On the second family day of our vacation in San Diego, Alex, Julie, and their mother, Nan, joined me in enjoying the SD Zoo Safari Park (formally the Wild Animal Park). Nan and I went there a couple of time 30+ years ago as my field research for my Masters program was located near San Clemente, about an hour from San Diego.
We walked throughout the park and purchased tickets for a one hour tour through the Asia area of the park. The only way to see this area was through the tour.
We were very lucky to view an interaction between a mother rhino and another mother’s baby. The babies are lovingly called “tank puppies” because they look like tanks while acting like puppies (duh on me). The park had two mother rhinos with a baby each. The four rhinos were near one another when the baby of mother 2 wanted to meet mother 1.
It was adorable watching the baby rhino approaching the other mother. Baby 2 would slowly move forward, then move to the side in excitement, then return to the approach path.
The baby number 2 was able to get about 5 feet from the other mother until an adult snort warned the baby that it was too close. The photo above is a still of the 3 foot backwards leap and twist made by baby 2.
Baby 2 was not to be denied. Another attempt was made by the baby to slowly creep up and touch snouts with the other mother.
Success. The entire interaction took about 5 to 10 minutes and was fascinating, especially since the interaction was successful for the young rhino.
A beer float? Really? (Hah, opposite of the caption!). Julie bought me one of these and it was melting faster than I could drink to keep it from overflowing.
I completed the task of drinking / eating this monstrosity. I did not enjoy it until the very end when the ice cream was fully melted and mixed with the beer. I don’t know the ratio of beer / ice cream that made the final sips so delicious. I can see a lot of beer float research is in my near future.
We had a great time at the park. Alas, it was on the last free day of the trip. Back home on a plane the next day. All in all, it was a great family trip.