NOLA zoo, aquarium updates

[tagryn]

New Orleans' Aquarium starts to rebuild

Elephants help clean up New Orleans' Zoo

New Orleans zoo struggles to reopen:

On the animal side, too, life is turned upside down.

Accustomed to a parade of humanity as part of their habitat, the great apes are wary of the sudden stillness. Suspicious by nature, they have taken to hiding behind bushes, peeking out guardedly whenever workers come by.

Panya and Jean, the zoo's two elephants, crave attention. At 5 tons and with flanks as hard as concrete, Jean is a puckish entertainer who seems to miss her audience.

She perked up when a National Guard unit set up camp in the parking lot. Whenever the guardsmen visited, she'd come running, said Dan Maloney, Audubon's curator.

One alligator was missing for nearly two weeks after Katrina. It finally reappeared.

Comments

[jilara.livejournal.com]

If the alligator hadn't shown it, it probably would have been cruising somewhere to the strains of "Born Free."

[tagryn]

We actually have one that did that in L.A.

[jilara.livejournal.com]

Back in the early '70's, there was also one in Morro Bay. Everyone claimed the tourists were hallucinating, until a couple of the rangers spotted it. (I don't think they ever caught it, either. But it eventually dropped off the radar.)