Evil, evil daystar

[vvvexation]

Note to self: Oakland Zoo + hot summer day = very good chance of heat exhaustion. Symptoms liable to last several times as long as time spent in sun.

If not for that, might have gotten to see more of zoo. Did, however, get to see the important parts, i.e. the large kitties. Mmmmmmmmmm, kitties. Also discovered that elk make really weird sounds. Had not realized, however, that giraffes' natural habitat consisted mostly of sand and palm trees.

Comments

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

He came home wiped, too.

The zoo is decidedly best "in the wee hours" (from opening until noon or so) or on very cloudy days.

My mom once got heat exhaustion there, when I was little, but it was 90 by 10 am on that particular day, and we'd gone to the zoo (which was so bad, then, that it was threatened with ASPCA sanctions) that day because we didn't have an air conditioner in the car, so we always drove down the valley (which was 105+) before dawn, then needed a place to kill time before my mom's best friend got off work.

[angelbob.livejournal.com]

Had not realized, however, that giraffes' natural habitat consisted mostly of sand and palm trees.

I hadn't known that either, but it would make a certain amount of sense. If the only thing to eat is palm fronds, you'd *need* to be tall.

Then again, I have no idea how edible palm fronds are. Monkeys can eat the pith in the center of the palm, but I don't think that giraffes can. So if giraffes' habitat is all palm trees, I guess they *must* be able to eat palm fronds.

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

Er...that was sarcasm. Giraffes are creatures of the savanna, but the habitat the zoo had them in looked more like a San Diego beach. The palm trees were just for shade, as far as we could tell; the giraffes were fed out of little boxes attached to the walls at head height.