The Linden Ledger

Vol. 04/05 Issue 9 Apr. 22, 2005

     Residing in California, I have had access to one of the world's most famous collections of caged animals: the San Diego Zoo. While this certainly sets a high and potentially unreasonable standard, it has great bearing on my enjoyment of other, and, dare I say, lesser zoos. I have become a connoisseur of captive creatures and, as such, feel confident in my less-than-flattering opinion of the National Zoo.

     With Briana, Lily and me as travel mates, our first stop on this trip was at the elephant house. If there was a box for suggestions, I would have certainly felt it worth my time to offer one: ventilation. The smell was fetid and was exponentially worsened by the humidity added by the, and I use the term loosely, habitats of water-dwelling animals such as capybaras and pygmy hippos. The cages were, in fact, cells. Relative to the size of the elephants, it seemed to be similar to a human living in a closet.

     The next exhibit we saw was that containing birds. This was to be regretted because it was not worth the stroke-inducing gradient one had to climb to get to it, nor did it offer any surrounding exhibits of relative interest--unless one considers construction workers to be of interest, which I do not. From the bird exhibit, we learned that cranes have types, differentiated from one another by various cranial place

Lions & Tigers & Under

Construction Exhibits– Oh My!

Jessica Murray, ‘05

Also in this Issue:

- Middle School Trip

-Sports Updates:

     Lacrosse,

     Pilates,

     Soccer,

     Riding,

- Time is Running Out

ments of red blotches, possessing a waddle, possessing two waddles, possessing no waddles, and defensive strategy. This final quality is included primarily because one was referred to as a “kick fighter” and that struck me as noteworthy.

     In addition to the cranes, there was the Kiwi. The Kiwi was so special that he had his own special show. And as the show was not going to happen for a number of hours, we elected to see the Kiwi in his own special room, darkened for his pleasure, the nocturnal creature that he is. In spite of the fact he lived in a cage no larger than a van, the Kiwi proved to be quite stealthy, evading our sight for the whole thirty seconds we elected to spend looking for him. Despite the elusive Kiwi, we did see an interest

ing bird: the flamingo. As my fellow bird-watcher Lily put it: “The flamingo is the panda of the bird house.” Indeed this proved an accurate observation as the blinding pink color and amazing neck contortions of the creature were certainly the most marketable thing about the aviary.

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