A couple of weeks ago I was bitten by a zebra. An ACTUAL zebra.
I mean who, other than perhaps a zookeeper, does that actually happen to? Bitten by a dog or a cat or even a bull ant, sure … but a zebra? WTF.
I read a quote the other day that said: “Some people have ‘ah-ha’ moments, I just have “Oh for f*cks sake, seriously?” moments” and no truer words have been spoken when it comes to my life of late.
So back to the moment my striped little mate took a chomp on my finger … I was hanging out at Australia Zoo with mom when we decided to do one of their Animal Encounters which for an extra cost on top of your entry ticket you can get up close and personal with some of the animals.
Having already done the Tortoise Encounter, also at Australia Zoo, and fed the giraffes at Taronga Zoo, I was pretty excited by the chance to get hands-on with Zambezi in what is a world-first animal encounter.
As part of our experience, we caught a golf cart ride to the back of the Africa exhibit and were introduced to Zambezi, a plain zebra who arrived at Australia Zoo in April 2012 after a stint at the National Zoo in Canberra.
Apparently, Zambezi’s genes have been so well represented down south he had to retire to Queensland!
Although zebras are generally pack animals, Zambezi prefers to live like a lone wolf and is usually seen grazing away from the other two zebras in the African Savannah area of Australia Zoo.
Following almost 18 months of conditioning, Zambezi made his debut on the Animal Encounter scene, with visitors now able to meet, feed and get photos with this magnificent creature.
And, if you’re one of the lucky ones, have him give you a little love bite.
So, there I was holding a little handful of chaff admiring his stripes (because we all know how much I love stripes) when he decided to use my finger as a toothpick.
It’s just a shame they didn’t catch the look on my face at that exact moment because I’m pretty sure it would have been priceless.
