Washington Zoo

The Washington Zoo is supposed to be one of the best in the country so we would be remiss if we didn't check it out. As usual we drove to the metro station and took the metro into town. The traffic downtown is horrible and very few places to park. The subway is fast and clean; its a perfect way to get around.

Grammie was less than impressed by the escalators going up to the zoo. Its the farthest underground we've been and the escalators were long and steep. She closed her eyes when we came back down.

Its a beautiful time of year here in Washington with so many trees blooming as well as spring flowers. Its been hot here and everything is blooming. The zoo is very old and all the buildings and trails are well looked after.

China donated 2 giant pandas to the Washington zoo a few years back. Mei Xiang, the female, is pregnant so she's being kept in seclusion to prevent stress. Sort of a maternity leave. Tian Tian, the male, was hiding so I borrowed this picture of him from the Zoo's website. There's more than one way to take a picture.

This is the giant ape building. You can see what nice buildings they have with great enclosures for the animals.

Gorillas seem to behave like humans in some ways and are fascinating to watch. The little baby would run back and forth between the adults, poking and pulling at them, just to get a rise I suppose. They have much larger outdoor enclosures but aren't let out until after lunch. I assume thats for the visitors, not to benefit the gorillas.

The Orangutan got tired of people gawking at him so he climbed up on the window ledge and sat with his back to everyone. I think I'd feel the same.

 As with most zoos, it is divided into areas featuring different species. In the reptile area all the usual snakes and amphibians were there. This is a juvenile Komodo dragon. They have been known to eat people so they stopped letting kids feed him, at least I didn't see any kids in there. Hmmm.

Scorpions are another collection that they have a lot of. Zoos love creepy crawlys and so do all the kids.

What zoo would be complete without a nice Bengal tiger or two. The zoo is one of the best I've seen for having large lifelike enclosures for the animals. The downside is they seem to find places to lay where they're not very visible. A lot of the animals we wanted to see, either we didn't or saw just a glimpse. Even the elephants were out of sight. How do you hide an elephant?

This was one of the weirder animals that we came across. This is also a photo off the zoos website because although we did see it, it was never in a spot to get a good photo. Its called a maned wolf from South America. So whats so weird you ask? Its smells just like a skunk. I didn't think anything smelled like a skunk but this guy sure does. We thought a skunk got into the zoo until we reached his enclosure and read his bio. It doesn't say why he smells, it just says he does. Its a big animal, about the size of a large german shepard.
So, there's really nothing special about the Washington zoo. We've all been to zoos and this ones typical. I actually think the Toronto zoo has more animals and the Winnipeg zoo is laid out better, but thats just my opinion. It was a nice day walking around a beautiful park so, no regrets.