I was using a lens with NO zoom
and, I have not cropped or altered any of these images,
so, what you see is how close we were to these AMAZING creatures
* This was one of seven elephants they had at the zoo. Just to the right of this photo is a zoo keeper throwing food onto this ledge... she was using her trunk like her hand to pick up the food (cheerios!) and eat. This is how the zoo keepers interact with the elephants, they have them come over to the ledge for snacks and such. Also they have trained them to present their ears here to draw blood if they need a sample. Crazy huh!? So, they are never actually in the enclosure with the elephants!
* The Claifornia Condor "posing" for photos. (Seriously, he stood there for a few minutes like this while people got out their cameras and started clicking away) This is an AMAZING bird of prey in my book, I would not be all that thrilled to come face to face with this guy in the middle of nowhere!
*Koala's (not bear, marsupial) are super cool too! They had several out and on display, I guess in the 80's Australia had a ban on exporting them to other countries, but so-and-so lifted the ban about 10 years ago and now there are so many at the San Diego Zoo that they loan them out to other zoos. They even send them with their own eucalyptus tree :)**One of my favorite exhibits!**
* I have no idea what this is called, but he was super neat-o! Not only did he have that cool long neck, he could stand on his hind legs for long periods of time and reach food (i.e. plants) up in trees where other animals couldn't reach.
* I got a number of photos of this exhibit, and I think it is my absolute favorite! The polar bears were out and playful... here he has a ball and is flipping around underwater. Such a cool animal, I could have watched them all day!
* It is not every day you see the "Giant" pandas! We kept commenting that we thought they would be a lot larger. He was walking around, climbing trees, and putting on a show for everyone... again, one of my favs!
*Yes, this looks like a rock, but it is a hippo's profile :) He was just hanging out there by the side of the plexiglass, CRAZY!!!
* Then there was this guy. One of the first things we saw, and I have to say that gorillas scare the crud out of me! This shot was through plexiglass and was quite a ways away. The zoo people said that one of the rights of passage for the teenaged gorillas was to swing and break the plexiglass... it had been done several times in the middle of the night... thankfully none had ever gotten out, but the idea is still there. Yikes!
* I have no idea what this is called, but he was super neat-o! Not only did he have that cool long neck, he could stand on his hind legs for long periods of time and reach food (i.e. plants) up in trees where other animals couldn't reach.
* I got a number of photos of this exhibit, and I think it is my absolute favorite! The polar bears were out and playful... here he has a ball and is flipping around underwater. Such a cool animal, I could have watched them all day!
* It is not every day you see the "Giant" pandas! We kept commenting that we thought they would be a lot larger. He was walking around, climbing trees, and putting on a show for everyone... again, one of my favs!
*Yes, this looks like a rock, but it is a hippo's profile :) He was just hanging out there by the side of the plexiglass, CRAZY!!!
* Then there was this guy. One of the first things we saw, and I have to say that gorillas scare the crud out of me! This shot was through plexiglass and was quite a ways away. The zoo people said that one of the rights of passage for the teenaged gorillas was to swing and break the plexiglass... it had been done several times in the middle of the night... thankfully none had ever gotten out, but the idea is still there. Yikes!
So maybe I will try to post others from the vacation soon, but I wanted to get my commentary in before I forgot on these awesome creatures!
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