another excursion day

Today I went to the zoo. I laughed with kids on the way, I drank coffee with my two lovely colleagues, I told kids off; a pretty normal day. And then, at the new Orangutan Sanctuary at the Melbourne Zoo, I cried.

Luckily, there were no students around me (I was taking a detour during a reconnaissance mission). I watched a baby orangutan wake its mother up, play for a bit, then squeeze his head under her arm so that she would cuddle him. It was just about the cutest thing I've seen since my brother taught me how to do armpit farts that make you look like a penguin. (The trick is to keep the armpit-arm pointing straight down.)

Then I remembered that these animals are critically endangered because people kill them to eat, people cut down their habitats, and people take them away from their mothers to be pets.



There is a gallery of photographs in the sanctuary displaying different orangutans. They look like people.


Tomorrow I start my Humanities class on the Endangered Species unit. I will start with Orangutans by using the webpages below, and try not to cry again.

Crispy news - their shtick is about reporting positive news
Time for Kids
Radio National interview with Dr Willie Smits et al