A Day at the Zoo
Take a tip from this traveler. Learn what you will about peccaries before you visit them. They offer the kind of beauty only a mother (or zoologist) can love. And, they generate a stink that is barely tolerable. One of the many quaint hand-painted signs at the zoo tells us they enjoy each other's aromas. Good to know! My sensitive olfactory tract couldn't stay around long enough to enjoy peccary vagaries. After a visit, I understood why the Belize Zoo is called "The Best Little Zoo in the World". Its director, Sharon Matola, has taken great pains to retain or replicate the natural jungle environment for its habitats, albeit there are chain link fences for obvious safety reasons. The fence didn't stop a paca from wandering along the tourist path, enjoying his (or her - I didn't check) freedom. I was relieved that a fence blocked the giant harpy eagle when it flew off its perch straight at me. "Panama" is one of the few harpy eagles remaining in Central America and was a gift from its namesake country to Belize as part of an effort to repopulate the species in another of its natural habitats. The star of the zoo is "April", a tapir. The tapir is the national animal of Belize. We naturalist novices might foolishly think the tapir looks like an anteater, but that would be an insult to the tapir. However, an informative sign advises the visitor that it's okay to call the tapir a mountain cow. Before I saw the warning sign, a friend warned me "don't stand in front of the tapir for long. It is likely to turn around and." I barely escaped the horizontal trajectory of urine spray. A stroll through the dense, jungle vegetation offers chances to enjoy the elegance and beauty of several nocturnal animals, including an exquisite jaguar, a captivating margay, the elegant puma, an ocelot, and several lesser known Belizean creatures like the coatimundi, paca (agouti), and kinkajou. Bird lovers are rewarded too. Not only is the Harpy Eagle a treasure, the zoo houses the rare Curassow (it looks like a punk-rock chicken), Jabiru Stork, King Vulture, and Ornate Hawk-Eagle. Birders looking for a beautiful Scarlet Macaw, Keel-billed Toucan, or colorful parrots will not be disappointed. The typical Belize tourist resort allocates an hour for a visit to the zoo. I hope they provide skateboards. My friends and I were captivated for over three hours by the antics of spider monkeys and the search for dozens of tropical animals camouflaged in the beauty of their natural environment in the "Best Little Zoo in the World."
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