Panda naming at the Atlanta Zoo

Taylor went on a zoo adventure this morning...we were supposed to meet Zoe and Michelle Drye there, but they weren't able to make it, so we toured the zoo solo today. This morning was a baby panda naming and so it was quite the media event. Cameras everywhere and many important looking people walking around in business attire...not the typical zoo adventurists! We missed the naming which started at 8am and was presented by Jack Black...the panda was named "Po" by Dreamworks studios as they were going to film the second "Kung Fu Panda" movie and Jack Black was the voice of one of the characters in the movie. We walked over to the panda exhibit and saw Jack Black being filmed in front of the pandas. At the time, I did not know that any celebrities were supposed to be there, and I looked at him thinking that he looked familiar. And then it hit me who he was. I think that that was my first celebrity siting other than eating dinner with one of the heads of the Chicago mob during a nutrition conference years ago. I should have taken his picture, but didn't know if I was allowed due to the filming going on...oh well, I'm not one to be too star struck anyway. We spent the rest of the day touring around, playing in the kid's area and riding the carousel. We fed the parakeets which was a treat and the tiger came right up to us at the glass of his exhibit area which was a thrill for me for him to get so close to us. We never did get to see the baby panda that was named! We did watch a mama gorilla and her baby sitting right behind the glass in their exhibit. All of a sudden, one of the male gorillas came up and slammed his fists up against the glass which scared the mama and her baby away from the glass. I guess that he didn't want people to be close to the baby...recently, the glass in the gorilla exhibit had to be replaced because a gorilla cracked the glass doing that! Another exciting day at the zoo!