ZooTripper365
Well-Known Member
I've been thinking a lot about all the zoos I've been to and the individual memories I have at each of them. This thread is for people who have funny stories relating to wildlife to post them for everyone.
Favourite Zoo Memories
ZooTripper365
Well-Known Member
I'll go first. I was 9 years old on my first visit to Lisbon Zoo in Portugal. I'd had a great day and seen my first koala and white tiger already but was now ready to see my favourite of all, the great apes. We'd seen the orangutans and the gorillas but had not yet has a look at the chimpanzees. We went out side to see the whole troop walking in a line towards us, luckily there was a moat in between lol. The leader, a huge male at the front, threw a screw at me with immense force, chipping the pavement it landed on. I cherish the screw now on my shelf, a reminder of the good times I've shared with wildlife.
Strathmorezoo
Well-Known Member
My favourite memory is a visit to Bristol Zoo with my mum and dad in 1966,I was 11years old.I saw white tigers for the first time and the Gorillas were housed in their new enclosure, which looked massive to me (I had only seen Gorillas before at London Zoo in very a very small cage).I was also lucky enough to be in the lion House completely on my own, probably for no more than 5 minutes, I was so thrilled, just me and those lovely cats,
mind you my parents wondered where I had been. I can honestly say that I fell completely in love with that old zoo .I still have my guide book which I refer to occasionally, just to keep my memories fresh. Also I enjoyed watching some people getting sprayed by a male lion, I sometimes wonder if they managed to get the smell off their clothes, or if they just binned them.Great day!
mind you my parents wondered where I had been. I can honestly say that I fell completely in love with that old zoo .I still have my guide book which I refer to occasionally, just to keep my memories fresh. Also I enjoyed watching some people getting sprayed by a male lion, I sometimes wonder if they managed to get the smell off their clothes, or if they just binned them.Great day!
ZooTripper365
Well-Known Member
That's amazing! One of my biggest regrets is not visiting before closure 
Tigeanderson
Well-Known Member
I have a lot of favorite memories and 4 of them took place way before COVID and one memory was you see when I was younger my paternal grandmother would take me to Six Flags great adventure and we would drive through the safari and the memory was that whenever we went the giraffes would always walk between the cars and they would scratch my grandmothers car and just saying but I don’t remember the exact years my memories happened.
My second memory was you see when I was younger I used to take horse back riding lessons and one time after lessons my grandmother was driving and I was in the front seat and as we were driving a deer suddenly appeared out of nowhere however instead of hitting the car the deer jumped over the front end of the car like it was so spectacular, scary and mesmerizing at the same time as that was the first time I saw a deer jump over a car.
My third and fourth memories also takes place when I was very young and the memory’s was that when I was young my paternal grandmother used to take me to the Philadelphia zoo in the winter time and the memory’s that I have is two ones that I still cherish to this day and these memory’s take place in the 2000s and the memory’s was at the Philadelphia zoo back in the 2000s on separate trips i saw two events that changed my life one of the events was seeing my very first tiger cubs however the second event was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me as the second event was me seeing the last Red Shanked Douc Langer monkey in the us and at first I didn’t know it’s name but recently I found out that the monkey was a she and her name was Toi and sadly in 2018 Toi was Put to sleep however when she passed away she was a very old lady as in monkey years she was 21 which in human years is 53 years old.
My second memory was you see when I was younger I used to take horse back riding lessons and one time after lessons my grandmother was driving and I was in the front seat and as we were driving a deer suddenly appeared out of nowhere however instead of hitting the car the deer jumped over the front end of the car like it was so spectacular, scary and mesmerizing at the same time as that was the first time I saw a deer jump over a car.
My third and fourth memories also takes place when I was very young and the memory’s was that when I was young my paternal grandmother used to take me to the Philadelphia zoo in the winter time and the memory’s that I have is two ones that I still cherish to this day and these memory’s take place in the 2000s and the memory’s was at the Philadelphia zoo back in the 2000s on separate trips i saw two events that changed my life one of the events was seeing my very first tiger cubs however the second event was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me as the second event was me seeing the last Red Shanked Douc Langer monkey in the us and at first I didn’t know it’s name but recently I found out that the monkey was a she and her name was Toi and sadly in 2018 Toi was Put to sleep however when she passed away she was a very old lady as in monkey years she was 21 which in human years is 53 years old.
SpoonieSafari
Member
My favourite memory is my profile picture! My partner and I got to go into the black and white ruffed lemur enclosure and sit down with them and feed them frozen grapes on a summers day, it was truly unforgettable! Seeing their tiny little paws and fingernails and watching them close their eyes as they munch on the frozen grapes!
As I have mentioned elsewhere on ZooChat, it was my regular childhood visits to London Zoo, back in the days when it had one of the world's greatest animal collections, that inspired my love of zoos and my fascination with zoology.
My earliest childhood memory is seeing the hippos at London Zoo in the 1950s; in those days the old Hippopotamus House was always my favourite exhibit in the zoo. Over the last forty-five years, I've been fortunate to visit many of the great zoos in continental Europe and North America and have many wonderful memories of those visits. But my favourite zoo memory definitely remains London Zoo's hippos.
The last common hippos at London Zoo , "Neville," and "Fifi," were sent to Whipsnade in the autumn of 1960 and, at about the same time, the pygmy hippo “Peggy” was sent to Paignton Zoo. The old Hippoptamus House (adjacent to the Giraffe House) was demolished shortly afterwards.
Pygmy hippos returned to London Zoo in the 1980s but common hippos, sadly, never did. I would love to see them back at London Zoo, in a modern exhibit with underwater viewing, but very much doubt that will ever happen.
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My earliest childhood memory is seeing the hippos at London Zoo in the 1950s; in those days the old Hippopotamus House was always my favourite exhibit in the zoo. Over the last forty-five years, I've been fortunate to visit many of the great zoos in continental Europe and North America and have many wonderful memories of those visits. But my favourite zoo memory definitely remains London Zoo's hippos.
The last common hippos at London Zoo , "Neville," and "Fifi," were sent to Whipsnade in the autumn of 1960 and, at about the same time, the pygmy hippo “Peggy” was sent to Paignton Zoo. The old Hippoptamus House (adjacent to the Giraffe House) was demolished shortly afterwards.
Pygmy hippos returned to London Zoo in the 1980s but common hippos, sadly, never did. I would love to see them back at London Zoo, in a modern exhibit with underwater viewing, but very much doubt that will ever happen.
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