Saturday at the Zoo

After a winter cold spell about a week ago,

we are now in a warm spell for February.
I thought of going out with the warmer temperatures,

then, I remembered something.
I took Ella to the zoo about this time last year.

In checking the date, her trip last year was on February 15, 2015.

February 15, 2015

February 15, 2015

Ella put on her warmer/spring Spampy outfit,
which happens to be the same one she wore last year.
The few pansies in pots were not quite lively,

so we skipped that photo and started with the flamingos.

                                      

The flamingos were pink with a shrimp diet,

and ready for visitors.

There is a large pond near the entrance

that I really enjoy.

The Seal and Sea Lion exhibit is behind the back wall.

The entrance to the seal and sea lion exhibit

has an area that looks more like tide pools along

the coast, even though the seagull and other aspects

are not real in this environment.

There was a seal with a trainer.

Two other trainers came out.

The sea lion did a few tricks for fish.

The trainers asked if we had seen this before...

....well, yeah. At Sea World in San Diego in the 1970's and 80's.

Ella enjoyed watching both the seal and sea lion.

The Tasmanian wombat was toward the back of its exhibit.

I find the wombat to be way cuter than its neighbor;

the Tasmanian devil.

We wandered through Australia

and saw two kookaburra birds. 

We soon walked into the area with animals

from Africa.

There is a younger hippopotamus in this exhibit,

but what I find noteworthy about this location

is that the buildings in the city can be seen behind it.

There were two baby chimpanzees in the chimpanzee exhibit.

They were very playful.

One joined his mother after some playtime. 

They walked across the field in the exhibit.

When they stopped, the baby got off of his mother

and headed toward Ella leaning against the glass.

He was very curious!

I was very thankful for the glass!

It would have been sweet if Ella had been facing the inside

of the exhibit and made friendly eye contact with the 

baby chimpanzee.

But, since I was photographing this visit as quickly as possible,

the below photo is my favorite for the day.

Since he couldn't handle, smell, or explore Ella, he soon

turned around and went back to mom.

They continued with their lives and adventures

as chimpanzees in the zoo, but it was really interesting

to be noticed!

We continued with our visit to the zoo.

The zebras were eating.

The giraffes were out and about.

Our next interesting experience was watching a young

elephant and her mother. The young elephant is 2-3 years old.

The elephant they gathered with is the young elephant's

grandmother, so they are a family of female elephants.

There is no doubt that this is a loving, connected family.

As we walked away from the elephant exhibit,

I realized that I was pretty much done with our visit.

I appreciated this beautiful, February day

and look forward to more outings as our weather improves!