When buying our annual pass for the San Diego Zoo/Safari Park, we went all out so that I could have the opportunity to take one special friend with me, each time I go. Usually, that friend is Steve but every now and then a girlfriend is free and wants to join in the animal magic.
Sunday's guest of honor was my college girlfriend, Julie. It has been years since she's been to the zoo and too long since we last connected. It was an idyllic day!First stop was the ever-entertaining polar bears. These guys are quickly moving up the list of my favorite critters. They really put on a show for us. Wow."At first thought, a polar bear in sunny San Diego seems curiously out of place. But at the Zoo, you’ll discover that polar bears are right at home, and every day is an Arctic summer day. The focal point of the Conrad Prebys Polar Bear Plunge is, naturally, the pool."And how fun to discover that the Zoo has 'characters'. I had no idea. I 💗 anthropomorphic characters especially when they are dancing to the music of the 80s.Julie and I both were mesmerized by the giraffes.Oh, and the boy Koalas were active, too, strutting their stuff, so to speak.A wander through Africa Rocks highlighted some of Africa’s most extraordinary species while we traversed six different habitats, from seashore to savanna.We could have watched the Hamadryas baboons for hours. These cuties can scale sheer cliff faces to reach their favorite craggy ledges—and there is constant activity as they vocalize, groom each other, bound into trees, and chase each other around.This beauty is the Bateleur Eagle who is both predator and scavenger—with a vulture’s ability to feed on carrion, and an eagle’s ability to hunt and kill snakes and other prey with its feet—the bateleur eagle is both versatile and unique (and gorgeous).Meerkats live in underground burrows in a group—up to 30 individuals—called a gang or a mob and spend much of their time grooming and playing together to keep the family as a tight unit. This busy mob has plenty of room to dig endless tunnels; the exhibit features plenty of dirt as well as logs and rocks for climbing and scampering, bushes to hide under, and two artificial termite mounds that are often filled with tasty meerkat treats!Sun seekers extraordinaire, we found many basking in the sun, bellies fully exposed to the warming rays. Look at this guy's expression. Now that’s the life!I was enamored with this camel. I could have watched his lips pick up hay all day.Julie and I share a love of elephants. There was a lot of elephant ogling happening.Interestingly, scattered throughout the park are life-sized statues of animals that once roamed and are now extinct. Lessons were found throughout the zoo.And there is something for everyone.And who doesn't love the big cats?Lions are famous for their sonorous roar (which we heard a lot) but have other forms of communication as well, mostly used to mark territory. They spread their scent by rubbing their muzzle on tufts of grass or shrubs, and they rake the earth with their hind paws, as the paws have scent glands, too. Adult males also spray urine as a message. We saw the warning sign in front of the habitat that warns of the male’s spraying range. We didn't see any territory marking but we stood back just to be safe.So ugly they're cute, hippos are well adapted for life in the water and are found in slow-moving rivers and lakes in Africa. With their eyes, ears, and nostrils on the top of the head, hippos can hear, see, and breathe while most of their body is underwater. At the Zoo’s Lost Forest, we ogled female river hippo Funani and her female calf, Amahle, born February 8, 2020.
This aviary was named for Ellen Browning Scripps (a mover & shaker in San Diego in the early 1900s. In 1921, Ellen Scripps donated $9000 to the Zoo so that a fence could be built around the grounds. The construction of this fence allowed the Zoo to control visitor access to their space and to charge admission. The grand opening of the Zoo occurred in 1923. Adult admission was 10￠, while the children of San Diego—the most important constituency to founder, Harry Wegeforth—were admitted free.Ellen Scripps continued to be the major Zoo underwriter. She paid for the aviary in 1923, and the establishment of a research hospital at the Balboa Park Zoo in 1926. All told, it was reported that she donated roughly $200,000 to the Zoo during her lifetime. Wow.Julie and this cute monkey had a moment. Actually, they had several moments, and it became quite entertaining. She spoke to him, and he was completely focused on her. When we finally left, he followed her along the walls of his cage. Hysterical.Here, we encountered some of the most rare and endangered monkeys on Earth. An elevated walkway called Monkey Trails led us directly through the tree canopy, where we observed them from two perspectives: tree-branch or ground level. Seen were lesser spot-nosed monkeys, a lively troop of capuchin monkeys, colobus monkeys and, northern black-crested mangabeys all sharing a habitat.Self-propelled beauty was admired in the Hummingbird Habitat- place I'd like to return to when I have more time to just sit.Our last stop was to ogle this guy. There are over 3,000 lizard species, but the Komodo dragon wins the prize for being the largest living lizard in the world! It is a type of monitor lizard, an ancient reptile species with ancestors that date back more than 100 million years. This awesome creature can grow up to 10 feet long and weigh up to 300 pounds. There are two Komodo dragons in the Zoo's new Kenneth C. Griffin Komodo Kingdom, featuring pools, misty air, heated caves, and warm rocks, designed to recreate the dragons’ native beach, woodland, and mountain highland habitats. This guy didn't do much but he was interesting to see and seemed the perfect end to a pretty perfect day.
“People forget the good that zoos do.
If it weren’t for zoos, we would have so many species
that would be extinct today.”
— Betty White
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1 comments:
You were there just two days after the bozos broke the Skyfari! It was still closed when Eric and A1 went days later. People are lame. Animals, on the other hand, are amazing! Great pictures.
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