Tag: elephant

Posted in zoo

I’m still learning new things at the zoo

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I learned so much when I went to the Jacksonville zoo last week. With five grandchildren in tow, my wife and I, with our daughter, rode the little train to the back of the zoo to begin our day. On the way, the train operator shared information I had never heard before, and we’ve been coming to this zoo for decades.

  • The Jacksonville zoo has one bull elephant, Ali, who is thirty-four years old. Ali is a donation from Michael Jackson’s Neverland ranch.
  • The zoo also has the world’s oldest white rhino. His name is Archie, and he is fifty-one years old. His dirt-sprinkled back makes him easy to spot in his habitat.
  • This zoo rehabilitates injured manatees. They had four on site, but can accommodate six. Manatees usually drift along below the water, but one was floating on the surface. An injury kept the manatee in the front tank from sinking, floating, and swimming around as it normally would.
  • We got to watch two seven-month-old tiger cubs wrestle and chase each other around. A zoo worker explained that tigers and other big cats don’t purr. They “chuff,” a breathy snort from their nostrils. I never knew that.

No matter how many times I visit the zoo, I always learn something new. By the time I leave, I’m even more awed by and grateful for creation!

Posted in Life

Behold, behemoth

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by I Made Krisna Udiana on Unsplash

I didn’t just hear it. I felt it. A huge whomp shook the entire house. Just imagine an elephant (or a hippo) jumping off the roof and landing in the front yard. It was that kind of a whomp. Dogs barked inside and outside of the house. Knick-knacks rattled on the shelves. A voice from the other room called, “What was that?”

Great question. The last time I felt such an impact was during a hurricane when a thirty-foot pine tree fell in the lot next to us. It missed our house and fence but sounded like an explosion.

When I stepped out front, I saw immediately what was up. Even though it was only 7:30 in the morning, a crew had arrived at the construction site just a few lots up the street. I watched as an operator “eased” the other half of a giant excavator off of a trailer with a second impressive whomp. I don’t think they knew how to put the ramps down. The rental company loves it someone uses their equipment with the finesse of the previously mentioned elephant (or hippo).

At first I thought it was the crane to raise the roof joists into place. But it was an oversized excavator trenching out space for the water main. After those initial whomps, we were treated to an hour of backup beeping as they dug the hole.

An hour later they were gone. But another behemoth will shop up this week for the roof work. Whomp!