New Things We Learned At The Zoo

I love my zoo membership! November through mid April, of course! It was a beautiful 73 degrees yesterday and I decided, instead of pouting that we're not having any winter-type weather. Get off my butt and out the door, let's enjoy some sunshine!

I took the girls to the zoo and we had a wonderful experience. During season, I like to try and get over there 2 or 3 times a month. It's season and we haven't been since mid-November. Yesterday put me back on track and inspired me to get them there more!

We did a part of the zoo that we've never done before, due to my fears and hesistance. We benefitted from it greatly and I survived! We had our own private lesson on stingrays, sharks and horseshoe crabs at the stingray pool. We also had our own private tour of the Arizona Trails (the reptile, amphibian and bird area). The zoo was relatively empty and zookeepers were out in full force. There's a lot going on at the zoo. New births, and a few animals on 'baby watch', so they're really excited over there. Helpful and informative!

So, what did we learn?

There are two baby stingrays at the zoo. Yesterday was their first morning of temporary integration. They have to slowly introduce them to the others. Since stingrays dwell on the bottom, they tend unwittingly rest on top of the babies, which can suffocate them. Also, stingrays gills are on their tummy. Horseshoe crabs use their tail to help guide them if they're flipped over. And 6 foot nurse sharks spend most of their days sleeping along the bottom of a shallow ocean floor. And the girls want NOTHING to do with marine life!

One hour before we arrived at the zoo, they released two Andean Condors into the habitat where the Bald Eagles used to live. Their wingspans over 10 feet. We also learned that this owl spends sun up to sun down on this rock, moving along about 5 inches in any direction. Oh and Turkey Vulchers are ugly and don't look like turkeys. Thank you, Hayden!
I started sweating and got a wave of nausea, but I sucked it up for the sake of my kids and took them through the reptile exhibit. Hayden wanted badly to see the snakes. We learned that Taylor has the same anxiety and fear of snakes that her mom does!! And Hayden is now a bit more resistant :) She now only likes "good snakes" and not rattlers or whipsnakes. (I couldn't bring myself to photograph a real snake, because I couldn't bring myself to look at them!) We also learned that Taylor has quite the love for frogs. Hayden had no desire or interest in the frogs because she has "pretend frogs at home". Taylor begged for quite awhile to see the frogs, so we went in. Surprisingly, I was not as squeamish as I used to be, and we both thought the swimming newts were cute!

We learned that the best time to go to the zoo is within a week or two after the Christmas break. There are no school groups and everyone is tapped out of money! Sooooo....that means there's no crowds and much more room to play!We also decided that turkeys are bird brains, just like all the rest of them. This one big white Palm Turkey was trying to peck at the girls through the fence and kept getting is red hangy thing (that covered his nose), stuck. But he would do it time after time. Strange bird!

AND, I learned that when my girls are done, they are DONE! No warnings, just sit down in the middle of the road kinda done!

I sure enjoyed them. We needed this kind of a day!