Final zoo anecdotes of 2010

I won't ever work at the zoo again. In 2010, that is.

Today produced the following interactions with zoo patrons:

--A customer told me she saw a visitor bring a seeing-eye dog into the feline house. Bad idea. In her words, "the cheetahs were hopping and the lion king was looking at lunch." Wish I could have seen it.

--Mother to her daughter: "I saw on TV this morning that spiders have fuzzy legs. That's how they stick to the ceiling."
(Child mutters something)
Mother: "Did you know that when I was your age they hadn't even invented spiders?"

--When I was sweeping near a table, a young girl asked her father what I was doing. The father turned to me and said "I don't know, what do you call that? Sweeping?" Holding my broom and taken aback by the question, all I could respond with was "Um, sweeping, yes."

--A very excited boy yelled to me, "Thanks for the food!" Then he ran over to me and proudly showed off the pressed penny our machine had made for him, pointing to a smudge he claimed was Abraham Lincoln.

And I didn't learn this today, but: did you know that the hoofed mammals are not allowed outside in the winter? It's because if an ungulate slips, he or she is much more likely to break a leg.

Happy 2011!