Zoo time!

Great morning at the zoo (one day last week) with our Colorado Springs cousins! Timo, Mattias and I joined Thea, Isaac and Theo on a windy, cool August day. (The weather has been very sunny and hot, so it was a nice change for a day.) The zoo is located on the slopes of Cheyenne Mountain, so getting to the exhibits means climbing up and around the hills! But that also means you can get incredible views of the city and further.

One of the best things at this zoo is the giraffe habitat. There are at least two dozen female giraffe in this large exhibit, and visitors can feed them lettuce! The giraffe are very friendly and not shy at all about putting their faces - and tongues - right up to you to nuzzle in for lettuce. I didn't get a great photo of this - but next time Jim can come and try! It is the first exhibit after the entrance, so Timo was still feeling shy and uncertain. He didn't want to get too close - but of course by the time we left, he wanted to go back and see the giraffe again.

We saw three different kinds of bears. This one below was the smallest - the spectacle bear that lives in South America - and also the most visible.

 

Another amazing highlight was seeing three lion cubs, less than 2 months old, who had just been brought out from their birth/newborn area and are now able to be viewed. They were so cute and furry and still a bit wobbly trying to climb around in the exhibit. (I didn't get a photo because their were a lot of people and I was holding Timo so he could see.)
 
This Siberian tiger (Amur tiger) was VERY active while we were watching. She was pacing through the forested area, and then jumped down the cliff and pawed at the pond. We stood on a bridge over the pond and watched her growl at the water and then slowly wade in. What a beautiful creature!!
 

And, that's all! Still more to see - we'll be back!