Making it up to our zoo

It wouldn’t have felt right to go to visit the animals in Toledo this weekend but not go say hello and “hey, we’re back in town” to our favorite critters at the Detroit Zoo.  Besides, the capybara, prairie dogs and polar bear would miss us!  And the distance is about the same, so we plan to visit Toledo again, but the animals in Detroit are really our favorites (yes, we are aware that playing favorites is a big no-no, but what are you going to do?).  Besides, we keep figuring that the more times we visit, the more likely we are to actually see the Aardvark do something! (still waiting…)
But there is always something new going on there.  This time we got to see the anteaters attacking a log with their huge claws.  And we finally got to see one of the new white rhinos!  They arrived a few weeks ago and have been taking some time to get used to their surroundings before coming out to say hello.  We can’t wait to go back next weekend in hopes that the other one will be out, too! (and maybe the Aardvark.  Still waiting…)

Cheating on our zoo

Yesterday we abandoned our Detroit Zoo furries and accompanied some friends from church to the Toledo Zoo where they are members.  We loved the hippos, who have a large pool where we got to see them swim and play from a viewing area half under the water.  Did you know that hippos actually play when they have room?   We also got to see the baby elephant nurse which is a treat not often stumbled upon (again, this is why we visit so often... something new every time).  They also have cheetahs (one of our new favorites, since the babies in D.C,)!  Our favorite part, though, was probably the African Savannah, which is a very large field with multiple species co-existing (giraffes, antelope, guinea fowl, etc.).  We ate in the African village nearby and went on a safari (train ride) that went all the way around it for better views.  It brought back fond memories of the San Diego Wild Animal Park (by the way - if you’re ever in southern Cal, we highly recommend it).

Monumental Animals

On a scale of one to ten, we rate the National Zoo a seven. Some enclosures were quite spectacular, giving the lions and tigers an immense amount of room with lots of grass, trees, and an elaborate moat. Others, such as the entirely indoor small mammal house, were minimal. The whole thing seems geared more toward the scientists studying the animals than the visitors watching them, as many animals were off exhibit. Though all of their advertising proudly proclaimed giant pandas, which they had, the act that stole the show was the cheetah den and the five young cubs. We spent a long time admiring them.
Another unique feature of the National Zoo were the free-ranging golden tamarin monkeys. As we walked down one path, we overheard a ranger speak into his walkie-talkie, “I’ve got a sighting.” Our first thought was that a creature had escaped, but then we saw the sign saying that there were monkeys able to roam about the trees as they pleased! In addition, the invertebrate house had a couple of orb weaver spiders in the open air without any protective glass. We watched in horror as a keeper placed a cricket on their web, and one of the spiders immediately rushed to the disturbance, injected the cricket with poison, and wrapped it up for later consumption.
After the zoo, we made a whirlwind tour of all of the monuments in the mall area. We noticed that a large number of them were quite new, as if Congress had gotten into “monument fever” a few years ago. All of them were very impressive, and offered plenty of picture-taking opportunities. Interestingly, one family saw Jon’s T-shirt reading “Los Angeles Zoo” and asked us to take their picture, saying that it was nice to see fellow Californians in D.C. We told them of our true Michigan home, and welcomed them to this side of the country nonetheless. It took every ounce of remaining energy to race back to the hotel as a gentle rain began to fall. Tomorrow’s stops: Harpers Ferry and the Battle of Antietam!

Capybara and Pudu Are Friends

We have always been interested in how the Detroit Zoo promotes cross-species habitats whenever possible. Until now, we had always thought that it had been mostly a question of tolerance. For example, the ostrich tolerates the giraffe, so they can share an enclosure. Today, though, we discovered a very special relationship.
A docent told us that the zoo's pudu gets depressed when the keepers remove his regular capybara companion. When we visited their enclosure, we witnessed their bond firsthand as they chased each other playfully around in the water. What's really ironic? We are talking about a miniature deer and the world's largest rodent hanging out together. Is this a tabloid headline or a children's story? You decide.

Frogger Live

Well, not much has happened in the last week. Therefore, it's suddenly relatively exciting that we visited a local park. We're not sure if this would be a stand-out normally, but life has been fairly routine this week. The park, on Ford Lake, was actually quite nice. We invited our new neighbors/old friends Kristin and Matt to join us. After a short woods trail, we reached an elaborate boardwalk that circled the lake and bridged several manmade islands. Everywhere we looked, off either side, there were turtles sunning themselves on logs. That, combined with the plainly visible adjoining highway, reminded us of a real-life version of Frogger.