The first Wild About Wine of 2008 was rescheduled to Monday night. The weather was much more cooperative despite some periods of light rain. Eight Australian wines were open for tasting. Not a lot of animals attended. A few birds, a snake, and a bearded dragon were all I saw. I was hoping for a koala to go with the Australian theme. The manatees were a big hit with the crowd, especially when the staff gave them a watermelon to play "football" with. Later they were munching on a big bunch of lettuce.

A lot of the zoo staff attended, including celebrities like Thane Maynard and Terri Roth (she's the one who helps make Sumatran rhino babies).

The 4-D Theater was open for free screenings of Planet Earth. I liked the Planet Earth film. I generally like Discovery Channel-type films with great wildlife photography. The 3-D aspect of Planet Earth was not really what I had expected. We had to wear ill-fitting glasses and, while the film had a little more depth, it wasn't 3-D in the sense that you felt you could reach out and touch any of the creatures on the screen. The "4" of the 4-D experience is accompanying physical sensations. Naturally Planet Earth focused on the ocean so the audience was subjected to light sprays of water, rumbling seats, a water snake attack (not as bad as it sounds) and bubbles. Overall, I was underwhelmed. But, as the film is only 15 or 20 minutes, I would still recommend going to the 4-D theater, at least once. And, with all the extras, kids will love it.

Why does the zoo have this series of wine and beer tastings? Obviously the zoo is very popular with families with young children. But you generally don't see a lot of 20 and 30 somethings there without kids. Maybe I am just a big kid but I get so excited about going to the zoo for one of these special events. I love the animal interaction and the social atmosphere. The crowd Monday night was rather diverse in age. It did seem like most people were upwards of 30. Of course, I'm just guessing based on what I saw. There were people in their 30s, 40s, and 50s there.

The August wine tasting will be held at the brand new Giraffe Ridge exhibit. It's the most popular one so far. I found out last night that over 200 tickets have been sold and the zoo staff is concerned about hitting capacity. So if you are interested, you'd better get your tickets soon.