At the Calgary Zoo, camels look at people

The Calgary Zoo has a couple of resident camels, and these humpbacked mammals love people watching.

(Photograph by Amber Bracken)

On a crisp fall day, as elaborate lights are turned on in anticipation of the holiday season, an ungulate screams.

Pictured above is Zsa Zsa, one of the Calgary Zoo’s resident camels, preparing for her starring role in the ZOOLIGHTS 25th anniversary event, held in support of conservation programs. While most animals stay indoors and away from the crowd, Zsa Zsa and Ollie, the zoo’s other camel, always “choose to be in front,” taking in the colorful Christmas scene and music, says spokesperson Alison Archambault. . “They really think they are the stars of the show.”

For Ollie and Zsa Zsa, the fun is surely people watching. Children with hot chocolates lead their parents, who sip mulled wine or spiked eggnog, to a prehistoric park with illuminated dinosaurs. Families line up to meet a boy dressed in red and white. Human beings throw axes for sport, because, according to Archambault, “nothing says Christmas like throwing axes.” What strange creatures.

This exhibit at the Calgary Zoo begins in November 2021 and continues through January 2022.