I have this weird compulsion that when I see an animal, I want to pet it. Not in the way that the little kids see the baby bunny and pet too hard and accidentally strangle it. I just want to touch it and see what it's skin / fur / feathers feel like.
At the same time, I also have this low-level fear of most animals. I was terrified of dogs until my family got one when I was about 9. I'm still wary about cats. I think I held my gerbil, turtle, and hermit crab maybe once or twice each.
Petting zoos are a great way for me to work on this love/fear relationship with animals. When that goat gets too close, I can just back off and make it look like I'm giving the little kids a turn. And when the goat licks that kid in the face and the kid acts like it's no big deal, then I'm shamed into manning up and just touching the darn thing.
Shane and I went to the Nashville Zoo a bunch when we first moved (see one of our other visits here) and I got on their email list. I was elated when I found out they finally opened their kangaroo petting exhibit last fall, and so was most of the rest of the city. That place was PACKED. And from the looks of this rather manly 'roo in the picture below, a lot of those kids had a lot of questions later.
The kangaroos get the run of the place while humans are confined to the winding sidewalk. The exhibit had opened about a week before we went, and let me tell you, they learned FAST to stay away from the pavement at all costs. Most of them spent their time lounging on the grass or nomming on the plants in the exhibit. Every once in a while you'd see one hop as fast as it could across the path to get to its mates (lame Australian pun intended) on the other side. They had a "get your picture made with a kangaroo!" portion to the exhibit and you should have seen the line, it probably took an hour or so to get through. That poor little kangaroo looked like it had been given lots of kangaroo prozac too to help it through the experience.
I was patient and it paid off. Just when we were about to leave the exhibit, this little guy hopped by. He (or she, not sure) was going pretty slow and stopped for a minute to munch on some grass and leaves and wandered just out of reach of all the little kids. Once they had been properly scolded by the zookeepers for stepping on the grass, I got to make my move. This is where long adult arms come in handy.
It didn't feel exactly like what I thought it would. It was a bit more coarse than I expected, or it just really needed a bath. Do zoo kangaroos get baths? Their fur seemed to be like velcro for all the little leaf and grass bits laying around.
The Nashville Zoo, while small, is a great way to spend a Saturday. And you never know, you might just get to pet some fun animals.
And before you comment on this post just to tell me I'm crazy, believe me, I know.
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