First Trip to the Zoo

This Saturday, we decided at a whim to go to the St. Louis Zoo. It was quite an interesting trip. Upon first entering, we went to the primate house. I remember when we first brought Jocelyn there. Josie almost freaked out but once she figured out there was glass between the monkeys and her, she thought it was alright. Maya kept a close eye on them but that was about it. To her, they were just a bunch of hairy Vinnies that could jump from tree to tree.

After the primate house, we went around to see the lions, zebras, and donkeys (or as they called them, wild asses). At the edge of the zoo were the giraffes. This is where things got interesting. When I first came around the corner, my first thought was "What the hell is hanging from its butt?" It took me a bit but I soon figured out (with Lezlie's help--the zoologist of the family) that the giraffe was giving birth. What was weird was that all the mother was doing was walking around.
It didn't look like it was going to happen soon so we walked around for a bit longer but soon came back to see the progress. We then heard one of the zookeepers say that it would probably be about 30 minutes based on the actions of the mother. So, we decided to wait and watch. She continued to pace and every so often, she would stop, lower her head a bit, and push. After a bit, out came the head. Around 20 minutes later, out the baby came. I almost got it on video but it happened so quick and I missed it. But, here is a picture soon after. We didn't see the baby get up but she was moving and reacting to her mother cleaning her.

Maya was patient through all of this, but we could tell she was getting sleepy so we decided to make way down to the bears and the penguins/puffins.At the end of the day, I think we wore her out. She took an hour and a half nap. Unfortunately, this kept her up until 11pm. But hey, it's the weekend.

Stay tuned--I'll soon let you know how my first Father's Day went.