Fun at the Zoo: Part 2

After the camels and ponies, we were pretty much in big cat territory. Yeah, it was a bit unnerving.

There were lions, cougars, leopards and tigers, even a hyena, amongst others.

Now this fence... *sigh* I had a love/hate relationship with it. As a mother, I loved it, especially when it came to the tigers, because those bad boys are large, to say the least. But as a photographer, the fences just weren't doing it for me. I had to stick my lens through one bit of fencing in order to get a clear shot of the other fence. It was awful, but I suppose for the sake of my children and their safety, it was worth it ;)

I did hear the hyena laugh before I left, which was a goal achieved. I'll be perfectly honest here and say that I thought it was the zebra. Yeah, it sounded yippish.

We also got to witness lunch time. And despite the site of empty, rib cages scattered about, it was pretty uneventful, except for the lynx, who growled at us ferociously. After we left, he talked like a household cat to my mother, of course I'm sure what he was saying was nothing short of "Back off or you're next!"

But probably the most eerie thing, which thank goodness, I was not around for, was what I was told happened at the Puma cage. I was told that as soon as my husband walked up with the stroller, the puma jumped to it's feet and eyed Baby Bee with a very intense look and prowled back and forth as if it were making dinner plans. *shudders*

After all the excitement of the big cats, we explored the monkey and bird section. One monkey was quite content to just hang and swing. Other monkeys hid, while still others jumped all about their cages. The children were excited to see monkeys from both Madagascar and Night of the Museum.

We also saw some tortoises and a cat. Yes, a cat, which I assume to be the pet of the owners. There were other animals about too, such as a shy peacock and lots of ducks. All in all, it was a wonderful day.

Next year, we want to go to the zoo in York. I hear you can ride an elephant. What's the most exotic animal you have ever ridden or seen up close?