Columbus Zoo 3

NOTE: This blog is a continuation of my

visit to the Columbus Zoo last Saturday.

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This is a sculpture of Colo,

the grandmother of the zoo's

gorilla family.

I overheard someone say

she only died recently.

A mom and her baby...

This is a three-year-old,
and he's quite the card!

Gorillas always seem so sad to me...

I love the sign posted here:

"Gorillas Can Slap The Glass.

You May Not. Thank You."

Other apes, but not gorillas...

Of course, these are my favorite

members of the ape family--

the Bonobos!

When presented with a tense

situation, they resort to a natural

analgesic--sex.

I know...it looks like they never

get upset: they sleep a lot!

Ah...an example of releasing...uh, tension... :)

"When I was a young warthog..."

Okay, so he's not a warthog,

but he is in the swine family.

Gotta love those zebra legs, Ms. Okapi...

Great plaque...

"Unity in Diversity"

This is the entrance to

Islands of Southeast Asia.

Next trip, I'm taking the boat!

Orangutans...

I'm glad the orangutans had

room to roam, but it made

viewing them difficult since

they stay along the back wall.

I'm glad I captured a shot of

these sea otters since I

missed their cousins the

river otters at the end of

today's journey.

These black swans were eating

food from the hole in the fake trunk.

Komodo dragon...

According to the website,

the lorikeets are an exhibit

you have to pay to enter.

I don't think they were

charging today however...

O'Shaughnessy Dam

A couple of wood ducks,

a seagull, and a dead fish...

We were allowed to be inside

the exhibit with the kangaroos, too!

Who doesn't love koalas!

A mama and her baby...

so sweet!

This was an open-air aviary.

I have no clue what kind of

birds these are...

On to the Manatee Coast!

Columbus Zoo 4

NOTE: This group of photos is a continuation

of my trip to the zoo last Saturday.

---------------------------------------------------------

This is Manatee Coast.

I'm not sure what kind of fish this is,

but he's only a couple of inches thick

and is as silver as polished candlesticks.

I love these stingrays.


And these, of course, are Christopher
Columbus's mistaken mermaids:
the manatee.
You'd been too long at sea, Chris...


Another shot of a stingray...
Fascinating!

One final glance under the sea

before the next leg of my trip...

The entrance to Asia Quest were

these two lovely cascades.

A crane?

Sweet monkeys...

Not-so-sweet looking HUGE bats...

A baby monk with her parents...

I was quite impressed with the elephants'

green space. Plenty of room to roam...

My zoo favorite...the vanishing red panda...

I can't recall the name of these animals,

but I do remember that the twin

girls were less than a month old

when I made the shot...

This sweet baby below is a pallas cat.

"Found throughout Asia,

from the Caspian Sea and Iran to

southeastern Siberia and Tibet,

these animals were mistakenly

considered ancestors of the Persian housecat

because of their stocky build and flat face.

With long, dense coats that keep

them comfortable in cold,

arid environments, they occur widely

but are not common and

they have been hunted nearly

to extinction for their fur."

A lush setting for these tigers...

The King of the Jungle!!!

Leopards...

The animals in this next exhibit

are all native to North America.

First is the Mexican wolf...

Then we find the fuzzy bears...

These guys were arguing LOUDLY

over lunch that had just been delivered.

Mr. Sassy Pants got his way...

A bear in another exhibit is

frustrated he can't join in the

ruckus he hears in the distance...

This grey wolf was the most animated

animal of the day...

Moose!!!

It's a mountain lion!

No, wait! It's a cougar!

Or is it a puma?

I know, it's a panther!!!

Actually, it's called all these names...

I ran out of battery power before I finished

with the animals. I think I had about

three more animals to photograph.

Oh, well...another day, my friends...