Thankfully before getting to Cats and being very upset by the state of Grotto B (see previous post), we had a very sweet visit with Zura, one of the female Gorillas.
Zura is my favorite, and I have taken to calling her Princess Zura and referring to the Gorilla area as ZuraLand :) She is a silly girl with lots of personality. She loves attention and will stick her tongue out and wiggle it from side to side and then smile :) She will also give people the finger which she has done at a couple appropriate times ;) She is a character.
She was sitting on the rock near the window and making eye contact. There were people all across the length of the window, but she looked at us a couple times. She got off the rock and came over to us and tapped the window and then hugged the area in front of us! I had never seen her (or any of them) do this. It was very sweet, and she did it twice.
The Primate Curator Corinne MacDonald once told me that they (Gorillas/Animals) don't feel things like we do. I know about those who buy into the term anthropomophize, but in my opinion anyone who has a relationship with any animal, knows they have feelings and emotions similar to ours. They may process it differently, but its there. That said, someone who specifically works with Primates should not be saying such. The proof is in the picture.
The Chimps were having a great time yesterday as they had an assortment of items out. There were painted boxes Red and Blue, maybe these were left over from the Holiday? Could it be that there were actually 4th of July Enrichment Toys? Not sure but they did have stuff to play with yesterday. One of the items was a mirror and Maggie was very entertained with it. Not only did she check herself out many times (as seen below), she also had a rat tail comb and combed her hair, and then checked her teeth. After all this fancying up, she literally ran to the neighboring grotto over to Cobby and gave him a kiss! It was very cute.
Hopefully the Chimps getting fun stuff doesn't end with the Holiday, because Cobby celebrates his Birthday on Tuesday and for a Chimp whose estimated age is 54, he deserves a celebration! ... Sadly deserving and getting are two different things at the San Francisco Zoo and none of the Chimps have had a Birthday celebration Since Cobby's in 2009. Read more about that in a post Tuesday July 10th.
See more photos from yesterdays visit (coming soon)
That's awesome that you had an interaction like that with Zura. And that's funny about Maggie and the mirror.
ReplyDeleteIt was a special primate day for sure. Zura is incredible. Also, the chimps were fun!!! Great photo capture of the mirror!!! I hope Cobby gets some fun stuff for his birthday, he's precious!!!
ReplyDelete@Brenda- Thank you for your comment. It was pretty cool with Zura :) and I loved how Maggie interacted with the mirror. It was great Enrichment for her.
ReplyDelete#Lee- Thank you for your comment. It was a great time for the Primates. I was lucky to catch that with Maggie, and Yes, I hope Cobby gets something Special!
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