The Dallas Zoo welcomed thousands of visitors for the solar eclipse. As Vince Sims reports they provided a unique opportunity to see how the animals would react to the darkness.
The Dallas Zoo is where more than 4,000 people gathered to take in the total solar eclipse on Monday.
The zoo provided a special menu with eclipse-themed pizza and popcorn for guests, some of whom took the time to create special moments during the eclipse.
“My dad drilled little holes so the shadows through the holes were little crescent shapes and he wrote Russ heart Morgie who is my girlfriend,” Russ Nickel from California said.
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There was also a chance for people to observe the reactions of animals during the total eclipse. The flamingos did not disappoint. They did exactly what Dallas Zoo Zoological Manager Ann Knutson predicted.
"They all gathered in the water where they normally sleep like it was nighttime," Knutson said.
“The flamingos started getting crazy and started getting in the water because they thought it was time to sleep,” visitor Mara Villeda, of Arlington, said.
The moment of totality had several different animals acting a little strange with zebras and giraffes running around.
But for the people here who experienced totality, it was a moment they’ll never forget.
“It was marvelous,” Claudia Mares from Mexico City said. “It’s amazing the power of God.”
“It was amazing,” Villeda said. “I started crying when everything went dark.”
“I felt like my lizard brain took over,” Nickel said. “I got goosebumps and all mystical. I don’t know, like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.”
“This was incredible,” Tiffanni Story from Oklahoma said. “It was worth skipping work. Skipping school. It was very cosmic.”
“When it first started happening, I got chills,” 17-year-old Dillon Stidwell from Oklahoma said. “I was just super excited. It felt like it was straight out of a video game. I’m a gamer. It felt like a Fortnite event.”
