Living Desert

Ostrich at the Living Desert in Palm Desert, California

"The ostrich flaps her wings futilely—

all those beautiful feathers, but useless!
She lays her eggs on the hard ground,
leaves them there in the dirt, exposed to the weather,
Not caring that they might get stepped on and cracked
or trampled by some wild animal.
She's negligent with her young, as if they weren't even hers.
She cares nothing about anything.
She wasn't created very smart, that's for sure,
wasn't given her share of good sense.
But when she runs, oh, how she runs,
laughing, leaving horse and rider in the dust."
Job 39:13-18 (Message)

Ouch. That must be why few of us choose the ostrich as our emblem of nobility and inspiration (Consider a baseball team called the Oakland Ostriches...).

It was many years ago that I used to take my elementary school students to the Living Desert in southern California. At that time they had only a section with flora a fauna of the different deserts of the United States. Now they've added an equally large "African" section. It was a fun place to go with extended family on Saturday afternoon and wander around, watching the meerkats, the zebras, and the warthogs. There were also the giraffes, the serval cat and the chuckwalla. And here are a couple of happy little humans who tagged along with us.