And we can stay all day

The Prospect Park Zoo on Friday, where the California sea lions charmed an admiring cross-section of Brooklyn.

 

A cool and competent-looking Daughter was on duty at her volunteer job; over the summer, in this zoo of intimate scale, she has forged a deep empathy with a number of unlikely creatures. Her favorite, the inscrutable Slow Loris, lives in too much darkness to photograph. But she is also fond (who isn't?) of the zany meerkats.

 

As daughter helped little kids stencil their favorite animals, I peered up into the Great Horned Owl's lair. This guy stared down at my face with implacable fury, as if my nose were a snack but for the glass between us.

Nearby, these cockatoos cuddled like living Peeps.

In the petting barn, Daughter loves the simplicity of this "Baby Doll" sheep named Ginger, a stumpy blob of grubby fleece.

And, incredibly, she has forgiven Loki the Alpaca, who gurgled and then spat squarely on her nose on her first day of work. Mother has not forgiven, you sneaky sleazeball.

When Daughter got off work, we nabbed a bag of Popeye's chicken, ate it in the park, and walked home on a perfect late-summer evening.

Comments

[Denise McClean]

I had no idea your daughter was one of our volunteers! I assume she is one of our fabulous teens. They are all amazing and PPZ's education staff can't stop praising them. I'm surprised Loki spit, she's usually so good. But then, that may be how she got the name Loki!