By Kim Kalunian, Entertainment Contributor
Roger Williams Park Zoo has always been one of our favorite spots in Rhode Island, so when we heard that they are offering new experiences for the whole family, we had to check it out!
From May 24 to September 1, the zoo, in partnership with Camels Unlimited, is is offering visitors ages three and up the chance to have a close-encounter of the dromedary kind. This new exhibit can be found beside Hasbroโs Our Big Backyard, which was added last year.
We meet up with Kevin Haynes, who has been a camel handler for five years. He says his favorite part about working with the animals is getting to know their personalities.
โTheyโre very, very smart animals,โ he says, gently stroking the camelโs side. โThey have good personalities.โ
Mickey, a 7-foot-tall, 1,500-pound camel, spends most of his days eating and walking around. At night, he sleeps and eats some more.
As Haynes talks, Mickey licks his palms, looking for any traces of carrots or apples, which he gets as a treat. The 7-year-old camel was raised and trained on a petting zoo, and bottle fed as a baby.
โHeโs a good boy,โ says Haynes. โTheyโre nice, docile animals.โ
In the wild, Mickey would be found somewhere near Mongolia, China. He starts to shed his bristly coat in the summer, and doesnโt mind the cold Rhode Island winters.
Mickey is a hybrid โF1โ camel, a cross between the Bactrian (two humps) and dromedary (one hump) varieties. And yes, you guessed it โ that means Mickey has one-and-a-half humps.
But Haynes says there isnโt any water in the hump-and-a-half. Contrary to the widely-held belief, itโs all fat. Haynes says a healthy, well-fed animal will have a large hump, while an underfed camelโs hump will start to diminish after several days.
The hump makes for a bit of a bumpy ride, especially since camels have a unique way of walking. Unlike most four-legged animals, camels move both legs on one side of their body at the same time, so both the front and rear left legs move, and then the front and rear right. For a rider perched atop a camel, it makes for a rocky ride, with a forward and backwards swaying motion similar to a rolling ship.
While Haynes says some camels can get up to 40 miles an hour, Mickey takes riders at the zoo around a small loop at a very leisurely pace.
Mickeyโs pal Henry is also available for rides. Heโs a slightly smaller, one-hump, dromedary camel whoโs not just ANY camel โ Henry was featured in Mackelmoreโs โCanโt Hold Usโ video. We were starstruck.
Both camels seem to love the attention of people, and Henryโs been known to bark from his pen if heโs not the one being ridden.
Oh yes, camels โbark.โ But they donโt spit, says Haynes. Much like the water-filled hump, Haynes says the spitting camel myth just isnโt accurate.
โLlamas and alpacas I consider spitting [animals],โ says Haynes. However, he says if a camel โbarksโ while chewing its cud, โstuffโ does come out.
A hybrid bark, like Mickeyโs, sounds โlike Chewbaccaโ according to Haynes. A typical camel bark is a deeper, throatier, rumbling sound.
But itโs rare to hear these petting-zoo-raised animals do any of that. Instead, they enjoy a pet on the head and a quick, quiet ride around their ring.
And the zoo makes it easy for the visitors and the camels. A raised platform allows riders to easily climb onto the animals, and doesnโt require the camels to get down on the ground multiple times a day. Once aboard, riders are strapped in and led around a small loop by a handler. The rides will be available to visitors through Sept. 1 in the Beyond the Fence area of the Big Backyard exhibit. Each ride is $6.
Haynes says itโs a great chance for people of all ages to meet and learn about the animals in a safe environment.
โOn television, for the most par,t they kind of get bad reputations,โ says Haynes. โSo just being able to be here, and being able to pet them and socialize with them, you get a better understanding of the animal.โ
Along with the camel rides, Roger Williams Park Zoo has added a rock climbing wall from Rock Spot Climbing, and will be opening Flutterby: Butterflies in Bloom โ featuring free-flying butterflies in a โbeautifully landscaped greenhouseโ โ this Memorial Day weekend. Click here for details on all of the zooโs seasonal offerings.
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