I, animal

A visit to the zoo after hours. It's the stuff of childhood fantasy. There was a Willy Wonka moment as the group of about 50 'I, Animal' goers, all with our head phones on and a very fancy O ipod touch around our necks swarmed through the gates, not really knowing what to expect, but feeling full of anticipation nonetheless.

Guided by the voice of Zoe, we were led around the tour we chose when asked which animal we preferred: giraffe, elephant, monkey or penguin. I was on the giraffe tour. But the focus of ‘I, Animal’ was not the animals. Melbourne Zoo, instead, felt like a stunning backdrop for some introspection on a hot summer’s night. Led past hot looking lions, peccary pigs who could rip a jaguar apart and who are particularly smelly, on to the unusual tapir, which is like a cross between a rhinoceros and a horse, to the beautiful herd of zebra and finally to the majestic giraffe, Zoe then prompts you to find a quiet spot and turn your face to the sky and think deep thoughts of self-reflection—not something you expect at the zoo. The tour then ends with the opportunity to ride a beautiful old-fashioned carousel in some sort of we-are-all-children-of-the-world gesture of whimsy and letting go.

It was all a little music video-ish...walking down the central path with people peeling off into their various groups with hipster instrumentals coming through the headphones, I felt slightly manipulated in my emotions. But of course I loved it. Impeccable timing on the device, as the empty baboon pit became a lunar landscape as we were asked to reflect on the connection between Neil Armstrong's giant leap and the baboon's first encounter of the wide blue sky above, having only ever been enclosed, and as we turned to take in the outside enclosure, a man in a space helmet came up over the hill and with a sign told us that seeing is believing. And the music built into a meaningful crescendo.

I don't really know why I was drawn to the giraffe in that awkward introductory moment when the ipod is making you pick an animal. How to choose? Is it an animal I'd most like to be? An animal I feel the most attachment to? Will my choice say something very profound about me? The pressure.  But I was happy with my choice. The giraffe is not only one of the most aesthetically well-designed animals around, but one of the most impressive examples of biological excellence in engineering.

Giraffes have developed special mechanisms to insure adequate blood flow up their long necks and into their heads. In addition to larger hearts and higher blood pressure than humans have, giraffes also have especially tight skin and strong muscles in their legs. The tight skin around the legs prevents the blood from pooling and the muscles help pump blood back up, so that enough blood always reaches the head and the giraffes don't faint. NASA doctors have noticed that after astronauts have been in space they have a tendency to faint when returning to Earth and so they have carried out extensive studies to apply the principles of giraffe skin to NASA spacesuits.

The thought we were left with, as Zoe asked us to look up to the sky, is that we share this space, this planet with many other species. We are the only ones who seek to make nature adapt to our desires. We don't appreciate how our own bodies are made and how they need to be treated with respect and nurturing, so it is hardly surprising that we crash through our surroundings to create some sort of in-the-moment comfortable state of fulfillment without a thought for sustainability and the creatures and life around us.