San Diego, part 3 --- This Place is a Zoo!

Roger here.... On this day we spent four hours (ok, 3 hours 47 minutes) walking six miles (ok, .04 miles short of six miles) at the world-renowned San Diego Zoo.  If you don't like pictures of animals, you might want to skip this post.

Deciding which pictures to post and how to logically organize them has caused me endless stress. If you look at the opening picture of our walking route, it is obvious that I would not be able figure out which animals we saw in order.  (Actually, that is something I could do, but I have no desire to spend that much time.)I finally came to the conclusion that the photos would have to be random, except for the first one.

These flamingoes were the first animals to greet us at the entrance.

This big boy is taking a nap.  As I have mentioned before, my chief photographer (Dianne) has an eye for interesting things.  Get a load of the gorilla's hand.

Speaking of big boys, here are couple...

Our favorite animal was this Maned Wolf.  We watched him walking through his large enclosure for quite a while.  Neither of us had seen one before.  They are sometimes called a "fox on stilts."

This guy is definitely related to wolves, dogs, fox, and coyotes, but he is a unique species.  He pre-dates the development of all the other species. He and his kind are ancient.

He is one of the few mammals that survived the Pleistocene extinction.  Wow, very cool for a former science teacher.





We saw some big cats...

... including this mountain lion, who startled us by leaping from a hidden place to pounce on a couple of dead rats that the zoo-keeper had left for him.  I had never seen a mountain lion move before, let alone pounce on its prey.  Dianne here:   We both jumped.   If we were in the wild and a mountain lion came for us, we'd never see it coming - boy, was he quick!

Speaking of large cats. I was able to utilize my dog-walking skills to prevent this monster from attacking Dianne.

Dianne had trouble photographing this regal Orangutan on her throne.  She kept turning her head away every time Dianne attempted a picture.  Shy girl.  Patience eventually paid off.







We had never seen a panda before.  The San Diego Zoo has some very unique species....

... The zoo also has excellent features like this underwater viewing window enabling visitors to watch this pygmy hippo lope around under the water.  They can stay underwater for up to five minutes.  This is one of my favorite pictures --- look at those eyes.

This peccary from South America is a very close relative of the javelinas that we regularly see in extreme south Texas.

My mommy thinks I am stunning.

Any ideas about what this ugly guy is? We can't recall.

Hey! Give me back my hat!

Life lesson... Sometimes grown-ups (even small ones) are too big to fool around in small spaces designed for children.  Dianne kept telling me to stick my head up higher.  I was not able to because my massive shoulders got in the way.

The next post will have a laze-around-the-campground theme.

Pet Picture of the Day...  This is Dianne's new baby gorilla.  There are no restrictions in our neighborhood regarding the number of gorillas one can have, so he is hers.  

OK, the adoption did not go through.  Mr. Silverback strongly objected.