Zoo Trip 12/24/2005

Took the family to the zoo on the 24th. A true example of why I love San Diego. Christmas Eve, and it's Sunny and warm, temperatures in low to mid seventies, even turned on the air conditioner in the car on the freeway. Marine layer moved in around 3, so it cooled off a few more degrees, but we were warm enough from walking by that time. Being Christmas eve, of course not many folks there, and perfect weather for a lot of the animals, many of whom come from colder climes. Since we're members, all it costs is gas money.



Took the camera, got some decent photos, and thought I'd experiment to see how well frappr works.



Malayan Tapir baby was nursing. Still has baby stripes! This is one of the worse enclosures, had to zoom and crop to get the photo you see.



Jabba, the daddy hippo, was getting an enrichment hosing. This is a little bit cropped, but otherwise unretouched.



Panda mother and baby. This is Bai Yun with her third cub. This was the one crowded exhibit there was. Su Lin was just climbing up and settling as we arrived, but too quick to get a good picture. It really is a better exhibit for watching than taking pictures. This one is slightly zoomed and cropped.



Daddy Panda. Gao Gao, in the neighboring enclosure, was quite active. This is a little bit cropped. Got a picture of him stretching up a tree, but there was too much foliage in the way. The two year old, Mei Sheng, was off exhibit. He's probably going back to China quite soon.



This black Jaguar has been one of our favorites for a long time. He's usually active, and usually in the front of his cage. The photo is exactly as taken, no zoom, no crop. My wife got some others that will probably be better once we hit them with snapfish.



Rhino crash! Don't let anyone tell you these guys can't move fast. He plowed through that headbutting target faster than I could bring the camera to bear. This is a little zoomed and cropped (You do not want to stand too close behind a rhino! I saw four people get a full frontal spray a few years ago, and I've seen several other close calls)



Orangutan up in tree substitute. I (IMHO wisely) waited until the one in the hammock had stopped urinating. You don't want to know.



Orangutan up close and personal. I cropped just a little bit, but there's enough foreground left to see exactly how close she was.



Pygmy Hippos! This is in the new Heart of the Zoo, and is a wonderful exhibit. Ran out of camera power, but they were playing around, and the one in the water actually did a barrel roll a couple minutes later.