11/06: Washington D.C. Zoo

The Washington D.C. Zoo is quite old. And that means that its older, outside exhibits leave something to be desired with their small spaces and concrete pizzazz. It's really somewhat depressing and remeniscent of the Akawisawa Zoo, which made me sad to no end. However, their newer indoor exhibits were phenomenal, particularly Amazonia. Amazonia showcases animals from the Amazon (as one might guess). First, there are a few individual displays, which are nice. But then, the last bit of the building is this huge room, kind of like the Biosphere, with native plants and and animals that roam around freely (including scarlet mckaws, monkeys, and lots of birds). It was so impressive. The reptile exhibit was also very cool. I would have appreciated more room, as each cage was really very small, but there were lots to see, and the conditions were better than most outside ones. I did hate the little kids clamouring around trying to see everything, screaming and making so much noise. So I did appreciate the alligator snapping turtle's attemps to eat them. When the kids gathered around and pressed their noses against the glass, he swum up, opened his mouth, and wiggled that part of the tongue that is suppose to look like a worm and entrap fish. Stupendous. They also had some cool invertebrate displays. There were even spiders that were just hanging out in a display without glass (they apparently keep the same web for their entire lives and repair it). By the way, the picture of the skull and bread was to show how a human could swallow a loaf of bread whole if his jaw worked the way a snake's does.