only one thing that really bothered me about the whole trip.

I don't mind that the gorillas insist on touching themselves, but why to they have to look me right in the eye when they're doing it?