A Denver Zoo Redux

I went back to the Denver Zoo yesterday afternoon to take a few more animal photographs. Since my reservation time was at 3:00 P.M., I knew I had no hope of seeing the twin lion cubs (they go in for naps no later that 2:00), and as you can see from the photograph of their compound on the left, I was right. It reached 100 degrees in Denver yesterday, and so most of the animals were keeping a low profile. Only a couple of the lions were outside, sleeping in the shade, while the rest were inside, no doubt taking advantage of the air conditioning and watching the telly.

It was so hot, one of the giraffes was sitting down in the middle of the compound, which is the first time I have ever seen that.  I checked the internet, and giraffes do indeed sleep standing up, but sometimes they are known to sit down and "ruminate." Ruminate? Really? About what? The weather? Since these animals are native to Africa, you would think they would be genetically predisposed to hot weather, but I guess not. Perhaps being housed in buildings with air conditioning has spoiled them. If the doors to the giraffe house were not shut, I am sure they all would have been inside the entire day, and most likely order out using Grubhub.

The hot weather even seems to have taken all the energy out of the rhino, seen in the photograph on the left. To me it actually looks kind of depressed. Once again I must appeal to zoo officials to make a concerted effort to cheer these animals up. Perhaps a zoo intern could be sent into the various compounds and kick the soccer ball around with them once in a while. It's either that or intense psychological analysis, and that is expensive.