Friends, it was my birthday this weekend! Saturday I turned 23 in the company of Max and giant waxy monkey frogs – we went to the zoo! Not much has changed since I was a kid, apparently, since my 22nd birthday was spent at the Leslie Science Center in Ann Arbor. I really geek out when I get to learn about animals.
Fun facts!:
- Chimpanzees love Activia yogurt and are therefore just like me.
- The Detroit Zoo was the first zoo in the United States to close its elephant exhibit on ethical grounds (AWESOME YOU GO DETROIT ZOO).
- Butterflies don’t lay eggs all willy-nilly, but on specific plants. You will never find those plants in butterfly houses as it’s outlawed by the US government.
- If you look a Japanese macaque (the monkeys seen below) in the face, it’s almost like looking in a mirror, but not quite, since it is a monkey.
- The only newt-related human death was when a fraternity brother swallowed one on a dare, or something like that. I am upset for that newt. Also, Newt Gingrich is the second hit in a Google search for “newt.”
- Sometimes alligators hold their mouths open for awhile and no one knows why.
- The Detroit Zoo has America’s only king brown snake (one of the world’s top 10 most poisonous snakes) on exhibit. It was taken from someone’s home because people are stupid.
- Arctic foxes are SO CUTE.
- Franklin D Roosevelt came to the Detroit in 1932 to campaign for presidency – he had an audience of 20,000. Twice as many people came to see Joe Mendi, the famous performing chimp.
- Seals can get cataracts, look kind of frightening, and give me conflicting feelings.
I hope you learned something from those facts. I consider myself an artist, but perhaps science was always my one true path.
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I was all that stood in the way of this peacock strutting into the food court through some automatic doors. Just call me Ace Ventura.
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Happy Monday, friends! I have a tutorial for you later this week that I’m really excited about. Stay tuned. – L
