From the First Mate's Photo Album - Zoo Pics

"Lets Go to the Zoo!"

Here are a few pictures taken at the Louisville Zoo on 24 Aug 2012... there are a lot of photos, click on one of them (suggest the bear above) to get another window with larger images of all in this blog.  The duck below was just a few inches from my leg when I took this photo!

The below photo was the best that we saw of the botanical gardens at this zoo on this trip.

Above left is a giant turtle... these guys are big & heavy!  This is a close-up of a sea lion just before the big show.  Upper left shows Becky making contact with this big guy.  Upper right is a very nice looking jaguar... just beautiful!  Below is one of Louisville's young Polar Bears.

 And in the middle of the zoo is a Pioneer Cemetery and here is a list of who is buried there.  An African and an Asian Elephant working together for a very nice show that we were lucky enough to catch.

That cannot be me with angel wings... it is not me, it is Indiana Bones who might be an angel! Wrestling a Kamoda Dragoon is not what an angel would do, but TSGS Director Becky West is not a typical angel... she is my wife!  Below is Evansville's Mesker Park Zoo photos... taken on Monday, 20 Aug 2012.  Look at the botanical garden near the zoo entrance and close to the Amazonia Exhibit.

 Above is some kind of Spoon-billed bird.  Below to the right is a wild snake crawling around in the temporiarily closed Praire Dog exhibit.  And just look at the teeth of that small gator!

 

 One of my favorite exhibits since I was just a little kid when it had monkeys on it, is Mesker Park's "Monkey Ship!"  They use it now for kiddie bumper boat rides.  Great new use for one of the zoo's older great exhibits!!!  OK, how many of you can have a leaf with your name on it as adopting a Zoo animal?  Anyone can... it only takes $25 for the smallest donation.  Actually, I represented the Ohio Valley SAR Chapter in adopting an American Bald Eagle and they put my name on the leaf instead of the Chapter - that will be corrected tomorrow!

 Below is one of the two most playful otters at the zoo... a favorite with the kids and for me and Becky.  The Jaguar is young and not yet full grown, but is a nice looking animal.





 

Above in these last four photos in upper left is a beautiful Tiger, then to the upper right is an old Rhino with missing tusks.  Lower left is one of the Gibbons monkeys that just love to swing around showing off!  Here are two large, but not giant turtles, posing for my camera.

- Photos taken by JGWest & Becky West.