Germany has an insane amount of zoos, or Tiergarten. More than anywhere else in the world. This means 400+ zoos occupy this relatively small country. Tom loves the zoo. Whenever visiting one, my professional, dignified husband turns into a man child. We went to the Wilhelma Zoo in Stuttgart one Sunday, and I must say, being in a foreign country does not lead to any change in his typical zoo behavior.
The "hop like a kangaroo" display. For children. At least he stuck the landing.
Honestly, I feel like all zoos are the same. I enjoy going and it is a good way to spend a relaxing afternoon, but often it's nothing special. This trip successfully changed my mind.
The rain forest house was beautiful. The temperature was humid and warm to mimic the appropriate climate. There were fish, birds, butterflies, and a variety of snakes throughout. The snakes were well contained in transparent, enclosed displays, but the butterflies were fluttering about. It's mind boggling they never seem to escape the building.
As we progressed through the displays, many animals were indoors and closed off for one reason or another. This was a bit of a let down and we perused the indoor portions of the animal houses when we could. Most were empty, although we did see a super sweet orangutans and other monkeys. Then, we happened upon this hippo. A huge crowd was gathering and we managed to wiggle our way into the middle to see what the fuss was about. Two hippos were being bathed in an open area and we had the opportunity to see one slipping into a pool of water. The pool was admittedly small, the poor guy could only float in one spot before turning around and climbing out, but I don't think I have ever been that close to a hippopotamus.
Ever see a mother seal nursing her pup? We have. As we were leaving the hippopotamus area, we paused to watch the seals. There were three of them, (presumably mother, father, and baby) just as we were going to leave the baby seal start flopping around and making noise like crazy. Not too sure of what was about to transpire, we stayed put. I am glad we did because we got to witness something I've never seen before. The baby seal began chasing her mother before the two settled in and feeding began. It was a really sweet moment between them, and the mother looked so peaceful while nursing.
On our way out, we meandered through some other displays and cleared out before the 4:30 pm closing time. Visiting the zoo that day was about much more than just walking by a bunch of animals and reading their information signs (or attempting to read them as they were only in German...). We had the chance to observe the animals and see so many unique interactions. I have a new found love and respect for zoos. I fully understand and support Germany's Tiergarten obsession.
Plus, we got to walk through my favorite park on the way home, making for the perfect Sunday afternoon.
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