We decided to forgo the political animals today in favor of the real kind.

Among other exotic creatures, we saw a huge anaconda, a very disappointing “giant” octopus that we expected to be scarily huge but was only the size of Chloe’s head, an elephant posing for the camera, a gorilla feasting on its own excrement, a distinguished-looking meerkat, a panda regaling himself with bamboo shoots and a graceful cheetah.