A Trip To The Zoo

Things got pretty hairy last night what with the storms and all, but we came through OK. Some of my friends still don't have electricity, but mine only flickered off for a minute then came right back on.

This morning, the worst of it had passed, but there was still a chance of showers, so I set out for a shopping trip to Southaven. By the time I got there, though, the clouds were breaking up and the sun was shining.

Abrupt change of plans-- I went to the zoo.

It was a great day to go to the zoo.  It wasn't crowded at all, and it wasn't too hot.  I didn't take a whole lot of pictures.  I didn't even take my camera, but I did take a few with my phone.  

The bull elk still growing his antlers.  I must remember to try to go back in the fall before he sheds them.

An Arctic wolf

The big silverback gorilla

The new reticulated python.  I say new, but she's been there a couple of years already.

A warthog

They had some new things there, including an elevated giraffe feeding platform, a birds and bees exhibit, and the coolest of them all, Stingray Bay.

You could put your hands in there and touch the rays.  For some reason, they seemed to love my hand and kept kissing me.  It felt really nifty.  The stingrays themselves didn't feel anything like I expected them to.  I thought they'd feel like rubber or smooth plastic, but they felt really velvety.  I could have stayed in there all day.

They also had bamboo sharks

 And this great big ray that I can't remember what it's called

and these baby hammerhead sharks.

I didn't touch the sharks, because my arm wasn't long enough.  They stayed at the very bottom of the pool.  I tried, but I couldn't quite reach them.  And the volunteer ran over to tell me not to touch them near the mouth-- like I really needed to be told that. 

Hammerheads.  Yeah.  They eat people. 

Hammerhead.  It was also my Grandpa's pet name for me when I was a kid. 

Finally, this owl kept staring at me the whole time I was staring at him.

And I kept thinking, I get that same look from my cat.

BTW, the glass seemed to really confuse the camera on my phone.  Every photo I took through glass was out of focus.

Anyway, if you want to see more zoo photos, you can see the ones I've posted from previous trips by clicking on the Memphis Zoo label at the bottom of this post.  

If you're ever in Memphis, don't pass up a chance to visit this zoo.  It's a really nice zoo. 

I need to get up there more often.