BLOGYSSEY: Money Making Genius

This week I again was unsure of what to write, but seeing as I had that excuse last week I knew I had to come up with something ‘proper’ this week. When Antonia and I decided to go to Hamburg Zoo on Sunday, I was incredibly relieved. I could write about that! However, once I was at the zoo, I just wasn’t feeling it. Again it was not that it wasn’t amazing, I was fascinated by just how human the Orang-Utans acted, using blankets when they lay down, or staring at nothing, leaning on their long arms. Looking through the cage at the Leopard was incredible, seeing it’s beautifully kept fur with it’s bright blacks, browns and oranges. But I was seriously worried it would not make writing material, as when I write I want to feel passionate about it, or else it tends to come across incredibly dull. But then I saw an animal that changed it all..

Those Human-Like Orang-Utans

I had given up reading the signs, as there were no translations and I cannot read German. Antonia led me down into an aquarium looking building made to look like the Poles, with rocks covered in ice. I assumed we were going to see penguins. Penguins are cute, but I wasn’t exactly bouncing off the walls with excitement. I had seen heaps in New Zealand, booth in aquariums and in the wild. When we got to the first window there was a massive crowd. Again I thought, ‘Come on people, penguins aren’t THAT cool.’ But then I saw, over the heads of the fascinated children, what they were all looking at so eagerly. A big, beautiful, white head broke through the water. His massive paws reached out to the rocks on the water’s edge, and slowly he pulled is heavy body from the water before shaking off the water like a dog. I had never seen a real polar bear in my life, and there one was, closer than you would ever be able to get to one in the wild. I was determined to get as close to him as I could, so I waited for the children to slowly peel away from the glass until I was right up the front. The window was about two metres high, about one metre was above water, and one below. By now the polar bear was back in the water. He swam past the window to the edge of his pool, did a tumble turn and pushed off with his strong legs, swimming right past the window, so close he was almost touching it. His white fur looked magnificent as it moved through the water, glossy and shimmering, standing out in the murky blue. His dinner-plate sized paws moved lazily through the water, moving him far faster than his slow stroke would suggest. Up until that point I was sure (since going to Auckland Zoo last year) that my favourite animal was tigers. But seeing this bear, beautiful, cute, cuddly and yet at the same time majestic and frightening, tigers were moved firmly down to second place. There is no doubt in my mind after seeing one in real life, that polar bears are the most amazing animal in the world, and undoubtedly my new favourite animal!

Polar Bear - The Most Incredible Animal

After the polar bear I was pretty sure that nothing there would be better. I could not have been more mistaken! After eating lunch by the giraffes and buying a Kinder Surprise filled crepe, we headed over to the elephants. There were at least 7 (I actually forgot to count!) both adults and babies. I knew that we were able to feed them, and we had brought food to do so, but I had not really thought about what I would actually be doing. Feeding the elephants was the most fun I have had in a while (and trust me, that’s saying something!) They had become quite the experts at balancing their weight so that they could lean across the large gap between them and us (public), stretching out their nose as far as it could go to suck the food onto their nose before feeding it to themselves. Antonia and I took in turns feeding, while the other would reach out and stroke its nose. I’m not sure what I expected an elephant’s nose to feel like, I don’t think I had even really thought about it, but it was like nothing else. It was very solid and rough, the end wet, covered in saliva from its mouth. You could tell just from touching it that it was an extremely strong muscle, and would have no difficulty in picking large objects (people included!) Feeding them was already incredible, but what really blew me away was their money making scheme, that worked flawlessly. If you were to hold out a coin to the elephant, it would take it from you and walk over the nearest handler and give him the money! It is such a brilliant way to make a bit of money because seeing an elephant recognise a certain object as money and to give it to the handler is so, well, cool that you just want to do it again, and thus keep giving money!

Feeding the Elephants

Money Making Elephants!

So in the end, Hamburg Zoo did give me material to write about, and I absolutely LOVED going there. There were so many other amazing animals to watch and interact with and there is no doubt, if I ever have children and take them to Hamburg, that I will being taking them to the zoo to see it all, but mostly to feed the elephants!

More Zoo Photos