Sunday, August 19, 2007

False advertising and wildlife encounter

Sha Sha has succumbed to the advertising blitz put on by the zoo. They advertised like crazy for their special exhibit this year, which happened to be koalas. Sha Sha asked repeatedly if we were going to go. She has a particular fondness for koalas. I kept telling her we would do our best. The exhibit ends next week and I told her last week when she asked again I wasn't sure if we were going to make it. The temperatures have been so hot and Gigi is so little... Needless to say Sha Sha was quite disappointed, to the point of tears.

So first thing yesterday, we went to the zoo to see the koalas. We headed to see them first, because we were not staying to see the whole zoo and it would surely turn hot soon. When we arrived at the cage to see the cute, adorable koalas they were sound asleep with their backs to curious onlookers. I could have propped a fuzzy pillow in a tree in the backyard and called it a koala and saved myself $40! The docent at the display informed us that they sleep 22 hours a day and could be viewed at the 3:00pm weighing and feeding and they would be awake then.

Why advertise a cute adorable animal that is only awake 2 hours a day? I know none of the ads had sleeping koalas....

During the same trip to the zoo, the boy had an encounter that could have been very bad. The kangaroos at the zoo are free roaming in an area near a path. While the rest of our family was observing a small joey 2 feet away from us separated from the herd (are a group of kangaroos called a herd?), the boy was creeping up on a kangaroo a little larger than him on the other side of the path. We hear another onlooker say "oh, no" and I KNOW it is the boy. I turn around and about freak because I can see the look in the kangaroo's eyes. It says "Come on, buddy, wanna box?"

Needless to say it was all resolved okay, but I'm sure the boy's guardian angel was standing at attention and calling in reinforcements for the rest of our visit.

1 comment:

Chaos-Jamie said...

I think it's called a "Mob." Fitting since one almost mugged the boy. LOL!