1 January 2010
After sleeping quite a bit later than I’d planned, I was getting ready for our annual New Year’s Day Zoo visit, when I learned I’d be going without my husband. Kyle is dealing with some very severe back pain, and the thought of walking around all day on concrete was more than he could handle. If there’s anything I completely understand, it is back pain—so off I went, to join our friends, while Kyle stayed home with the pups.
As always, I had a wonderful time at the Fort Worth Zoo—Dan’s stories as he leads the Zoo Tour, are both educational and very entertaining. And, I am one of many folks who would not miss it for the world.
One of the highlights of the trip for me, is always the visit to the Primate exhibit—specifically, our playtime with the gorillas. And, yes, I do mean “with” the gorillas. Dan takes the time to teach the group how to act in such a way that *we* are interesting to *them* instead of just the other way around. Thousands of people visit the gorillas and walk up to the glass and smile and stare and point. The gorillas are bored of that behaviour, and in fact, direct eye contact is seen as a sign of disrespect and aggression in their world. So, Dan has taught us to gather far from the glass wall and to not look directly into their faces. We approach the glass one or two at a time, and with bowed posture and eyes down. We run fingers through our hair, play with cameras and cell phones, even groom each other. At that point, we are acting more like gorillas than people, and we catch their attention. They want to approach us and figure us out—and those who are watching get awesome photos. While I prefer to interact than to take photos (the big silverbacks always seem to really like my long hair and today was no exception!) I did take this one today, of a young male that we are pretty sure was trying to act like one of us. He laughed, pointed at us, and just generally acted goofy for long enough for some cute photos to happen.
At the end of my day out, I returned home to find that Kyle was beginning to feel a little better and had started a meatloaf in the crock pot. Dinner was exceptionally tasty and was the perfect first dinner of the new year.
~MB
