A sunny day in Auckland, January 9, 2009
Parking lot is very close to the entrance. We took the bus.
Entrance
Wow! What a set of credentials.
New Zealanders are very creative with corregated metal roofing.
Two male lions, photographed through glass
3 male rhinos--beautiful horns!
Not really sparring.
Bath time. One observer, one mahout, one elephant. The other cow is to the right with another keeper.
A nice, clean elephant.
Next step: mud bath. Note the pokeko in front
One of the cows had a stiff leg, so her mud bath was hand delivered.
Two muddy girls
And after the mud--sand!
Lovely sand
All better now
One view of the large Africa exhibit
Another angle. The platform is used for talks.
Continuing on around.
Chickens loose on the grounds, as well as pokekos
Human/animal conflicts in Africa
Brolga crane in a walk-through aviary
Emu sign
Emu closeup
Kids could touch the emus when the birds chose to be close to the fence, and they did.
No, I didn't feed her. I was faking it. (Shameful!)
Beautiful pair of sun conures.
You find the darndest things in zoos. This one has a tiny Japanese garden. No animals.
Japanese garden
Pathway to siamang exhibit with live epiphytes. Beautiful!
Pair of Siamangs
Siamangs hanging from top mesh.
Siamang on the ground
Kids being gibbons, right outside the siamang exhibit
Notice they all have sun hats--big hole in the ozone layer over New Zealand
Gift shop staff with tiger ears and tail. Cute!
Kids' playground within the zoo
Small Clawed Otter (Asian Otter) chewing on a piece of fish skin
Glass and bamboo barrier.
Signage at Sumatran Tiger exhibit, showing individual animals. Recently had 3 cubs born.
Tiger exhibit. He's barely visible. We didn't get to see the cubs.
Lee showing size of tiger exhibit
Battered but effective “air lock” into aviary--double doors
Ann at double door
Lee showing the plastic backup barrier
Kids loved the door and bossed us around
Zoo goals.
Tie in to Austratian aborigine culture. Worth reading.
Warning sign to protect Reeve's pheasant from exhaustion
You all get back!
Auckland Zoo keepers
Keepers in kitchen
Parrot taking in the sun
Sign on Galapagos tortoises
Lunch time!
No sign about which island they were from.
Three macaws, two of them cross-breeds. Probably all former pets. In beautiful feather.
Keeper setting up enrichment feeding for macaws
All three were trained to station.
Hippo sign
Hippo! Oh, hippo! Time to clean the pool. Come on out! Treats--I've got a bucket of treats....
Snorkel was not eager. But the pokeko was.
When you're 49, it takes a little extra effort.
Per the keeper, this female was hand reared. She's a little small.
Old and small, but still in the game!
Draining the pool
Snorkel lives alone because she doesn't like other hippos. And now, no pool. Life can be so hard.
The pukeko would please like some hippo chow.
Spider monkey on a very wooded island
A sign for each orangutan
(not all the individuals are included in this slide show)
Orangs grazing like sheep while the kids play in the background
Sorry, not sure who this is.
Grazing
Male and youngster
Youngster playing with a female (?)
Not a completely secure exhibit!
Hummm... Easy to toss items into the exhibit. Seems to work in Auckland.
Handsome male. Long flowing Fabio-style locks!
Strange billboard--images morphing into one another
A moving poster display at the entrance/exit.
Wrapping it up with piggies
That's all, folks!
