Recently the zoo decided to post “Caution: Aggressive Cranes” signs on the fencing of the Stanley cranes’ exhibit. Now, I have no problem with this warning being posted on the wattled cranes’ exhibit, because the way those several-foot-high birds stab at insects in the soil with their long, knife-sharp beaks is quite intimidating. (Also, they have scary orange eyes.) –But the Stanley cranes have always seemed entirely mild-mannered to me, and the parent-child feeding interaction I witnessed this past weekend has not convinced me otherwise:
(Is that the face of an aggressive crane? No…!)
It’s true that a clever crane tactic would be to look mild-mannered right until the point you peck someone in the head, but that strategy seems unlikely to me. And in any case, the better warning for such a species would be “Caution: Devious Cranes.”
{A note: I do write all text and take all pictures. Please do not reproduce either without my permission.}
3 comments:
don't get me started on unnecessary warning signs
=) They do, indeed, look sweet.
I do recall, though, a friend's cat would look MOST bored, almost asleep JUST before WHAP! the toy you'd been waving in front of him was suddenly gone, and it happened SO FAST that you literally saw the toy in your hand one moment, then it was under his paw, and you saw nothing in between. Studly kitty.
I'm assuming the zoo has data/experience that prompted this sign??
I love it! They really did look sweet and somewhat curious. But maybe it depends on which zoo visitors are around. I like to imagine these were some cranes with good taste!
Adrian
Nothing wrong with stabbing some people in the head. Can we let them loose in the corridors of the House of Representatives, for instance? They'd pick out the insects and invertebrates unerringly, I should think.
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