London Zoo

Peter and I went to the London Zoo today.

I rank zoos by the number and variety of cat species. By 'variety' I mean the number of different genera represented. For example, a zoo with five species in five different genera ranks higher than a zoo with five species in the same genus -- especially if that genus is Panthera. Also, bonus points for cats from genera rarely seen in zoos.

Based on these criteria, the London Zoo does not rate very highly. There were only four cat species, representing only two cat genera:

• Panthera leo (lion)
• Panthera tigris (tiger)
• Panthera pardus (leopard)
• Leptailurus serval (serval)

However, on the plus side, we were able to get much closer to the kitties at this zoo than at most other zoos. Peter took some fantastic photos with his whizzy new camera. I shall post these pics later.

Stupid/annoying people at the zoo

While at the zoo, I observed the following stupid/annoying things:

• someone calling a serval a cheetah
• someone referring to a girl lion as "he" (apparently she didn't know that boy lions have manes and girl lions don't)
• someone smoking near the animals, despite the "no smoking" sign
• someone tapping on the glass of the lion's den, despite the "no tapping" sign