San Diego, continued

The San Diego Zoo is very large.  We planned a day there, which I knew wouldn't be enough to see it all.  As soon as we arrived, we hopped on a tram that toured the facility, so we could prioritize what we wanted to see.  That's the best way to do it I think.  I decided to focus on birds, koalas, and pandas, and Lee chose gorillas and elephants. 

The Zoo is located on a hillside, which includes two or three small canyons.  This means there are a lot of ups and downs - stairs, hillside trails, and even a couple of outdoor moving walkways to make the climbs easier.

I know all of you have seen zoos, so I won't burden you with too many photos of every animal in the zoo.  I will try to keep it short and cute.  But first, the gorillas, starting with the silver-backed male, below.  Their enclosure is a bit like the garden of Eden, to be honest.  That's a waterfall to the right, lit up by sunshine.  The gorilla is looking down at the grass.

Lee really liked the gorillas, so took several very good photos.  Below, the alpha male is whiling away the afternoon, counting grass blades perhaps?

The gorilla below looked at us directly several times, and his look was pretty intense, more like a glare.  I am not quite sure what he was thinking, but it couldn't have been good.  I wouldn't blame him if he didn't like being tracked by cameras.

 

The zoo has both the single-humped camel, the one most of us are familiar with, and the double-humped camel.  The single-humped camel lives in warm climates, the other lives in colder climates and has more hair.  The San Diego Zoo has a particularly captivating specimen of a male double-humped camel.  His charm is unmistakable.

It is possible he was getting ready to spit at Lee as he took photos, we are not sure, but he certainly looked capable of it:

I finally saw California condors, although I would still like to see them in the wild some day:

Well, I wouldn't call this one "cute", but the lack of feathers has its purpose - the eating of carrion.

Now for the cute animals, starting with meerkats (1,2,3, "ahhhhhh....")

I like the capybaras, too (the largest rodent in the world).  If a guinea pig makes a good pet, wouldn't a capybara?  They are the size of a medium-sized dog, after all.

1,2,3 Ahhhhhh......  Just look at those adorable faces!

Okay, finally, the koalas.  Adorable!!  They sleep 20 hours a day.  In part, this is because of the eucalyptus leaves they eat, which have a drugging effect upon them.  The San Diego Zoo has the largest colony of koalas outside of Australia, and the greatest number of koala births - 123 (as of a couple of years ago).  A baby koala is the size of a jelly bean!  There are currently 20-some koalas in their new environment, which opened in March of 2013.

Finally, the pandas.  We were fortunate to arrive at meal time, although perhaps it is always meal time?  The San Diego Zoo currently has three pandas, one of four zoos in the United States to have that privilege.  The remaining three zoos are east of the Mississippi River.

Two of the pandas were out, the mother, Bai Yun, and her two-year old, Xiao Yiwn.  Both seemed comfortable with the crowds.  Bai Yun looked totally relaxed, as you can see in the photo below.

The baby, of course, was adorable.  How could anyone not love a panda?   He will be sent back to China when he is four.

 I captured of video of the youngster.  Click on the link below.

http://youtu.be/ysYN8z69Mqs


We ended the day by viewing downtown San Diego from across the harbor, as the sun was setting.  Since Lee lived in San Diego for a few years, way back when, he knows all the best places to take a gal.