Wellington Zoo

My friend Jo works for the City of Wellington and they had an appreciation day at the zoo so she invited me to go with her.  I hadn't been to the zoo yet and I always enjoy visiting zoos.

Here I am posing on a tiger...hehe...I had to jump in when I could because there were quite a few kiddos also trying to get their photos taken.

Then we went and saw the girrafes.  It was cool because they had a built up standing platform so you are actually quite close to them.  I could actually reached out and touch them...but I didn't know if that would be smart.  But they are so cool.  It's amazing how tall they are!  And there were some ostriches in the compound as well.  And Jo and I were talking to them, and they were quite responsive.  It's kind of fun to chat with animals and think that they can kind of understand us.

Just like other zoos, they have interactive exhibits.  I thought this one was particularly awesome.  It looks like a robot playing the drum.  Jo took her hand at being a drummer.  I must say, she was pretty good for a novice! :-D

I know it is kind of silly...but I love statues and posing with them.  This is a sun bear and I couldn't resist sitting in it's arms! :-)

Here is a live sun bear. They were so cute to watch and their paws are pointed in, so they are quite cute when they walk.  I couldn't take a good photo, because all I have is the camera on my Blackberry, which I was happy to have or I wouldn't have photos at all!  But I wish I had a proper camera so that I could capture just how cute they are.

This is a photo of a Kiwi bird.  They are nocturnal, and very difficult to find in the wild, so if one is lucky enough to see a Kiwi bird, they are more than likely going to be in captivity.  This poor bird is called Tahi, which means "one" because he had an accident and now only has one leg.  I had to take the photo without a flash so it is a little hard to see him really good, but it was really cool to finally get to see one.  Now I've seen all the types of Kiwis that there are! ;-)

Another cool display by the lions.  Rocks shaped into a paw.  Jo sat on one of them to give "perspective" of how big it is.  I must admit, I love the cheesi-ness of it!

And the last but not least is the meerkat.  They are funny little creatures.  We also saw pigmy marmosets, which are the smallest monkies!  The adults are only about five inches in height!  We saw a one month old baby and it is only about 2 inches!   They are so tiny and so cute!  You just want to pick them up and pinch them!