A Day At The Zoo

As I mentioned on monday in my weekend recap, I spent sunday afternoon strolling through the beautiful denver zoo. It was the best day; cool temps in the 70's and of course, my favorite person to do anything with was right by my side. Ryan and I had not been to the zoo in years, so, it felt like we were experiencing so much of it for the first time.

(I love the juxtaposition of the lioness and the urban building  /  an african lion laying in the grasslands)

We got to see all of the big guys; lions, tigers and bears... oh my! And, the zoo recently had a huge donation from toyota which went to creating a gigantic new elephant exhibit. While this area is really nice and polished, I am somewhat drawn more to the older parts of the zoo (like the primate area) where the enclosures are a bit less commercialized. 

(clockwise from top left:  close up of bengal tiger  /  a bengal on the move  /  my favorite animal of the day, the black rhinoceros  / another view of the rhino)

(ryan and I  /  the entrance sign)

(baby orangutan and mama  /  cutest little face up in the trees  /  ryan reading about the animals  /  a black howler monkey)

I will admit I have mixed feelings about zoos.  I get worked up about endangered animals being kept in small spaces for kids to scream at for hours a day but I need to remember there is a huge educational aspect. We all get to learn first-hand about animals that we will probably never see in their natural habitats, in addition, to know how they all play a part in the circle of life (ha, lion king reference!).

(me at the new elephant exhibit  /  behind the wires, a beautiful elephant  /  another big guy  /  some of the hundreds of tibetan prayer flags in the elephant exhibit)

Oh and just in case you were wondering, I love the movie 'we bought a zoo' with matt damon and could not help but say that line a few too many times during my zoo visit. I also feel like so many of the animals made me think of disney movies. It is amazing that the movie 'madagascar' and 'kung fu panda' kept running through my mind as I saw more and more animals. I guess that is marketing for ya!

(one of the older enclosures with a moat  /  the asitiac black bears  /  giraffes are so pretty  /  look how much bigger a black bear's paw is than my tiny hands)