The Kansas City Zoological Gardens was proposed in 1907 and built in 1909 in Swope Park. It opened with four lions, three monkeys, a wolf, a fox, a coyote, a badger, a lynx, an eagle, and other birds. It is now a 200 acre nature sanctuary called the Kansas City Zoo, home to over 1,700 animals representing more than 200 species, and their mission is to connect people to each other and the natural world to promote understanding, appreciation and conservation.
I grew up going there with my family, and in first grade, we went to the zoo on a field trip. Any trip to the zoo (and this was in the 1960s) included taking a bag of large marshmallows to feed to the animals.
For real.
Giraffes especially loved them, and it was fun watching them reach their purple tongues out to take them from your hand.
Somewhere along the way, the zoo keepers or veterinarians decided (and rightly so) that human food is not healthy for the animals. Each animal has specific nutritional needs, and marshmallows are not one of those needs.
I'll bet the animals were sad when the "Don't Feed The Animals" rule went into effect, but I'll also bet they lived longer and had better teeth because of it.
I had blogged about zoo during one of the April Blogging Challenges. We have one here in Bengaluru which is quite popular. It's always fascinating to be with animals. They all have their own unique characteristics, and lovely to look at and spend time with.
ReplyDeletePart of me always wonders if it's cruel to have animals cooped up in a zoo, and part of me knows they are protected there and also enjoyed by so many. The Omaha zoo has a fantastic gorilla exhibit that I have visited a couple of times.
DeleteCongratulations on completing the 2023 challenge!
ReplyDeleteDena from Operation Awesome
Thanks so much! Now I have to catch up on reading everyone else's posts!
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