I am a member of the Houston Zoo.  This is a wonderful thing because it means every day is free zoo day for me.  Anyway, I was there, admiring the animals from virtually all over the world, some extremely rare, some brought here for breeding programs at great expense and difficulty.  My personal favorite is the misnamed giant elephant shrew (which is not giant, not an elephant nor a shrew) pictured above and of course elephants, which are actually elephants and rather giant about it.  The thing that I find hilarious is that generally across the board the kids were more excited about the squirrels, rabbits and pigeons roaming the zoo than any of the arduously obtained captive wildlife.  Ahh kids