Baby Animals

When Emily first got word that there were baby animals at the zoo, that was all she could talk about. In August, the Hogle Zoo had a baby elephant, baby snow leopards and a baby giraffe. Everyday when I got home from work, Emily told me how excited she was to see the baby animals. We promised to go and see them the next Saturday.

On Saturday, we woke up with rain banging on the windows, an uncommon occurrence in the Utah desert. Held to our promise, we drove to the zoo anyways. We parked right next to the entrance as the rain stopped and were some of the only people at the zoo for the entire morning. It was cool, misty and wonderfully relaxing. By the time we finished, the zoo was packed. Visiting the zoo is like going boating, it is always best to go on days when no one else wants too.

Zuri, the baby elephant.

Here is a poor picture of the tiger. Emily got a much closer look. As we approached the tiger enclosure, he was laying in the corner. By this time, there were about a dozen people standing near the fence trying to see him. Rather than fighting the crowd, I brought Emily and Jude into a glass observation area so that they could see the tiger. Emily pressed her face against the 1" thick glass and I knelt down behind her. Just then, the tiger stood up and walked straight at Emily. It was incredible, especially since it felt like there was nothing between us and the tiger. He walked up to Emily and rubbed his body on the other side of the glass, inches away from her face. We all jumped a little, but it was amazing to see him that close. His head was as big as Emily's body. By the time we turned around, we were surrounded by people who had come over to our spot. We got up and left, and tiger went back to his shady spot in the corner. I guess Emily was the only one worth visiting (or that looked edible).