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November 19, 2005
Menagerie In May
A few weeks ago (on the last Sunday in October) we traveled down the coast to visit the Cape May County Zoo located, not surprisingly, in Cape May, New Jersey. Established in 1942, the zoo is small as zoos go; weighing in at just 80 acres according to the brochure, but includes all the usual trappings of larger zoos. And being a zoo from the 1940's it also offers a striking contrast of old and new exhibit design philosophies.
To be fair, all of the zoo's exhibits, be they old or new, showed signs of change in their designs; newer exhibits reflecting concerted efforts to offer stimulating, native environment inspired habitats for their inhabitants, while many of the older exhibits showing signs of retrofitting toward that same goal. One surprising detail of the older exhibits, that you do not find in newer designs, was the proximity of the animals to the visitors. At times we were no more than six feet* from some of the park's most dangerous denizens; a fact that was driven home by the actions of one particularly contemptuous male tiger.
He marked us.
![[ image: Contemptuous Tiger by one.o.eight ©2005. ]](http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/tacitus/bad_kitty.jpg)
Pee-yoo!
Luckily (for us anyways) some other visitors shielded us from the brunt of his spray. Serves them right for hogging the guard rail! And for the record, tiger musk smells like a wet dog that rolled around in a litter box. Ew!
Beyond being marked by a tiger, we laid eyes upon an albino skunk, basked in the unflinching dignity of the capybara, and marveled (well not really) at the zoo's latest greatest addition: the Patagonian Cavy.
A pleasant day spent in pleasant company (for the most part), and all in all a good time.
*an approximation.
Posted by Tacitus at November 19, 2005 07:17 PM