Let’s face it; with five children, a zoo becomes a great baby sitter and where we spent many hours enjoying the residents. But, there are a few minutes we could have skipped.
Mr. Gorilla at the Toledo Zoo has his smitten audience “oohing’ and “ahing” as he performs his “cute” act. Our family is a tad disappointed to not be front, center. Abruptly, he pads to the back of his cage, turns around and charges at a neck-breaking twenty mph toward his audience. He vaults onto the bars, shakes and pounds them, rears back and spits at the crowd. The disgusted, horrified adults wipe saliva off their howling children and make a quick exit.
We giggle, wondering if this is his “shtick” and stay out of range. As soon as he determines the crowd-size meets his standards, he begins his act, meanders to the rear, turns and …. Oh, yes. He does it again! Mr. Gorilla has learned how to turn his audience into the main act and he the spectator.
The lion feeding at the Naples Zoo is fascinating. The zoo keeper stations herself on the path between his fence and our fence and drops a hunk of beef into his enclosure. Mr. Lion is graceful and royal as he springs from his rock-throne and saunters over to check out her offering.
Meanwhile, Ms. Zoo Keeper instructs us on “natural” big-cat behavior and the crowd grows to three deep. Mr. Lion finishes his snack, pads in front of us and studies his audience. We’re close enough to smell his breathe. While his keeper scuttles down the path, he turns around, gives us a fleeting contemptuous glance, lifts his tail and sprays with precision from right to left. We’re wedged in three deep and there’s no escaping the drenching. As the song goes, The King is “ doin’ what comes naturally.” I did mention Ms. Zoo Keeper was long gone, didn’t I?
On Homosassa Springs’ boat ride you can step off at the animal exhibits where the path meanders past the hippo area. Advised that Mr. Hippo has the habit of rotating his rear your direction while pooping and twirling his tail, we keep our distance.
However, an unsuspecting photographer sporting a white linen suit positions himself squarely in front and snaps away. Mr. Hippo decides this is his spotlight moment and performs his propeller act. Let’s just say that Mr. Photographer’s outfit is no longer squeaky clean and this time we snicker along with the perpetrator.
Consider yourself forewarned, should you spend a day at the zoo, to be on the lookout for animal revenge where turn about is fair play.