The non-human factor
The little menagerie presented here even has a bit of crime fiction ambience; one of the animals looks like a small-time hood in a 1950s film noir who knows there's no way out.
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(All photos by your humble animal lover/blogkeeper, Peter Rozovsky.)
Labels: images, miscellaneous, National Zoo, photography, zoos
posted by Peter Rozovsky at 7:06 PM
10 Comments:
I can't think of any crime novels set at the zoo, but I can think of a couple of novels in which zoos factor significantly. The Life of Pi by Yann Martel, and Turtle Diaries by Russell Hoban. Come to think of it the second is kind of a crime caper.
And then there's the wonderful poem by Randall Jarrell, 'The Women at the Washington Zoo'. I haven't been to that zoo, but I would imagine they either post it everywhere or suppress it violently.
Didn’t someone once mention Ann Littlewood’s zoo mysteries here?
I saw no mention of any poem on my visit to the zoo, but then I wasn't looking for one. That gives me something to ask the staff if I visit again.
My memory is as good as that of one of the animals I saw in Washington. A commenter mentioned All Littlewood when some animals from the Philadelphia Zoo joined me for a drink one evening.
ANN Littlewood, that is.
Hmm, I don't know of Littlewood's mysteries, but will keep them in mind.
Zoos are paradoxes. When I go to a zoo, I feel removed from my petty human concerns -- so I am liberated for a few hours -- but I also feel like we do an inhumane affront to nature by confining wild animals for our viewing pleasures.
Seana: Yep, I found that it was another commenter on that earlier post who has mentioned Ann Littlewood.
R.T., I feel the same qualms, especially when I see an animal that appears to be trying to escape its confinement. Of course, that impression could be mere sentimental anthropomorphizing. I know, too, that more recent thinking in zoo keeping will stress more natural environments for animals, with, for example, several species kept together.
Do you know the short animated film Creature Comforts?
As for the film, about which I know nothing, I will check it out.
I expect you will find it congenial to your thoughts about zoos, as I did, and amusing as well.
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