Back in the early 1970s, the National Zoo in Washington DC had a *much* larger collection of birds than are presently on display (most of them were taken off in the 1980s and, as one heard at the time, relocated to the Zoo's very large non-public facilities in Front Royal, VA). There was a very large outdoor walk-through aviary and the atrium of the main bird house was also walk-through, on two levels; plus which, various large, but to all purposes flightless, species simply walked about the grounds. Back then, it was permissible to feed them, and if you have never given an ostrich a peanut, well, you simply haven't lived.
Anyhow, they had cassowaries, I think in the indoor atrium but possibly at liberty as well. They never interacted with the humans, they just padded around, looking for things that were not there; they were not particularly interesting. According to what one reads today, it is a wonder they were not sending people to hospital right and left.
Back in the early 1970s, the National Zoo in Washington DC had a *much* larger collection of birds than are presently on display (most of them were taken off in the 1980s and, as one heard at the time, relocated to the Zoo's very large non-public facilities in Front Royal, VA). There was a very large outdoor walk-through aviary and the atrium of the main bird house was also walk-through, on two levels; plus which, various large, but to all purposes flightless, species simply walked about the grounds. Back then, it was permissible to feed them, and if you have never given an ostrich a peanut, well, you simply haven't lived.
Anyhow, they had cassowaries, I think in the indoor atrium but possibly at liberty as well. They never interacted with the humans, they just padded around, looking for things that were not there; they were not particularly interesting. According to what one reads today, it is a wonder they were not sending people to hospital right and left.
Back in the early 1970s, the National Zoo in Washington DC had a *much* larger collection of birds than are presently on display (most of them were taken off in the 1980s and, as one heard at the time, relocated to the Zoo's very large non-public facilities in Front Royal, VA). There was a very large outdoor walk-through aviary and the atrium of the main bird house was also walk-through, on two levels; plus which, various large, but to all purposes flightless, species simply walked about the grounds. Back then, it was permissible to feed them, and if you have never given an ostrich a peanut, well, you simply haven't lived.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, they had cassowaries, I think in the indoor atrium but possibly at liberty as well. They never interacted with the humans, they just padded around, looking for things that were not there; they were not particularly interesting. According to what one reads today, it is a wonder they were not sending people to hospital right and left.
Back in the early 1970s, the National Zoo in Washington DC had a *much* larger collection of birds than are presently on display (most of them were taken off in the 1980s and, as one heard at the time, relocated to the Zoo's very large non-public facilities in Front Royal, VA). There was a very large outdoor walk-through aviary and the atrium of the main bird house was also walk-through, on two levels; plus which, various large, but to all purposes flightless, species simply walked about the grounds. Back then, it was permissible to feed them, and if you have never given an ostrich a peanut, well, you simply haven't lived.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, they had cassowaries, I think in the indoor atrium but possibly at liberty as well. They never interacted with the humans, they just padded around, looking for things that were not there; they were not particularly interesting. According to what one reads today, it is a wonder they were not sending people to hospital right and left.