Peek a Boo at the San Diego Zoo!
I hope you like animals, because you’ll be seeing a lot of them if you read on. This is part 3 of 3 posts chronicling our birthday weekend in 2008. It also has some information about visiting the San Diego zoo for those who are interested.
The Plan:
We had to choose between the Wild Animal Park and the Zoo …and we obviously chose the zoo. Why? Just the fact that “San Diego Wild Animal Park” has the word “wild” in it ranked it higher in my immediate estimation. But, we heard from a few people that because the animals are in an environment more like their natural habitat (at the wild animal park), they can sometimes be far away and hard to see. Since we planned on taking a photo expedition of wherever we went, this kicked the Wild Animal Park out of the running.
The Execution (of the plan of course):
The park opens at 9am, so that’s when we got there, of course. Here’s a tip for any of you planning to make the trip. Apparently, the pandas are a big deal. A really big deal. Although, I wouldn’t really know. You see, Tim and I didn’t know how big of a deal they were, so we made our way around the park in an orderly counter-clockwise manner, which left the pandas at the end. When we finally made it there, our prematurely-elderly bodies were already screaming at us in their soreness. Then we saw the line. It gave me flashbacks to Saturdays at Disneyland, waiting for Pirates of the Caribbean. We probably would’ve been standing in line for an hour or so just to see the pandas. The point of all my ranting is that if you want to see the pandas, go in the morning, as soon as you get there, when the park opens and there are less people clamoring for that panda attention. Or, psyche yourself up to wait in a super long line…
The Animals:
Now for the rest of the animal pictures!
Wallaby:
He had a very long and very cool tail:
Giraffes
When you wander around on foot, you have to stay off the roads for the tour buses. When they pass by, you can hear the drivers giving more information about the animals. Giraffes give birth standing up, so the babies fall about 6 feet to the ground, which helps stimulate them to start breathing. Stick that in your back pocket for the next time you play animal trivial pursuit.
Snakes:
There were a LOT of different snakes at the zoo. I’m not exactly a fan of snakes, but I sure liked the color of this guy.
Monkeys, Gorillas, and the like:
I can’t keep all the different kinds of primates straight, but I know these guys are gorillas. They were hilarious to watch, because they reminded me of my youngest brother and sister. Just kidding Katie and Ryan…mostly. The two youngest gorillas were playing with a bug until Mr. Gorilla Dad came and smashed it.
They really fit in, don’t they?
I think this guy is a Mangabey Monkey
Meet our thoughtful, pensive Mr. Bonobo (also called a pygmy chimpanzee).
Some kind of monkey that was trying to convince us, with his sad eyes, to let him out.
Elephants:
The African elephants had much bigger ears than the Asian elephants. The elephant on the far left is African, and the two on the far right are Asian…I think…
Flamingos:
These fashionable flamingos are struttin’ their stuff across the pond in style… IN PINK
Meercats:
These feisty little guys were running around and wrestling for the crowd’s entertainment
Steller’s Sea Eagle:
I’m glad there was a fence between me and this guy (although you can’t see the fence, thanks to a wide aperture)
Polar Bear:
It was hard to get a picture of this big white polar bear, because he was extremely popular. Here he is swimmin’ underwater.
Zebras:
Oh, how I love the striping of the zebras (and their mohawks). I wanted carseat covers that looked like zebra print, but for some reason Tim didn’t think they would suit a car he drives most of the time…
Koala Bear:
I think he was posing, just for us.
Humans, Mankind, People:
This guy was probably my favorite of all the wild animals.
one of the people exhibits.
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