Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

My mom got us a membership to the local zoo - The Riverbanks Zoo and Garden - and it is flipping awesome!! Sometimes I have a hard time at the zoo because the habitats just don't seem like they're the best for the animals. This zoo doesn't have an enormous number of habitats (there are plenty), but the habitats they have are really nice and all the animals seem really healthy.

For those of you in Utah, the zoo is like a combination of Hogle Zoo (with better habitats), Tracy Aviary, Living Planet Aquarium and Thanksgiving Point. There is truly a lot to do. Plus, it's conveniently located between our apartment and the university. I think we'll be going about once a week.

The zoo is connected to a botanical garden that you can reach either by walking or riding a tram. We didn't even make it over to the garden this trip.

Lions

Tigers

Bears

I was a little nervous because most of the enclosures are open without high fences. There is a moat, but it seems like an eager animal could jump it. It is sure great to see the animals without the high fences though.

Elephants

The best part of our membership is that we get to do all kinds of fun things for free.

Ride the carousel. I think we went three or four times.

Ride the train.

Ride the ponies. Baylie went twice. It was great because you don't just go in a circle, you ride on a little path.

Feed the birds. It was kind of freaky because they sort of attack you to get nectar from a cup. I guess I'm lucky they didn't eat the crumbs of Jalen's shirt.

Baylie didn't like them.
Feed the giraffes. Baylie was afraid, but later she did demos for her daddy on how long the giraffe's tongue was.

I think Jalen's favorite part of the zoo was eating crackers.

All Baylie talked about all day and into the night was the fact that the gorilla picked his nose and ate his boogers. Sorry, no photo of that.

And for those of you who have always wondered how tortuses mate, here's a visual for you. (This is actually a three-some.)