Today, while discernment slowly dawned on me at the Miami Metro Zoo, insanity was tossed in my direction, fast and humorous.
I don't know why I chose today to visit the Zoo, for as wet as Miami was yesterday, so hot and humid was it today. As I trudged between cages full of heat-induced semi-comatose, exotic animals, I asked myself that often.
I did see a 250 pound Galapagos tortoise mating with a smaller female. It was an eerie sight, like from a Alien-movie, and I was kinda expecting Sigourney Weaver to show up and break up the ol' guy's little party.
I also learned that flamingo's owe their beautiful pink color to the carotene found in their food. It seems that you really are what you eat!
In front of the chimpanzee's cage, an array of colorful - and mostly underdressed (yes, rumors later confirmed someone was in fact wearing a Speedo...) - zoo-goers were gathered, hoping the limp, sleeping chimps would provide some entertainment. Which of course they did not.
But those people sure did! Half-naked would be a better description, if you do not take the thirty tatoos and studs into account. Then there was the couple making out in the hippo's viewing cave, whom the bystanders were watching purely because the Cuban crocs next door were not moving at all.
I find it odd to have a Zoo in a sauna like Miami, especially for animals from arid regions. They were all passed out from the heat, lying in their waterpools, or drinking Budweiser.
Miami's sole Koala was definitely moving, trying to hide! Three moms were slapping on his cage's window for all they were worth, trying to get him to pose for pictures with six snot-nosed little brats pressing their grimy little hands on the clear glass. The same glass on which was posted a HUGE notice - "PLEASE do not knock on the glass."
Luckily for the marsupial from Down Under, their attention was drawn away by the screaming, yelling, middle-aged man racing three teenagers on their rented pedal-powered carts down the pathway towards the Asian display.
That's why I love Sundays in Miami so, for the peace and quiet.
The silver-back gorilla was grinning broadly at me as I passed his encampment on the way out...
Laughing at us.
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