A Sunday Afternoon Observing San Diego's Animals
Down to San Diego, and the whole plan was a Sunday afternoon observing the animals at the zoo in Balboa Park — the one that opened in 1916 and now holds more than 12,000 animals across 650-some species. No agenda beyond wandering the paths and stopping wherever something was moving.
The flamingos near the entrance were doing plenty. A whole colony on the rocks around their pond, most of them working their heads back through their own feathers, a few honking at each other under the purple flowering bushes.
Elephant Odyssey took the longest. An African elephant was working over a dirt mound with its trunk, and later swung past a big ball hanging on a rope without much interest in it. The Asian elephant in the next stretch mostly stood by the fake baobab, trunk curled at the tip, and I got close enough to see the fuzz of red hair on top of its head.
The zoo bills itself as cageless and open-air, which is mostly true, though the secretary bird was behind mesh among the aloes. The signs call them snake hunters. This one just paced.
