by Lorrine Parks

Downey Rotary went on a virtual tour of the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens with Zoo Docent Diane Jamieson. At the Entry Plaza is the California sea life exhibit of the harbor seal and sea lion, to welcome us. Here is also the animal rescue and care center, featuring the California Condor.
 

   We saw waterfowl in their native habitats, and the LAIR (Living Amphibians, Reptiles and Invertebrates). Ann showed us a fifteen foot long cobra skin. Naturally obtained because it was shed, of course, it was so wide and long that she could wrap it around her neck and shoulders like a boa (no pun). 

   Just past the flamingo exhibit is a special treat, the Moss Carousel, donated by the Jerry and Ann Moss family,  Gaily painted it looks just like a circus amusement until you look closely and realize each animal represents an endangered species.  The giraffes do not go up and down to the music, and that is because they are too tall to start with: they fit from platform to canopy.

 It is a 2.5 million project with handcrafted animals which just opened in October 2011, and its full name is the Tom Mankewitz Conservation Carousel, named by the Moss family for the late screen writer.  You could choose to ride upon a cheetah, a clown fish, a big horn sheep and even a blue dung beetle, a lowland gorilla, a panda, a komodo dragon or a poison dart frog.  There’s even a unicorn, because “imagination is endangered too,” says Ann Moss.  What a fun way for a family to learn together about ecology. 

   The Mosses own A&M Records, so instead of the usual hurdy-gurdy music, for $3 you go up and down and around and around to the sounds of The Police, Go Go’s, the Tijuana Brass and the Carpenters.

   Among the most popular exhibits are the elephants, and they are located in the Asia section, where they can roam over 6 acres which represent Thailand, Cambodia, China and India.  There has been some inquiry as to whether Billy the elephant is happy in his habitat, but there is a newly installed waterfall, and visitors can see he loves to stand under it for hours, even on rainy days.

   Popular with visitors are the habitats containing the gorillas; the orang-utang (a Malay word for person or man of the forest) which have 97% the same genetic material as humans; and those primates closest in behavior to homo sapiens, the chimpanzee. 

  There are educational displays in each area dedicated to the different continents, such as Australia and South America and you can learn that snow leopards will only come out of their chilled caves on really cold days as they are used to living at high altitudes just below the snowline; the tallest flying bird is the Sarus Crane from China (cranes are among the oldest of all living things, dating back millions of years), and Sumatra Tigers, the smallest subspecies of tiger, measure up to nine feet in length and weighing 380 lbs.  That matches Shaquille O’Neal at his heaviest with the Lakers.  With webbing between their toes to make their feet act as flippers, they love their daily swim.

  There is so much to see in a zoo as large as ours, located just off the 5 freeway in the hills near Dodger Stadium.  Admission ranges from free for infants to $14 for seniors, $17 for adults.  The Zoo is open every day except Christmas, when presumably the creatures are opening their presents and do not want to be disturbed.  Check it out at www.lazoo.org.

The HubBub    Editor: Dan Fox