The Newlin Family: May 2011

We were lucky enough to have family visit us this weekend. Bryan and Karen (aka Uncle B and Aunt Karen) along with Claire, of course, came down to visit. We wanted to do something fun and decided on the Richmond Metro Zoo. We spent Saturday morning watching all kinds of animals at the Zoo. Davis was very excited because this was his first trip to the zoo. One of his favorite stories is about Curious George going to the zoo and feeding the animals. As we pulled into the parking lot he asked if we would get to see the zookeeper or if there would be ostriches (both things are in the book.)
We assured him we would see lots of cool animals. Here are some pictures of the animals we saw. We will not bore you with all of the pics.

Some colorful bird

Another bird, this one was rather loud and flew right over me in the bird exhibit.

Herd of flamingos- the two in the back looking at each other were also pecking at each other aggressively.

Prairie dog- they were small and cute.

Monkey breaking a stick with his feet. Why is it so fun to watch monkeys? They had a ton of different monkeys all throughout the zoo.

Monkeys sitting down for a second and then shortly afterward they were swinging around.

Tiger- there were 2 young tigers that were almost 1 year old in this pen.

Another monkey just staring and making noises. He was making a lot of noise when we left and had a crowd around him. His sounds were shrill and sounded almost distressing.

Lounging Lemur

The Giraffes
This was one of the coolest parts of the zoo. They had a raised feeding area so that you could feed the giraffes. It helps to get there early and feed them b/c around lunchtime they were not as anxious to eat and actually would not even come to get food from us.

Their tongues are long. This giraffe was going after little food pellets which were dropped. Chris, Bryan, and Karen feed them and thought their tongues were a bit rough.

Zebras

Cheetahs on the other side of the fence from the zebras. We felt like this was not a great set up. The cheetahs just paced back and forth looking at the zebras and other animals across the fence.

Rhinoceros - Wow they are big. One was lounging in a mud bath and having a good time.

Tortoise

Peacock

Monkeys- again they are fun to watch. There were two little monkeys. You can see the one hanging onto his mother here in the middle. The little monkeys also swung around and played.

Feeding time- the penguins were enjoying some fresh fish.

Swimming penguin

We all were a little exhausted after our time at the zoo but Claire got a nap during all the fun.

Parrot - I enjoyed seeing the vivid bright colors.

The King Vulture
It was interesting b/c this bird and his friend were just standing there for a while with their wings extended and cleaning themselves.

Karen feeding the Fallow deer.

White tail deer

Alligator

Two camels. They were interesting because half of their hair was out and they looked shaggy but Chris and Bryan became experts in learning that the live in extreme temperature environments where it ranges from 20 F to 120F so they shed their coat at various times of the year.