The Main Attraction

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Just before the Easter holidays, my son, Sam asked me to accompany him and the grandchildren to a small zoo, which is situated in Somerset and naturally, I jumped at the idea. It wasn't the first time I had been there but it was my granddaughters' first visit.

We arrived as the zoo opened and the first thing we saw was the lovely peacock strutting about. There was an albino one too, completely white, but I didn't get to photograph that one as there were always too many people in the way of it.

The girls soon started rushing about wanting to see everything all at once! We raced here and there, looked at the giraffes, rhinos, buffalos, camels, emus and many other beasts, great and small.

These three capaburras remind me of rats or guinea pigs but they are not rodents at all but are related to hippos! Hard to believe, that. They look rather inoffensive sitting huddled together in a row. They are about as big as a small sized dog.

Meerkats are lovely little creatures and there is always one on the lookout while the rest of the group relax in the sun. Apparently, they live in a tightly organised community and each one has a place in the hierarchy from the highest position to the most lowly.

Well after all those exotic animals, what do you think held our interest for the longest amount of time?

This ewe had started to give birth right in front of us and naturally we didn't feel we could move away until she had delivered her baby safely. I had never seen a sheep give birth before and found the whole thing fascinating.

One lady ran to get one of the workers and after a while three girls dressed in green overalls stood observing nearby, occasionally speaking on a mobile to report or query progress. The birth took about twenty minutes from the time we first noticed it. I felt rather sorry for the ewe as she keeled over to push hard. Eventually the little lamb slid out and after she licked it clean it began to stagger to its feet and the helpers left.

However it began to dawn on all of us who were still watching that she was having another lamb but this time she seemed to be really struggling. Another three people arrived, one of the men seemed to be in charge and with the help of the other two holding the sheep steady, he had to pull the lamb out. The new arrival was very limp and still and at first we all thought it had died. The helpers rubbed it and shook it gently and we were all getting quite upset, when suddenly there were little twitching movements on the ears and feet. Quite soon afterwards, the tiny black headed sheep staggered to its feet and joined its completely white sibling who now had wool that had fluffed out a little bit and it seemed much stronger than the other newly born twin.

I was enthralled by the births and I know that Crystal Jigsaw sees this kind of thing many times over, being a farmer's wife and she might well smile at me going over the top with this account. However, I was truly moved by this brave sheep and her lambs.

Out of all the more exotic animals....... this ewe and her babies had me enthralled for over an hour and as I write this account, I am still feeling quite emotional!

Photostory Friday is hosted by Cicely and MamaGeek.