~ ~ ~ All content Copyright 2003 on behalf of its creators; please obtain permission for anything besides private, noncommercial use ~ ~ ~

The Rube has a picture in his head of the Bronx Zoo as being all paved over, baking in the sun, with some plain barred cages for the lions and tigers. There is a bobcat which growls at him for staring too long. And there are souvenirs: long balloons, taller than himself.

This picture comes from his first grade class trip to what was possibly another zoo. The real Bronx Zoo is more like walking through Central Park: the same massive exposed boulders, scarred by the retreating glaciers in the last ice age, appear here along trails that wind past forest and field, wherein you may catch a glimpse of a rare zebra or herd of buffalo, or surprise a pondful of pink flamingos.