Trip to Woodland Park Zoo

We went to the Woodland Park Zoo. As both Eliza (she made a blog entry too) and I had recently seen wolves we headed first to the northwest section of the zoo. We did see one wolf, but like it's wild kin it was elusive. I've gotten so spoiled living where I do, in general it seemed disappointing to see my familiar wildlife caged up. Of course many of the species, like the eagles, are injured wildlife or in a captive breeding program to ensure the survival of the species.



We really liked the way the emu could move it's neck. We were also hoping that emu would peck at the annoying teenager girl's toes that was pestering it. Alas, the girls toes remained safe. In the early morning the monkeys were quite loud. I think I had so much fun watching them I forgot to take pictures. The gorilla's were eating cherries. He would carefully take one out of the bag, pull the cherry of the stem and then neatly spit out the pit. He definitely was neater then I am when eating cherries.


For a dollar you could get some seed on a stick and feed the parrots. I really enjoyed this. The parakeets were the most aggressive about getting seed. The cockatiels reminded me of Buttercup, my bird when I was a teen. I let one play with my glasses.



The sloth bears were quite busy. My guess is there was honey spread out in their exhibit. They certainly were focused and showed some great balance!


Eliza really liked the African Wild Dogs. So did I, but I had seen them at the zoo once before. I think they are amazingly beautiful animals.


We were told the hippos were off exhibit, but when we got there they were swimming around and quite active! They were chewing on large sticks. The elephants (once again I forgot to take pictures) were also chewing on large sticks. It was amazing to hear the crunching sound!


I was especially enchanted by the tiger. It was just so active and almost seemed to be posing. I couldn't help but noticing all the claw marks in the ball. Tigers have so much power and grace.






One of the main things we wanted to see were the butterflies. It was cloudy and cool most of the day and we were worried they would be out. As we entered the butterfly house the sun came out. It warmed quickly and soon we were delighted with the activity. (I'll put the photos in the next post)