Tuesday, July 31, 2012

San Diego Zoo

I'm usually not eager to go to the places that are popular and packed with people. Also, I have to admit that I have mixed feelings about the idea of animals being trapped in those small cages. It just simply makes me sad. However, the experience exceeded my expectation in the end.





Most animals looked happy, although there were some like this jaguar which was so stressed, walking back and forth, back and forth over and over again. Stressed animals broke my heart. Made me wonder if there's any way that they could be released in the wild again if there's no sign of them getting used to the circumstance?




Ran into a white dog.... wait no, it's a wolf!!
He was a beauty.



The zoo was designed the way you can walk, take a bus tour or enjoy views from a sky tram called skyfari. 



We walked on almost all trails on the map.
It was A LOT of walking but super super fun. I was amazed how well this zoo was designed.




Trees gave us walkers good shades and breezes.




Here's a hyena. For some reason I thought hyenas are a lot smaller than this. They are actually huge! It was the most freaky looking animal to me in the entire zoo...  



On the other hand, meerkat looked a lot tinier than I expected!
They were very curious, friendly and cute.




Oh llama... I just love the look of this animal.


Hi there, pretty one!


And elephants.




There were so many deer related animals that I have a weakness to. I don't know what their names are but aren't they so adorable?





Here's my favorite part, SKYFARI!
It was such a fun ride.




It was quite a long ride also, simply amazing.
Downtown San Diego↓




Another deer looking guy here.




He's a strange looking buddy.




The sun gave me some burns the end of the day but it was pretty breezy.



 This male orangutan came so close! He looked so proud of his Harlem.  


Now heading to the very popular panda trek!


This one reminded me of the animal in Princess Mononoke movie...


Red panda was so sleepy. Wonder if that's comfy...but this guy was sound asleep for sure!

 
Then here she is!
She was so focused on eating bamboo grass.
There was a pregnant one laying far behind the tree but this one wasn't shy at all about exposing her tummy in front of the audience. So cute.



Sometimes the animals are so reluctant to come near visitors. But here's what I learned. When you wait, there could be a chance that you get to see a spontaneous action like this.


He's coming near and near... playing hide and seek.


Suddenly, two tigers started chasing each other, punching each other! I was amazed how quickly and powerfully they run and move around!




After playing rough, they started cuddling which was so cute.


The same thing happened with bonobos.
They were so far away in the beginning but then..... he started staring at us and...


Here we go! He's on his way followed by his buddies!




He came right in front of us but showing a little rebellious side by keeping his back on us. He must be a boss of the clan!


 This baby bonobo was very friendly though, charming up everyone.




One more stop before leaving the zoo is "petting zoo"!


How sweet....




THE END.

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