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Kathryn Tohill Mr. Neuburger English 101-104 1 March 2013 Descriptive Essay The Zoo As I walked toward the entrance of the Dickerson Park Zoo, I found myself watching all the eager, animated toddlers and their older, enthusiastic siblings as they pulled on their parents hands, rushing them to the ticket counter, their excitement and enthusiasm over seeing the animals was completely evident. I waited patiently until it was my turn, smiling as the redheaded cashier took my money and handed me a brightly colored map that would help to guide me through all the various exhibits. Walking through the front gates I noticed a small swift squirrel running for an old brown apple tree. As I stood there watching the playful squirrel, I heard a bizarre sound that I wasnt quite sure of what it was until I walked around the corner and saw a tan baby kangaroo. The baby kangaroo was just getting ready to take its first hop. Watching the baby kangaroo was like watching an infant bunny for the first time. After the kangaroos I made my way to the petting zoo. On my way to the petting zoo I noticed a cute little girl with a shiny yellow balloon that resembled the sun and the pale yellow shirt she was wearing. I watched as she smiled startlingly, squinting at the yellow balloon as she lost her grip and it floated swiftly into the air. Beginning to walk again, I finally made it to the gruffly, grotesque goats. I slowly walked up to the brown-eyed goat. I reached for the goat and

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then pulled my shaking hand away. Waiting there for a second, I took a deep calming breath and I reached out again and began to pet the coarse muddy brown fur. I had spent enough time with the ugly, smelly goats and decided I was in need of better looking and more alluring animals. I couldnt think of a more stunning animal than the majestic tiger. The tigers were on the other side of the spacious park but thankfully it was a beautifully sunny day outside. The ocean blue sky looked perfect with the bright, yellow sun shining through the clouds reminding me of fluffy, soft cotton. All of the trees had large, inviting green leaves with beautiful blue birds perched steadily on the sturdy limbs as they cheerily chirped away. Enjoying the captivating melodies that these diverse birds were tweeting made the walk across the massive zoo seem much shorter as I enjoyed having all of these pleasant sights and sounds to see and listen to. As I was nearing the tigers enclosure, I heard a sudden thunder like sound and knew by the powerful roar that I was close to my enthralling destination. As I kept walking, the brownish tiger with black stripes and a strong furry white coat came suddenly into my view. There it was, a Bengal tiger that seemed to rival the orange glow of a fire. Its eyes were like emeralds that kept a constant and observant watch on me. I couldnt believe that I was so close to such an amazing animal that had a jaw with enough strength to snap its prey in half. The tiger slowly, but inquisitively approached the fence and started making a friendly purring noise towards me and it looked as though it was almost smiling at me. I stood at the fence and watched the tiger as it paced back and forth in a quick movement inside the tall and restrictive enclosure. As I was getting ready to leave, the tiger suddenly stopped its methodic pacing and gave me one last roar as to tell me please dont go. I whispered softly that I would come back at another time but I still had so many of the other exotic animals to see.

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As I was walking away from the golden cage, over the enormous trees I could see what looked to be a large animals head. I thought to myself there is no way that there can be an animal with that big of a head in that tree. So me, being my curious self, decided to go and see what it was. When I got there I was definitely wrong in thinking that no other animal could measure up to the tiger in my excited eyes. The giraffe sized up to the tiger both literally and figuratively! It had to be at least 14 feet tall, which made the tiger seem more like a domestic housecat then the powerful, dangerous carnivore that it really is. The colors on the giraffe reminded me of a banana that was just a little more than ripe. It was an off-yellow color with a bunch of brown splotches all over its body and long neck. Even though it reminded me of an almost rotten banana they were still so adorably cute and I knew I wanted one; even though their natural habitat was the open, peaceful wilderness and mine was the busy, noisy city. There was a little baby that was at least six feet tall that kept close to its protective and watchful mother much like I had done when I was only a small child. Its cuteness and desire to be close to its caring mommy made me want to take it home, but I really couldnt imagine being a mommy to a six foot tall baby that ate bunches of leaves for breakfast instead of Honey Bunches of Oats like me. Even though I realistically knew I would never be the enchanting giraffes mommy, I enjoyed watching the playfulness between the baby and the other giraffes. The bigger giraffes ran and played with each other being careful of the youngest in their herd. Even though I was fascinated with all of the giraffes, the baby was the cutest of them all. He would run and gallop around his mommy and play in the dirt with the other giraffes as though he didnt have any other cares in the world. I stayed and watched the little one until the zoo keepers

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started to put them into their extremely large cages for the night. I was tremendously sad to see them go, but I knew that it was dinner time for them. By the time I got finished watching the fascinating giraffes, I realized that I had spent so much time there that the sun had begun to lower behind the moon and the day that had been so sunny and bright was now turning more dark and grey, signaling the lateness of the day. I looked down at the colorful map that the red-headed cashier had given me and wondered where had the day gone?