Animal Rites

The panda surveillance center. 

It turns out the Smithsonian National Zoo is not far from our hotel; hardly a mile, but uphill all the way. I was pumped about seeing the pandas, the zoo's featured guests. Well yes, and also because when I was a little girl I had a stuffed panda bear named Sebastian. I had no clue his roots were in Asia, or I would have named him for the only Chinese person I knew at the time, the famous fictional detective, Charlie Chan.

Roomful of humans

I found the panda house and waited in line with great expectation. We entered a building with a darkened, glass enclosed corridor where a woman sat watching panda videos.
I could have stayed at the hotel and watched panda YouTube videos, so I proceeded further into the building and discovered, right there in front of me, a whole room full of humans, all with cameras.

But wait, there's more. There was a
real panda on the floor of the
cage, his backside to the crowd.
Everyone was taking his  picture
through murky glass, and frankly,
I couldn't tell if he was asleep or dead.
I guess the lady watching the videos figured he was okay, because she didn't do anything. Now that I think back on it, maybe SHE was asleep or dead. Well, regardless, it was disappointing.


Later, as I was walking down the path, I noticed a zebra up on a hill to my left. Zebras are like pandas: you see one, you see them all, so I was about to continue down the path when I noticed a black and white striped figure approaching. It was a woman wearing a zebra-like blouse.

No really - there was a zebra there - I swear!

I HAD to know if she would be attracted to the zebra, so I followed her. Sure enough, she went right up to the viewing area, but with the dismissive speed of  Chevy Chase blowing off the Grand Canyon, she was finished looking at the animal. In one split second I had a perfect photo framed in my iphone - a sort of species-to-species union of style and color. But her loss of interest was too fast. By the time I snapped, she was heading out, probably to the panda house to see another black and white animal. I was left with nothing but a photo of a striped woman in a zoo, the zebra long gone from the shot.

Later, as I exited the zoo, I realized that enjoying the animals is enhanced by the humans. It would be a dull visit indeed without them.