Made my monthly visit today!
- The McCormick Bird House was signed in both doors as temporarily closed today.
- Pied Tamarin, North American River Otter, and Golden Orb Spider were all signed "this animal is temporarily off display".
- The bachelor gorilla troop was also signed as "temporarily off-display" late in the afternoon; however they are often taken off display late in the afternoon so this was probably just for the day.
The lion family was all out today at once mostly using the heated rocks in their enclosure and chewing on some bones. Jabari tried to mate with one of the females but she swatted him away and he went to the other end of the enclosure in the grass, vocalized and laid down. The oldest cub is two now and his siblings are one; the oldest has the start of a mane, which looks like a mohawk, and the young still have fuzzier cub fur despite their bigger size. I'm told the cub that had mobility issues is doing really well and if he was correctly identified today he seemed very active. A docent clarified to multiple guests that the cubs will probably remain as long as the family continues to get along; Jabari is known to be a good, gentle father so there isn't an immediate concern to send them away.
Finally, just for a personal note, I had the pleasure to finally see Patsy aardvark active and digging in her enclosure in front of the giraffes! Visiting African Journey ten minutes before it closed, when it still starts to get dark after four o'clock was very rewarding for this. She attracted a lot of attention from guests, too. Highlight of my visit.
- The McCormick Bird House was signed in both doors as temporarily closed today.
- Pied Tamarin, North American River Otter, and Golden Orb Spider were all signed "this animal is temporarily off display".
- The bachelor gorilla troop was also signed as "temporarily off-display" late in the afternoon; however they are often taken off display late in the afternoon so this was probably just for the day.
The lion family was all out today at once mostly using the heated rocks in their enclosure and chewing on some bones. Jabari tried to mate with one of the females but she swatted him away and he went to the other end of the enclosure in the grass, vocalized and laid down. The oldest cub is two now and his siblings are one; the oldest has the start of a mane, which looks like a mohawk, and the young still have fuzzier cub fur despite their bigger size. I'm told the cub that had mobility issues is doing really well and if he was correctly identified today he seemed very active. A docent clarified to multiple guests that the cubs will probably remain as long as the family continues to get along; Jabari is known to be a good, gentle father so there isn't an immediate concern to send them away.
Finally, just for a personal note, I had the pleasure to finally see Patsy aardvark active and digging in her enclosure in front of the giraffes! Visiting African Journey ten minutes before it closed, when it still starts to get dark after four o'clock was very rewarding for this. She attracted a lot of attention from guests, too. Highlight of my visit.
