My Day At The Zoo

 

The zoo has always been associated with pleasant memories for me. I am from Omaha, Nebraska where the number one ranked zoo in the country is located, so I spent many days of my childhood at the zoo. I remember how easily my sister and I would laugh at the gorillas coming up to the window and banging on it or the giraffes eating leaves from the trees that they could reach with their long necks. I felt like I was right back to my childhood when I visited the zoo this weekend. I spent lots of time walking around and seeing all of my favorite animals. The giraffes have always been my favorite attraction at the zoo so I spent a long part of the afternoon watching them. I got lucky because just when I was about to leave a couple of the zoo staff members came to the feed the giraffes. The picture I have included depicts a humorous moment that I witnessed. The zoo staff member got up on the ladder to feed the giraffes leaves. Right when the giraffes saw the zoo staff member start to climb the ladder, four of them quickly moved towards the fence. There was another family with three children watching with me and the zoo worker turned to us and said “Apparently food is the best way to get anyone’s attention”. We all chuckled to ourselves because just like humans are pretty easily influenced by food, so are the animals. The need for food is a natural instinct. From this experience the theory that laughter is contagious was not really proven since everyone was laughing in unison, though I do believe that theory to be true. I think the one thing that stood out to me most about humor from my day at the zoo was how amused children are by the animals, just as I was as a child. When walking around since it was the weekend, there were lots of families at the zoo. I saw lots of moments of laughter and smiles from children throughout the day. These moments of humor caused the children’s parents to smile which does prove the theory that laughter is contagious. When people, especially the parent of a child, sees laughter or a smile, it is hard not to join in. The zoo is a great place to enjoy nature and the animals always seem to do something funny that brings a smile to everyone’s face. I had a great time observing the animals and the reactions of the other people enjoying a fun day at the zoo.