Thursday, October 20, 2011

Canada : The Zoo

One of my favorite places from years ago was the Assiniboine Zoo.  It has changed since we were there last when the girls were little.

Many parts of the zoo were under construction, 200 million dollars in improvements are happening at the zoo.  Many of the animals had been moved from their enclosures.

Full pouch

This mama kangaroo had a full pouch..but she was determined to keep her baby faced away from us. 

kavorting kangaroos

There were cavorting kangaroos.  The males are much larger than the females in the Red Kangaroo Family.

The wind was howling ninety miles an hour.. we stopped for lunch. $27.00 later we consumed one Chicken sandwich, two orders of French Fries a coke and a coffee. ( The hamburger was inedible…  I wondered where they got such terrible tasting meat.)

We headed for Toucan Ridge..where there were no Toucans.

Flamingos

We enjoyed the Flamingos.  There were a whole bunch of photography students that were in the building, with all kinds of fancy cameras.

At the Discovery Center we watched a Meercat..and he watched us.

Meercat

I used to watch that show about the Meercats on the Discovery Channel..until one night one of the favorites was killed and they all stood watch over the body..that was too much for me..It made me sob uncontrollably.. and I have not watched the Meercats since..although they are awfully cute.

We did NOT go into The Reptile House..for obvious reasons.  They did have a snake in one exhibit at the Discovery Center, I saw the sign, at which time I promptly closed my eyes and Far Guy led me out of the area.  I am not sure if he saw the snake or not..I didn’t ask.  I wish they would keep all the snakes together.  It should be a rule.

The Butterfly house was closed for the season..I figured that it would be.  They have very extensive gardens in the Assiniboine Park..that would be awesome during the summer. Perhaps I will have to put Winnipeg back on the list:)

Blog Signature

15 comments:

Alan Burnett said...

A sad story of a disappointing visit : and yes - I wonder where on earth they got that terrible tasting meat from!

DJan said...

I have stopped watching those Discovery Channel shows too, because I can't get some of the pictures out of my head. And I cried over a young wildebeest being eaten by a crocodile while the mother watched helplessly. The Ohio zoo animals that somebody let out a few days ago was bad enough for me.These days I stay away from zoos.

linda m said...

My husband and I love going to the Zoo. In our Zoo the Amur tigers have breed and so have the lions. So we have cute little cubs to see. I try not to think that all these animals should be out in the wild because I would get too depressed. The food at any zoo is terrible and over priced - I tell myself that the high price helps feed the animals. Thanks for sharing your zoo adventure with us.

CiCi said...

I haven't been to a zoo in years, even when we lived a few blocks from the San Diego zoo. And you are right, the food at the zoos is so bad and the cost is so high. Silly to spend the money for food there really. I cannot imagine carrying around such a huge pouch like the mama kangaroo in your picture.

Terry and Linda said...

I love zoos. I would suppose those heat loving animals were in heated houses...perfect for us to see in thier real habitat. I don't think I'll be going down under any time soon.

Great post!

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

It has been about 25 years since I visited our zoo. Atl had a gorilla named Willie B who was the same age as me but sadly, he has passed on now.

Anonymous said...

What a shame about the butterfly gardens.

Love that flamingo shot!

Nancy/BLissed-Out Grandma said...

Ooh, I don't want to think about bad meat served at a zoo! Our grandkids love zoos, and they are learning a lot about various animals and their habitats. Eventually they will also learn that many (most? all?) of the zoo animals would prefer to be in the wild.

Just Stuff From a Boomer said...

We rarely go to a zoo. I don't like to see them caged, but I know I'm not going to Africa to see them in the wild so I should appreciate that I can see them at all I guess.

So sorry your eating experience was not a good one. I've had a couple of those lately. It's expensive and disappointing.

Becca's Dirt said...

That's a lot of money for sandwich and fries and you couldn't even eat the burger. Yuk. Sounds like ya'll are having a good time. I love zoo's. I know Chance is ready for you to come home.

Leilani Schuck Weatherington said...

One of the saddest things I think I saw at the L.A. Zoo when I was there several years ago was the meerkat enclosure. There were just two of them and they were very fat and seemed bored, nothing like the active energetic meerkats on "Meerkat Manor". I quit watching it too when Flower (?) got killed.

Red said...

I have never been to the Assinaboine zoo but I highly recomend the Calgary zoo. So next time come a little further west.Maybe the food will be better?

Jinglebob said...

Kangaroo porn! Niiiiiiiccccee!

Lanny said...

Good thing you had an able bodied escort to get you around the errant placed snakes! Maybe the hamburger was a snake burger! But I hear they taste like chicken.

Lynda said...

I didn't realize the flamingos body feathers were different colors. They are beautiful. I feel the same way about the Meerkat shows as you do. DJan mentioned the wildebeest show. Yup, remember that one, too!