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Re: Hypography Goes to the Zoo
I can barely imagine what it must be like to load this thread without high speed internet. I could probably have put the pictures here in a more efficient manner. My count stands at 81 different animals. I have gone through the rest of my pictures and it is around 131 total. More than that really, but I don't know how to identify all of them. Next time I will need to take some good notes. What still remains? Turtles, snakes, birds, fish, crocodiles, monkeys, leopards, deer, frogs, insects... all sorts of stuff.
At the end of the day me and the boys had a wonderful weekend of observing animals and learning about them, as well as learning about how a zoo and a farm operate; where a zoo gets its animals, how the animals are cared for, and what happens to the animals (food or long life). We have learned that cultural bias helps determine the fate of an animal; cows don't die of old age often, they are useful in life and in death. Horses on the other hand are retired until they die of old age; we don't eat horses in the US (but we will sell the meat to Japan and other equine eating countries). The lambs I photographed at the farm park will soon be served up for Passover and Easter. Some will be kept to make more lambs, or wool, before eventually becoming mutton for human or dog consumption.
At the zoo animals live long lives. Their breeding is carefully controlled to prevent over population and keep costs down. Sometimes excess animals of the right type might be slaughtered and fed to the predators. I remember when a Giraffe died at the Safari in NJ where I worked they took the dead body and put it in with the lions. It was while the park was closed for the winter, so nobody had to see the gore, but the keepers told how it was healthy for the lions to be fed that way from time to time.
Both the zoo animals and the farm animals have their health carefully monitored. It is safe to say that the zoo will go to greater lengths to preserve the life of an animal than a farm will, as the zoo values the animals for being alive, while a farm animal is often at its most valuable (and delicious) when it is dead.
I will post the rest of the pictures shortly. The next trip is to the Cleveland Science Center. Cool stuff!
Bill
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