Lions, Tigers, and Bears!

Last week we had the chance to take my 17 month old niece Paisley to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake. Pretty sure I enjoyed the zoo more than her cause I do have this little addiction with animals, but she liked seeing all the different types of animals there. I hadn't been there since I was 11, so it was a great experience now that I'm older and so many changes have been made. They had some pretty amazing animals there and I learned quite a few things, such as a giraffe's tongue is 18 inches long. That is a long tongue and one giraffe was just licking the side of the building so we got to see actually how long it really is. Also that tiger stripes and giraffe prints are like human finger prints, not one is ever the same.

White Glove Monkey

Watching the monkeys were very entertaining. I was just impressed how they can swing and climb through their habitats like its nothing. It looked a lot of fun with their long arms, their feet being used just like their hands, and then there tails wrapping around anything helping them hang on and move from branch to branch. The Spider Monkeys were probably the most entertaining ones swinging around.

The Columbus Monkeys were way adorable. They had really interesting coat that were black with long white hair that lied off of their sides as shown in these 2 pictures. And just look at that adorable face!!

 

Because elephants are my favorite animal I just absolutely loved seeing them, especially seeing baby Zuri there. She is going to be 2 years old this august and she sure is the cutest little thing.  They are quite an amazing animal. I think it would be way cool to be able to ride one, and it would be even cooler to have one as a pet but I would not enjoy having to feed it knowing how much they eat. One thing I did learn that day was their trunks can be over 300 pounds, no bones but with over 40,000 muscles! That is insane, more than we have in our body. It is a very important body part to their being and survival.

Elephants have been my favorite animal since the 2nd grade when I did a report on them. At the zoo that day they were fun to watch. How they moved, used their trunk for the water to spray on them or to throw dirt over their backs, how they use it like a vacuum to pick up leaves and grasses off the ground, and how baby Zuri is shown love from her mother. It was a hot day so Zuri sure did enjoy getting in the water to cool off.

One of my other favorite parts of that day was this guy. He sure has a big personality and loved  to show for all the kids.... including myself. At first he was just basking away in the sunshine and once he realizes he has a crowed waiting for him he gets up and dives into the water and puts on a very thrilling show. He swims up to the glass, pops up, poses for the camera and pushes off swimming on his back until he gets to his rock a few yards from the glass window. He stands up on it, and then dives back under, doing this routine for a good while. Pretty sure he could do it all day long and loved the attention. I watched him do it over and over for the longest time, and when we walked by later he was still at it, putting big smiles on everyone's faces. He is a character.

We did take a nice little train ride around a few habitats to see some animals you can't get to see from the normal walkways. It was a fun little train, kind of reminded me like the one at lagoon, except not as cool. Here is our exciting zoo day tour. Jess, Nick, Paisley, Mama, and I.

 It was an eventful day and I had a blast. Everyone had fun but I think it did wear out this little girl just a tad bit.....