Following a Theme Park Trail Along the Eastern Seaboard - Brief Article

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Sept, 2001 by Wayne M. Barrett

The Baltimore Zoo, featuring more than 2,000 animals, takes an active role in the preservation of some of the world's most endangered creatures through several Species Survival Plan initiatives. It recently has undertaken a redevelopment program, tackling the replacement of an aging infrastructure as well as the improvement of facilities and exhibits. Currently, 80 of its 161 acres are developed.

While the ambitious plans include taking various species out of cages and putting them in open areas so they have more room to roam, it still is fascinating to walk along the zoo's Main Valley, where the enclosures date from the 1800s. The polar bear, arctic foxes, snow leopards, red panda, prairie dogs, and tigers were a big hit with the kids. Although it started coming down in buckets again, the animals were blithely unaffected as they prowled their cages, eye-bailing our family (their only visitors at this point) as we peered at them through the downpour.

Before strolling the Main Valley, we'd gone through the Africa section. Since it was only drizzling at this point, we could linger while observing the cheetah, elephants, lions, warthogs, and rhinos. Two indoor exhibits were a delight as well. The Giraffe House, a unique structure, at least in our limited experience, is a circular building, where visitors walk into the center while the animals are in wooden pens that line the perimeter. Oversized picture windows allow you to see each animal's legs and body, but its upper half isn't discernible, at least until you look up and see a giraffe head sticking out into "public" space. Their bins of hay were on our side of the wail, ensuring that the hosts would come "out" to visit.

The Chimpanzee Forest provided some unexpected interactive play as one of the chimps took his stick and playfully began poking it at Alex, who, if it were possible, would have gladly obliged and grabbed his end of the small wooden pole. The chimps and other monkeys housed there were very active, putting on quite a show of jumping, climbing, playing, and screeching. In contrast, the crocodiles, located a few doors down, lay quiet as death, only their eyes and snouts breaking the surface of the water.

Nature continued its contrary games with the weather the next day. Despite dire promises of an all-out drenching, the storms held back as a warm, muggy front moved in. Truth be told, I'd rather have been at the zoo in the rain than in the heat and humidity. At least the Aquarium was air-conditioned.

Like the Baltimore Zoo, weekday mornings at the National Aquarium are madness because of local school field trips. This has been even more evident since everyone is flocking to see the spectacular exhibit, "Seahorses: Beyond Imagination." All the jostling for position was worth it, though. This astounding 2,000-square-foot display presents 10 of the world's 35 identified species of seahorses, along with weedy and leafy seadragons and several species of pipefish. Nine rectangular and cylindrical tanks as large as 850 gallons and an elaborate sound system provide visitors with one of the most diverse presentations of seahorses ever created on the East Coast. There are tiger tail seahorses from the Philippines, potbelly ones from Southeast Australia, blue stripe pipefish from East Africa, dragonface pipefish from Indonesia, and giant Pacific seahorses from Mexico. These creatures range from less than half an inch in length to more than 12 inches tail. All you women out there should be heartened to hear that it is the male that becomes pregnant during courtship. The female deposits eggs into his brood pouch, where he fertilizes them. The young develop in the pouch. Gestation periods range from 10 to 30 days, depending on the species. (Who says men can't pull their weight?)