Lions, a Tiger and a Bear

After a spell of hot and very humid weather, the rains came through resulting in a significantly less humid and slightly cooler day yesterday. It was a nearly perfect summer day with a light and steady breeze. So after putting in a very long day at the office I was tired but the weather was too perfect to just head home. So off to the zoo I went.

We have a lovely children's zoo. So called because it is smaller and designed with families and young children in mind. Mid-summer they have special evening hours and host a local jazz band to perform. While the music was nice it was too nice an evening to just sit so off I wandered. Surprisingly my old smartphone camera managed to let me capture a few photos (before my aging battery died). I am a bit proud of the photos and hope you like them too.


In the desert biome was a sleeping bearded dragon.

A bit further along was the meerkat group. This little guy was very comfortable resting under the branch. The second little guy paused briefly in his running around and graced me with a great pose.

In the plains area we see the reticulated giraffe and a rather cheeky fellow.

One of the nicest aspects of an evening stroll through a zoo is that the more nocturnal animals are more visible. The female lion was pacing around while the male appears to be comfortable in his spot.

 Sadly the zoo has felt the need to add a double layer of fencing. Originally (and for many years) the zoo simply used a form of very strong piano-styled vertical wire (which you can see in the photo). They have now added an additional diamond-shaped fencing layer over the original vertical wire. Less attractive but it does tend to encourage people to stand back.



Moving along the elephants were enjoying a stroll. 













While I enjoyed the delightful sight of a young elephant diving into the water pool, I did missed capturing the moment on camera.

The forest area entrance welcomes visitors with the presence of the American national bird:  the Bald Eagle.

Many years ago I had the good fortune to see one flying along the river as I was traveling by train on the Empire Builder route between the Washington and Oregon border. Since then Indiana and other states have been able to re-introduce the Bald Eagle to other forest areas.




Before my phone's battery sighed defeat it captured this very restless Brown Bear. It has one of the nicest spaces with a man-made waterfall and stream.



























So I was able to see Lions, a Tiger and a Bear. No photo of the tiger who was was walking on the far end of his domain to the thrill of the children who were standing along the viewing space where he prowled.

However the gift shop had an excellent large photo postcard of a tiger so I will enjoy a professional's work of that magnificent creature. Hope you enjoyed my evening stroll through the zoo.