Dear Wigleaf,

I'm writing from the Maryland Zoo in Druid Hill Park, Baltimore. I have a membership, and my toddler and I live here now. Keepers hand-feed the black-footed African penguins at 10:30 and 3:30. A wild seagull, Jonathan, steals fish from the penguins. Once, Jonathan ate so much stolen fish he couldn't fly away.

In the barnyard, a herd of goats chews while children brush them, pull their tails, and screech like barn owls. One white billy goat can hold a paintbrush in his mouth and paint lines on a canvas. I've never seen him do it, but I've seen purple paint in his beard. On Tuesdays, at two, a zookeeper brings out the possums—Salmon and Moose. They used to be wild (born invasive in Alaska) but now they spin in tight circles for treats.

The grizzly bears are sisters whose mother was murdered in Montana. They grew up in the zoo, and they are enormous, fierce, playful, and lazy. Wild sparrows and starlings flit in to steal their food and to splash in their bear-sized water bowls.

There are wild deer in the elephant enclosure. They come for the exotic fruit—persimmons, golden kiwi—that don't grow in the park where they were born. I wonder what they think an elephant is—a very large deer?

If I was a deer (a bird, a possum, a goat) would I choose the zoo?

Haven't I already chosen?

Love,

Deirdre