At the Zoo - Mahlon's Blog Entry

These dolphins, made of flowers,
represent the entrance to the zoo

Sunday we went to the zoo. 

We took the bus to the Guanghzou Zoo.  It took about 30 minutes to get there from our hotel.

I pushed Jackie's stroller
for much of the time

There were so many animals to see, including the giant panda. 

When we got there, it was a crowd of people.  There were so many Chinese out with their kids on a Sunday afternoon that we were packed into a very small space. 



Howler monkey







The first animals we saw were monkeys.  There were many different types.  They were swinging from bar to bar in their cages.  They were very funny. 



Black bear



Next, we made our way to the bear exhibit.  The first bear we saw had big, huge ears as big as a dinner plate.  That was a black bear.  There were several black bears together in one enclosure. 

Grizzly bear looking for treats

The next bear we saw was a grizzly bear.  Both of the grizzlies were in the water, cooling off.  They were swimming and swimming.  One of the bears was near the crowd because they were throwing food into the water.  Of course, you would get arrested if you did this in Denver.  

Siberian tiger





Then it was on to the tiger exhibit.  We saw a bengal tiger, that looked too skinny and a white tiger that was laying against his cage.  We also saw a siberian tiger, a leopard, and a cheetah.  The lions were next, including four cubs who were playing together at the back of the cage.  One of them was adventurous and kept trying to sneak out front, but got too scared because of the crowd, so he ran back.

Pelican

The pond was next.  We saw several pelicans and stopped at the ice cream stand for some very sweet ice cream - that tasted like butter drizzled with chocolate.



Then it was off to the bamboo forest to find the panda bear.  When we emerged from the forest, there was there was the ... GIANT PANDA!  We were very excited to see it and so was everyone else.  It was very crowded at that exhibit.  We spent the most time at this enclosure.  The panda walked around in a circle in its rather large area.  It was so cute, with its big black eyes, sitting on the ground near the crowds.



I finished my ice cream right as we left the panda area.  That's when I started taking all the pictures.  So, the pictures from here on out were taken by me. 

Giraffe

Then there were several smaller enclosures, with mainly hooved animals.  We saw zebras, ealends, oryx, yak, addax, and Chinese goats.  All of them were very interesting.





Red rhinocerous



The last hooved animal we saw was the giraffe.  They had a very large enclosure and several giraffes were living there together along with an ostrich. Right across from that enclosure were two rhinos.  They were hard to take a picture of because the barrier was so high - probably to protect us from them instead of the other way around.

  



African elephant



Finally, we made our way to the ... ELEPHANTS!  I took so many pictures there.  There was one Asian elephant and one African elephant.  The Asian was the first one we saw.  The African was farther away, blowing dust on her back to cool herself down.  But, then the African elephant came near the fence, so I got some great photos of her as well.



Asian elephant



  





Before I knew it, it was time to get back on the bus. 

It was a great day at the Guanghzou Zoo.  I wish you all could have joined me.