Visit to Zoo Atlanta

Today's Hotlanta weather was an aberration. (Atlanta is also known as Hotlanta for its long hot and humid summer, very typical of Southeastern United States). While entire North and Central US is now sizzling under record heat, with the temperature topping 100°F (38°C) with heat index of 110 (43°C), Atlanta was surprisingly pleasant today, with temperature hovering in Upper 80s (30°C) with the afternoon interspersed with on and off showers, with dark clouds and forked lightening ornamenting the horizon.

July and August being the hottest months in America, such heat waves are  neither unusual nor unheard of at this time of year, though this is nothing in terms of heat and humidity we see back home in India and particularly in Odisha during its summer months. In contrast except the desert Southwest, the summer in USA is milder and the best time for outdoor activities.

Living close to Atlanta for close to two decades we never found time to visit the Atlanta Zoo. There is a saying in Odia - DIPA TALA ANDHARA (the bottom of lamp is always dark). We kept the Atlanta Zoo in dark from our to - visit list. For us it was so near, yet so far. This time we decided to leave no stone unturned and shed some light on Zoo Atlanta by paying it the long due visit. 

The zoo is not huge, does not possess a whole lot of animals to write about. We have seen bigger zoos in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Portland Oregon. But the zoo is professionally maintained, animals well taken care of - with plenty of attractions and activities for the kids. 

The best part - we could see Animals from very close, sometimes too close for comfort. A giant Panda was enjoying its post lunch siesta. A mountain sized Gorilla was scratching his private parts in one hand and munching lettuce using the other in full public view. Blame sultry weather for that. 

Not long ago, I saw a passenger inside the Bhubaneswar Airport surreptitiously scratching his private part in public. When our eyes met he looked flustered, lifted his pants a bit, faked trying to adjust his belt. I didn't pry on him any further, letting him enjoy the small pleasures of life on a muggy morning. One fine morning early June morning of 2017 at a local HAAT (Flea market) in Old town of Bhubaneswar a guy suddenly walks in wearing a LUNGI (loincloth wrapped around waist), vigorously scratching his private parts in public and asked a lady vendor "ALO BAIGANA KETE NEKHA meaning "Hey, how much is the Brinjal (Eggplant ). So why blame the poor simian. A la every human, every Gorilla has his day - unlike humans he doesn't have the guile of hypocrisy.

Orangutans were no less funny. I saw a giant red faced one sitting grumpy faced under a tree like our President Trump. He reminded me of grand old men sitting on elevated, high porch in front of houses in our village exhibiting a forlorn look. A baby Orangutan was hanging around, literally on a canopy of ropes crisscrossing over his head. 

Late afternoon there were thunderclaps in the distance, but what caught our attention were claps emanating from a melee in front of a nearby enclosure. The scene was a peacock dancing with its plumage spread wide with the peahen watching closely. In the Animal kingdom, male of the species are more handsome than the females. Look at the Male Lions and Deers, apart from peafowls.

While walking back to the parking lot after visiting yet another zoo, I came to the conclusion that no country on earth has such a huge variety of wildlife as India. Probably with a few exception like Giraffe and Zebra, almost all tropical species are part of India's fauna. India is the only country which has both Tigers and Lions (Africa though rich in wildlife doesn't have Tigers). The King Cobra, a native of India is the World's largest poisonous snake. The amount of venom released by it in a single bite is gargantuan - potent enough to kill a full grown Bull Elephant and twenty adult humans.

Willam Dalrymple's well researched book "LAST MUGHAL" mentions about one of the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zaffer's sons was eaten by crocodile in river Yamuna in the year 1850. It is interesting to know that Crocs roamed as far as Delhi. Around the same time, Lions now restricted to Gir forest of Gujarat and the now extinct Asiatic Cheetah were roaming in large numbers in North and Central India.

The rate we are killing many of these exotic animals, unless some drastic measures are implemented we might see the extinction of some species during our lifetime, only restricted to the zoos. Today's trip to Zoo Atlanta though entertaining, was a stark reminder to this hard truth.