For Betty White, it's still all happening at the zoo

NEW YORK – Betty White says she once had a friend named Gita. An Asian elephant who, like many elephants, "liked to have her tongue slapped," says the actress, 89. "And I was happy to oblige her."

By Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY

She's just ducky: Betty White with a Mandarin duck at the Central Park Zoo.

By Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY

She's just ducky: Betty White with a Mandarin duck at the Central Park Zoo.

White's here at the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan to be interviewed about her new, illustrated book, Betty & Friends: My Life at the Zoo (Putnam, $26.95).

But after a few questions about the book, White has one of her own: "Can I see the animals?"

The zookeepers are happy to oblige. White is a longtime trustee, benefactor and volunteer at the Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens. In New York, she gets to feed fish to sea ducks and cradle an African pygmy hedgehog and a Mandarin duck. She addresses them as "darling" and "baby."

Zookeeper Josh Sisk asks White not about her 64-year-long TV career but about the L.A. Zoo's new Sumatran tiger cubs born in captivity in August.

"We lost one," White says, as if announcing a death in the family. "But the other two are doing fine."

On an hour-long visit to the zoo, White shows few signs of her age. She asks for an arm to lean on going up and down stairs, but on a day that begins with TV appearances, she looks unstoppable.

Despite her life-long fascination with animals, White has never been on a safari in Africa or Asia.

"Who has the time?" she asks. "I've got too much work to do." Besides her latest role as a judgmental Polish caretaker on the TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland (its third season starts Wednesday), there are plans for an NBC reality show, Betty White'sOff Their Rockers, with elderly pranksters, and a TV special marking her 90th birthday Jan 17.

Retire? "I don't know that word," she says. "I'm having too much fun working."

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