I spent Tuesday at the London Zoo. For real, the one in England. I cannot show you any photos. My family took the camera because they were going to Buckingham Palace. Evidently that deserved the camera more than the zoo did, however you can click here to learn about the London Zoo.

The zoo was very large and had some great exhibits, and because it is the oldest zoo, had a lot of ‘older’ style exhibits. I saw tapirs and okapis (the only living relative of the giraffe). They had a great mixed species rainforest exhibit where I actually saw a sloth move. Three baby coatis were a neat find as well.

I sat down to get out of the rain and watch their Animals in Action show. I had a Harris Hawk named Michele fly back and forth over my head to different perches she had been trained to fly to. Then she grabbed a mouse out of mid air. She went back behind the scenes so another animal could come out but then she flew back out. After this happened twice, the presenter said the show would have to end and that everyone should come back later, after they had Michele back. I asked what was the longest she had ever been out and they said all day, but never overnight (although other birds in the program had been out overnight). The trainers seemed frustrated but calm.

While leaving the zoo a few hours later, Michele was in a tree near the vulture exhibit. I felt for the trainers: we’ve had issues with animals not doing what we wanted. Things go wrong everywhere, and things almost always end up okay.