Hogle Zoo
A few weeks ago we took our kids to the Hogle Zoo, where my seven-year-old son learned to wrangle metal rhinos.
About the time we got to the hot and stinky reptile exhibit, we decided to split up and I got to explore the zoo one-on-one with my son.
In addition to the regular attractions, we discovered thousands of tiny caterpillars climbing all over things.
We probably spent more time watching them than we spent looking at official exhibits.
While watching caterpillars, people passing by would occasionally see a caterpillar hanging from a silk strand (seeming to float in mid-air), but they didn’t seem to notice the hundreds of caterpillars on the fence. At one point, some kids noticed the floating caterpillar, yanked it down, and stomped on it. I yelled “hey!” and they scurried off without looking back. I’m not sure they even knew the “hey” was directed at them. My son and I expressed our disapproval to each other, but didn’t dwell on it long.
My son managed to coax a caterpillar onto his finger splint. (He slammed his finger in the bathroom door the night before. It wasn’t serious, and it’s fine now.)
