The Zoo II

Okay.

So by a twist of fate I ended up at the Kumasi Zoological Gardens a second time this past weekend.

When my friend became excited at the mention of my recent zoo visit, I was happy to oblige with a return visit inasmuch as my first trip had emboldened me to shun the dictates of common sense and I was now ready to poke my fingers into and provide bananas for as many cages as possible.

I was disappointed to find that, perhaps because of the late hour, the food-seller was not there to provide me with illicit animal goodies.

Nonetheless, I succeeded in shaking hands with a chimpanzee, being peed upon by awakening Fruit Bats and learning the following interesting fact: even Ghanaian zoo animals are confused by my being white.

I was alone during my first visit, so I had no chance to compare the behavior of the zoo animals on matters of racial discrimination. It quickly became clear, however, that while my favorite baby baboon and Mona monkey pair were happy to paw at my hands and pinch my skin, they were wholly uninterested and even rather hostile as they swiped at the hand of my friend when she attempted a similar feat. This tendency was displayed by a number of the aforementioned chimpanzees, a leopard, some hyenas and the lions.

Well, that's a partial truth. To begin with, I wasn't sticking my hands into those cages. Don't worry. Actually, it seemed that the big cats and the hyena thought her sagging leather purse was something they should eat. This was confirmed when my other friend took her bag and began shaking it in front of the apparently hungry lioness. While my discouragement did little to stop his taunting, a few menacing swipes and a grunt were enough to send my friends (and the other sundry Ghanaians around us) tumbling back from the railing as I stood there and laughed at them.

But anyway-- Ghanaian Zoo Monkeys-- racist.