A Visit to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo

One of my friends who teaches overseas is in town, and he called me up to see if I wanted to do anything. I suggested a number of things and we chose the zoo. Considering the weather lately, it was kind of a chancy thing to suggest, but the weather was absolutely beautiful today. Sunny and warm, very little humidity, and a breeze. 

I hadn't been to the zoo in probably twelve years. I am usually not easily impressed, but there are some improvements that have been made and some that are on their way, and it was a very good time.

I got a few pictures. These are all from my Samsung Galaxy 3.

Not all penguins like cold weather. This particular variety lives in the southern part of Africa. I had some fun getting a little video of this guy. You'll see it at the bottom.

This is a cattle egret.

Banded mongoose. You know, like Riki Tiki Tavi.

A fire bellied toad.

The terrifying giant concrete toad.

A giant tortoise.

If you've ever wanted to feed a reticulated giraffe, you can do it here. Be careful, its head weighs 200 pounds.

Peanut butter jelly fish, peanut butter jelly fish!

I swear this kangaroo was posing for me. Maybe I'll send this photo to PlayMarsupial magazine.

A laughing kookaburra. You know that sound they play in movies to make it look like it is in the jungle? This bird makes that sound. But this is native to Australia, and this is the only place it lives.

A leopard. 

Ina the lioness...and her companion,

Bill, who is nine years old July 22. Swing by and wish him a Happy Birthday!

The green edged Werner ladder. Its natural habitat is in construction zones, but can be found anywhere that additional height is needed.

An ostrich. If I'd had some leaves, I could have fed it, it came that close!

The peacocks roam around freely at the zoo, which can be cool as well as terrifying, if they jump down out of a tree and scare the crap out of you. That happened to my nephew once.

Great white pelicans.

A rainbow lorikeet. I got pretty close.

I don't know what this is called, so I'll just call it some red cheeked bird I saw. Wait--I think it's some sort of lorikeet. Maybe a RED Cheeked lorikeet...

A red panda. My friend, who teaches in China, hasn't seen a panda there, but had to come all the way back to Fort Wayne to see an actual panda. That's like living in Indiana and going to Russia to see a farm.

A red tailed hawk.

The invisibull. They are very hard to see.

A wattled crane.

Wildebeests and Zebras kinda depend on each other. I didn't know that.

This little guy had a hell of a voice!!!