What's Up at the Zoo?

Yesterday, I was at the Singapore Zoological Gardens with my mum and sis. Sometimes I wonder why when, after making a great deal of a fuss about going somewhere, you end up, against all odds, enjoying the visit more than you ever strike out to be. The weather was ok, though not exactly ideal, being a tad too hot for my taste, but still, it was alright for a day of traipsing around animals, and that certain wonderful aroma that goes with them.

Loved the siamangs (a kind of gibbon from Indonesia), and this very fake looking crocodile in the "Tree-Top Walk Exhibit". When I mean "fake looking", it's because all I saw of it was this enormous, partially open jaw that slowly sank beneath this faux waterfall - it (whatever of it that can be seen) bore a most striking resemblance to that Tyrannosaurus from the Jurassic Park movie. I can only observe how ironic it is that the real deal looks false in reality, and the fake one so entirely convincing on our TV screens. The white tigers were stunning, though I can't say I really like the male tiger; it seemed to LOVE parading around on this huge rocky outcrop with a really smug air before demonstrating on a tree its "this is my territory" act...men...

Speaking of which, I think zoos ought to have R(A) screenings of its animals' behaviour. THAT was only the beginning. There was this pair of male monkeys exhibiting highly ambiguous behaviour which I shall not dwell on. I don't know why goats are associated with the over amorous - the title should go, hands down to the baboon.

Did I mention the smell? Most exhibits stank, courtesy of the humid weather conditions. However, the trip wasn't without its positive highlights. A goat escaped in the Children's World, and walked up to a crowd standing outside a pen full of sheep and goats, waiting to be petted. You should have seen the zookeeper's face when he came up with food for the sheep...the goat stared back so placidly, like it was saying "Who me?"

Funnily enough, it wasn't the only thing to have escaped, an iland* from the savanna exhibit got loose too, and was squeezing its way between a bit of landscaping outside the rhinoceros exhibit. Initially, we thought it was just a part of its exhibit, but who puts bamboo in a savanna exhibit? When we looked round the big patch of bush and saw only a "No Entry Sign", we figured it was an escaped iland. That was confirmed when we saw that there was no fence on the other side of the bush and a zookeeper on bike stared at the iland as he cycled past...

We spent almost 7 hrs in that godforsaken jungle. It wasn't bad, I mean...cute ducklings and all...Love the zoo. Hate the trouble getting there. Hate being pestered about going there...

*iland: A brown antelope like creature with distinct white stripes on its body; larger than antelopes though and the escaped one was the size of a small horse.