The Gaping Chest Wound Dove

There are few reasons for which I would travel to Houston. A million dollars, my upcoming Step 2 CS exam, on my way to some greater destination, true love. Perhaps in such situations I would begin to think about it. There is one situation, however, in which I would without hesitation pack my bags, put on my drivin' cap, and head on out; and that situation is a trip to the zoo. Until this last weekend I had never been to the Houston Zoo, and now after having gone I am free from that obligation and can once again safely keep my distance. I also visited a college friend and did not visit another college friend, but it turns out people change, consequently friendships change, and well that was that. Let us not get distracted from the matter at hand: zoo.

My college friends aside, my Pediatric intern pal Ro did accompany me and in keeping with previous performance I once again failed to take any pictures of merit. Unlike last time at the USAF Museum, however, this time I didn't so much take bad pictures as fail to take any pictures what so ever. Perhaps one day I will get used to all this. At least I'm remembering to take my camera with me; that's a start. Regardless, the Houston Zoo is nice, but largely unexceptional. Probably would have been more enjoyable had it not been so hot and humid, but I'm fairly confident that's not a meteorological possibility for Houston so I won't hold it against them. There were two memorable experiences, however, which warmed my heart or at the very least amused me.

The first was small child feeding the meerkats cotton candy. His mother scolded him the first time, but once the cute, friendly little meerkats went absolutely out of their minds for the pink confection, she found it in her heart to allow her son to throw a little bit more to the one meerkat that didn't get any. I don't know if the meerkats had had experience with cotton candy or not and were thus able to recognize it for the treasure that it was, but soon as sentry meerkat saw it fall into the enclosure he was all action. Down from his upright position resting on his haunches and scrambling wildly to retrieve his prize, he was followed by another meerkat who just happened to be sticking his head out of one of the many meerkat holes. They wrestled a bit for it. Growled a bit for it. And promptly chewed and licked it all up till, a few seconds later, the sizable cotton candy chunk was gone. It was certainly not natural and certainly objectionable, but yet also oddly amusing. Kind of like tapping on the glass of an aquarium as a kid. You kind of know already that it's probably not good for the fish, but you want to see what happens anyway. Likewise, I think everyone was fully aware that the meerkat diet does not normally consist of highly refined sugar and red food coloring, but, well, we've never seen a meerkat with diabetes before and we just kind of wanted to see what would happen. And then we moved on to the next exhibit.

The other highlight of the zoo, and only one for which I have a photo, is the Bleeding Heart Dove also known as the Gaping Chest Wound Dove, Gunshot Wound Dove, and Cutaneous Fistula Dove. Of all the crazy and beautiful birds at the zoo, and they had a remarkably extensive collection to their credit, this was the coolest. The little earth-bound bird's name was true to life. I'm not sure what evolutionary purpose it serves -- perhaps predators do not want to mess with something that can take small caliber rounds to the sternum -- but whatever the cause, it was one impressive bird. And now for your viewing pleasure, my "best" photo of Gaping Chest Wound Dove: