MacGougan at Large

Notes on a Trip to Palms Springs - 4

The Zoo!

About a half an hour drive down the Coachella Valley from Palm Springs brings you to the zoo - specifically the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. We got there on Bring Your Dog Day, but unfortunately our dog was with a sitter back East.

It’s a very nice zoo. It doesn’t have the full range of animals you might see in a big-city zoo, but they’ve wisely focused on animals that can thrive in their climate.

(I’m not sure what this is.)

(There was a cheetah, but it was shy.)

(Just spitballing here, but maybe this is a cross between a crow and a rhinoceros?)

So - no penguins at the Living Desert Zoo, but very happy-seeming African, South Asian, and Australian animals. I mean, if you were a giraffe, wouldn’t you rather live in some high desert wilderness than in the Bronx?

Speaking of giraffes, the zoo allows visitors to feed them. There’s a charge for it, but you get to walk out on a suitably high walkway, look a giraffe in the eye, and let it grab nutritious leaves from your hand with its elephant-trunk of a tongue.

Normally, zoos are all about Don’t Feed The Animals. Apparently, this exception to that rule doesn’t do any harm.

There’s a carefully enclosed exhibit in which visitors can share space with various Australian animals, mostly wallabies.

The grounds also featured some replica animals, including disturbingly enlarged insects, and an elaborate outdoor model train set.

Like any self-respecting zoo, you exit through the gift shop. And, when you get back to the parking lot, the view is still pretty impressive.