The Urban Pantheist

Washing dishes selfie.


A lot of people I talk to mention the "bored" or "sad" expression on the gorillas' faces. I explain that a lot of it is the way their faces just are. The heavy brow and deep-set eyes make them seem broody or thoughtful. They don't share a lot of facial expressions with humans, but their faces are alarmingly human-like. This is the most placid look I've seen on Little Joe's face. He's 20 now, so most of the time I've known him he's been a teenager, becoming sexually mature and putting on silverback weight and characteristics. His eyes are very expressive, but just what he's expressing is a little alien to me, as he is an alien species.

( Read more... )


Matt, who we sometimes call "Canada," watches the gorillas eat the food that he and Kirsten just scattered into there.




Mother and daughter eat, pensively, near one another.

A weird crow call drew me out from my office. Just outside, a red tail was getting harassed by a single crow and few songbirds. This grackle was the most persistent of the mob.

( many more creatures, in randomish order )

A lot of people--unless they have little kids--don't go to the zoo when they go on vacation. I'm really glad we did. I definitely recommend the Los Angeles Zoo if you like venomous snakes. I saw so many hot snakes that I completely lost track of what the species were.

( more Zoo! )

Sometimes I'm the only primate around when the snapshot alarm goes off.

( On with the other primates! )

I should have a tag for Little Joe since he appears so often in this journal. Suffice it to say you can click the "gorillas" link below and see lots of Joe and his family. Joe is about to turn 20 years old, and is the largest gorilla at the Tropical Forest at over 420 lbs.

He was a lad of only 10 (but a large animal to be sure) when he became the most famous gorilla in New England when he briefly left the zoo. I'm enjoying telling guests who bring it up (there are many) that the event is now a decade in the past. A multi-million dollar redesign has ensured that no future exploits will occur.



Kambiri is the youngest gorilla in the exhibit, a female born in November of 2010. Here she's scaled a large fake fallen tree trunk in the exhibit, dangling about ten feet over the ground. Zookeepers watch helplessly and nervously as she tests the limits of her own agility.

Here is a news story about a veterinary procedure at Franklin Park Zoo--an examination and cardiac screening of our oldest male gorilla.

The article includes this picture of the goings-on:


It's amazing how many people you can fit into a gorilla cage when you need to. Pictured are almost all my zoo hospital coworkers, my best zoo buddy Kikipuff, 3 other zookeepers, and some visiting doctors (who are the focus of the article above). Also Kitombe, the western lowland gorilla, who did great from the moment he presented his shoulder for the injection of sedative until he woke up and accepted a treat from the head vet.

Okie is an 18 year old gorilla. I was watching him carry around this chair when to my surprise he plunked it down on its legs and sat in it. Everyone around said Awwww! because it was very cute to see this huge animal in this tiny chair. I was baffled that he seemed to know what a chair is for. Do chairs predate humanity?


This is Skippy, a red kangaroo. Can you see what she has in her pocket?


This was the joey's first public appearance! Welcome, baby!

This is Okie, one of the two young male gorillas in our exhibit. He's the most interested in making paintings. He also likes to demonstrate the strength of the exhibit glass by slamming against it. This is great fun for the zoo guests. The zoo should probably sell clean underwear near the gorilla exhibit.


Didn't somebody want a picture of a capybara? Here's one of my best attempts.


What, no one likes lemurs?