Aurora's First Field Trip (In Which We Pet A Rhino)

I don't get to go on every field trip with my kids, but I'm glad for each opportunity I get. It's fun to see these destinations through their eyes; it's also illuminating for me to see how my children interact with their classmates and their teachers, even if it is in a slightly different setting than the classroom. This is especially true now that my girls are all in school and I don't see them as much any more. It's sometimes the only way I get a sense of the kind of people they are during the day, when they're away from me!

All aboard the GEA bus!!

Anyway, the kindergarteners' field trip to the Reid Park Zoo was Aurora's first-ever field trip as a student at Great Expectations Academy; she has been very excited about the opportunity all month. How could I pass up the chance to go along with her? True, the zoo is not really a new destination for anyone in our family; we were members of the zoo for nine years! In fact, we finally let our membership lapse last October; now that all the kids are in school, there just isn't as much opportunity to go any more.

However, this trip to the zoo wasn't just any trip; it was a "behind-the-scenes" look at the zoo, where we'd see additional animals and learn about some of the tools of the zookeepers' trade. These tours are available to the public, but sadly, we never took advantage of them while we were members. I was excited to get the opportunity now as an adult chaperone for the kindergartners.

We started out in the zoo's Conservation Learning Center, where one of the zookeepers began our visit with a small presentation about animal diet. She taught the students about the difference between carnivores, herbivores, insectivores, and omnivores. Then our guide proceeded to show off a parade of cute little animals for kids and parents to touch. She had a guinea pig, a python (which creeped me out but which I petted anyway), and a hedgehog. The hedgehog was still a young animal and got pretty nervous with all the crowds, so it started to get fidgety and most of the kids weren't able to pet it. Oh well, at least it was adorable to look at!

After our short lecture in the Learning Center, the zookeeper led our group through the "employees-only" security door. It was time for our group to see what goes on behind the scenes!

Our first stop was the zoo "kitchen," where all the animals' food was prepared. There is, of course, no oven or stove in the zoo's kitchen, since all the animals meals are served raw. It was fun to see the kitchen staff at work, and what interesting food combinations they were chopping up and throwing together.

We also took a look inside the food storage "warehouse" adjacent to the kitchen. There were dozens of large bins full of a variety of grains, seeds, and grasses. It was interesting to look at the piles of feed and wonder how fast the zoo would go through their current supply. Keeping large animals well fed is a difficult business!

The walk-in freezer took up one end of the warehouse, and from that freezer our guide brought forth the most interesting kitchen items; the animals' various "popsicles"! It makes sense the zoo would want to keep a bunch of food on ice for the animals; I imagine they'd taste particularly refreshing in the hot summer months. But the ingredients in these popsicles...well, let's just say they were never intended for human consumption.

The first "popsicle" was a blood popsicle, made entirely of blood runoff and frozen solid in a little steel bucket. This treat was for the zoo's big cats (specifically, their lions). Makes sense...what cat doesn't like a little blood in its food? The second popsicle was for the zoo's pair of grizzly bears. In true omnivore fashion, the icy bucket was filled with apple slices & other fruit fragments, but had a tasty treat of frozen fish down toward the very bottom of the popsicle. It didn't sound terribly tasty to me, but then again, I'm not a bear.

But then our tour guide unveiled the piece de resistance...

It took a minute or two to figure out what I was looking at. It was a frozen coconut, stuffed with dead rats! I couldn't hold in my giggles at the sight of the dead rats sticking out of a coconut every which way, their tiny paws folded in front of them as if praying for mercy, their eyes thankfully shut and oblivious to the humiliating position their corpses have been put into.

These "coconut-rat" popsicles are a special treat for the zoo's jaguars. In the wild, jaguars love to crush the skulls of their prey with their powerful jaws and teeth. Giving the jaguars a hard coconut will simulate that same feeling for them, with a little rat meat thrown in as a tasty bonus. All in all, it was one of the strangest food items I've ever seen in my life, no matter the intended recipient. It made me want to go into the freezer myself, and see what other kooky stuff the zoo staff keeps in there.

I was a little sad to leave the kitchen, but the best part of our tour was yet to come. Our host took us up to the back of the rhino enclosure, for an up close and personal encounter with "Yebonga," the zoo's elderly female white rhino.

Far from being skittish and shy, Yebonga sauntered over to our tour group as soon as she saw us, then casually turned her side to us. The zookeeper invited everyone to take turns petting this gentle rhino, and everyone was happy to do so!

 

Aurora (and all the other kids) were terribly excited...and so was I! I admit to being pretty scared of rhinos...they are such big, powerful animals, and I am afraid of being trampled and mauled by an angry one. But Yebonga was completely placid, calm, and peaceful (and, dare I say, very "tame" for a wild animal!).

It was so cool to feel a rhino's skin. According to the zookeeper, rhinoceros skin is very sensitive (part of the reason they love to wallow in mud is to keep away biting flies). However, you'd never know their skin was so sensitive just by touching it...it felt very rough, thick, and leathery. Almost reptilian! However, Yebonga definitely seemed pleased by all the little hands petting her, so I guess the zookeepers are on to something.

So, we all got to pet a rhinoceros...that is definitely an experience worth remembering! It gave us all a connection to the zoo animals that we hadn't experienced before.

Aurora also got to feed her friends, the giraffes. We have fed them before, but it is always fun to watch their long purple tongues snake out of their mouths and snatch those delicious carrots away from the kids.

And because Aurora is my baby and I am a sucker, I let her talk me into a ride on the zoo's new carousel...

 

Three dollars for a two-minute ride seems a bit excessive to me, but the look of transported joy on her face justified the expense!

With that, our adventure at the zoo came to an end. The kindergarten class traveled to nearby Reid Park to eat their lunch and play on the large playground.

This playground is walking distance from the apartment complex our family lived in many years ago, so returning here always brings me waves of nostalgia. I am glad all three of my girls have had the opportunity to run, climb, swing, and slide through this place.

I wasn't able to ride the bus with Aurora for this trip...I had piano students arriving early in the afternoon and I needed to be home on time. As I waved goodbye and drove off, I felt both happy and wistful...happy that I'd been able to spend a fun day with my sweet youngest girl, and wistful because these types of days are becoming fewer and far between.