Como Zoo

Today was an awesome field trip for my Ecology class. We went to Como Zoo. First we toured the new Tropical Encounters exhibit. It was awesome looking at all the fish, anaconda, and crazy ants. The tarantula was pretty sweet, especially when it scared a classmate. She screamed even though the little furry spider was trapped in a bucket. The banana trees were just as sweet. It made me soooo hungry for the bestest fruit ever! And they were so green and looked so tasty. I had to eat one when I got home :P Also, for those of you who haven't seen the new exhibit yet, there is a sloth that hangs out at the end of the trail. He was sleeping in a tree when we went through.

The next building we went in was the Primate building, which was filled with (yup you guessed it) primates. The spider monkeys were pretty active like usual. A baby orangutang was just recently born and out on display with his mommy. He was soo cute and tiny! Gorillas were in the last area of the building, 3 of them were in the cage. And they were all sleeping! One started to wake up as we were leaving; he was perfectly posed as if taking a senior picture. It was cute.

Next on the list was the Aquatics exhibit, one of my favorites. Zoo employees were having a training session with the sea lions, so we were able to watch a show in process. The sea lions waved to us and did a few other tricks. Also in the building were several kinds of fish, both fresh and sea water. The tufted puffins were trying to fight the current of the hose, but of course the water current won. The black-footed penguins, or jackass penguins, were also entertaining as they waddled around the rocks. Just outside the building were the polar bears doing their usual routine: one swimming back and forth in the "pool" and the other pacing back and forth at the bottom. It's so sad seeing their old exhibit. It needs to be bigger for the two bears and have more toys for them to play with.

The last two buildings we toured were the African Hoofed exhibit and the Large Cats exhibit. There were a couple different types of zebras, giraffes, and antelope in one building. Lions, tigers, and cougers were in the other one. It just happens to be mating season for the lions, so they decided to put on a little show for my class. Afterwards, the female attacked the glass as if angry that we were watching. We can't help it if it's not something we see every day haha After the show, we wandered outside to the Wolf Woods, my favorite place at Como Zoo. Today, the wolves were relaxing in the snow. I can't wait to work with them some day...