It was about a month ago that I was at the Columbus Zoo with the the family. It was a warmish day and I decided after seeing several regions of the world and their animals that I’d take a rest in Australia.
I opted to sit on a bench in the shade at the Koala cage, while the family wandered off to somewhere else in Australia. There were a couple of extra animals in there that I assumed were Porcupines until I read the sign. The little guys wandering around were Echidnas, not Porcupines.
It turns out that the Echidna is an egg laying mammal, you can read about it at Wikipedia <Click Here>. OK Let’s get back to me doing the docent thing for a change.
My bench was perhaps 15 feet from the cage where the Koalas and Echidnas ranged and folks kept getting between me and the animals, blocking my view. One pair included a young mom and her 6-7 year old son. The son was looking in the cage, the mom was looking up at the Koala in a tree and the young man was tugging on her shirt, saying “Mom, Mom, Mom, take a look at the Porcupine.” The mom looked down and saw the “Porcupine”, she said, “We have those in the USA, take a look at the Koala up there.”
I decided to point out that the little animal was not a Porcupine and that it was an Echidna, something I had learned at least 3 minutes ago when I read the sign on the cage. With sort of a ‘thanks for making me look dumb look on her face’ she thanked me, explained it to her son.
She then asked me “Are you a docent?”
I replyed “I could be.” (I was not wearing the bright red T shirts that the real docents were wearing, nor did my shirt say “Columbus Zoo Docent” in big white letters.
I don’t know why, but I was feeling a little mischevious and I was angered a bit by the woman’s attitude. I went on to tell her that the Koalas in this exhibit are not Australian Koalas but they were from Canada. I pointed out like any docent individual would that Australian Koalas cannot survive north of the equator. She was a little incredulous but I think she believed me. She wandered off. I do wonder if she shared that pearl of wisdom with perhaps her husband or a friend later in the day.
Well at least I did what any docent person would!
