Let's Hear it for Tapirs!

Last night we had a choice of going out in the snow and freezing cold to the movie 'The Paperboy' for free, or staying home, in the warmth, and having a roast dinner. Having seen the trailer and read a few reviews of the film - 'jaw-droppingly pervy', 'intense emotions and sensational indignities' 'this hot mess got booed at Cannes' - we veered towards the sensible and stayed in and had roast lamb. Would have seen it last week if they'd got the dates right!

Off to the Zoo this morning. The penguins are in their new pool enclosure due to be officially opened next week. It looks like a very posh pool with beautiful clear blue water - give 'em a day or two to get it messed up and lived in!

I passed a big group of loud schoolchildren and had my usual tingling feeling of DEEP JOY.

The talk today was by the Head of Education Discovery and Learning. He definitely likes the sound of his own voice and could talk for Team GB, but he was interesting. It was basically a resume of his career. He was inspired by, met, and in many cases has worked with - Johnny Morris, David Bellamy, Sir David Attenborough, Virginia McKenna, Jane Goodall and Gerald Durrell. All names that inspired me too. Only difference was, he went to teacher training and decided he'd rather go back to working in a zoo. I stayed with teaching...

He told a wee story which is worth repeating. No, not worth repeating, but worth putting in a link to.

At the end we had the presentations of the 'Design the Perfect Animal Enclosure' task. Just as well we only had two groups who had bothered to do the task, because you-know-who had talked too long. I thought about sneaking out as the first one came on. A scratchy pencil drawing of the plan of the drill monkeys' enclosure. One of the group stood up and read out the ideas. Good on her - I couldn't have done it. But it wasn't very interesting.

The next group, which was just two ladies (of a certain age, as most of us are at these talks). One of them had done all the techie stuff and the other presented it. Well, it was brilliant! They wanted to re-design the tapir enclosure, which is basically just a muddy field. They had plans, and had mocked up what it would look like with a proper big pool (the one at the moment has only room for one tapir at a time and the male is quite domineering) and grass and trees, and open shelters for the tapirs to lie down outside and still be viewed.

I had no idea where the tapirs were - never seen signs. They showed pictures of what it looks like now - poor signage, terrible old tumble down housing etc. Then they showed photos of what it could be like, and had inserted photos to look like big posters on the walls. They also had statistics comparing tapirs and pandas. Tapirs are just about as endangered as pandas! And tapir babies are just as cute, if not cuter, than panda babies. And look at the posh home and the £millions the pandas get! I was almost cheering them at the end.

I went to congratulate them before I left, and the 'techie' lady said she had never used Powerpoint before, so had to learn. Wow! I was SO impressed.

On the way out I passed the pelicans. They've been naughty recently and keep getting out and wandering around the zoo, apparently. But a few of them were right at the window, preening. I stood and watched them for ages. Their feathers are so beautiful. The tiny little ones on the breast - so small they looked like fur, the fantastic wing feathers perfectly aligned. I was there for ages, because I knew that as soon as I walked away, one of them would flap their wings.

I was beginning to get a wee bit cold, when yes... a big flap. Blip. Is this a series?