Anne and I went to the zoo for Valentine’s Day. Not the most romantic of destinations, but at least we got out, a first in some while. With last week’s car issues and the previous week’s snow, we’ve pretty much been stuck at home. It was a sunny day and warmer than it has been for a while. The zoo was not very crowded, but the keepers went all out to celebrate the holiday. Pictured are some iced valentines for the seals and sea lions. There mustn’t have been any fish products in them, because the pinnipeds just ignored them. They looked nice though. The lemurs made out much better. Some of their enclosures had been festooned with brightly colored gift bags that must have enclosed food, because they were all ripped to shreds by the time that we saw them. One species of primates got a set of bowls, each with a different brightly colored liquid in it. Some other visitors though they were paint, but I’m sure that it was just food coloring in something they could actually eat. Not all of the primates were rewarded though, which reminded me of the inequities of grammar school on this holiday. These enrichment products are supposed to make the animal’s lives better. I think that for this holiday the keepers got more out of creating the encounters than the animals did by exploring them.