A day at the zoo

Monday 1 July
Today promised to be a beautiful day with comfortable temperatures and less humidity, so we thought it would be a good day to go to the zoo. When we first got to the car park, there was a sign saying parking lot full, and they weren’t letting anyone in, so we continued and drove around the back streets to see if we could find any street parking, but had no luck, so went past the car park one more time, and noticed that although the sign was still showing full, they were letting people in. Having got in, we found there were quite a number of empty spots, so we were confused by the sign!
First we visited the kangaroos, where you actually walk through their enclosure - they ask you to stick to the path, and don’t touch them, but they will sometimes come quite close! In the adjoining area are the little blue penguins, native to New Zealand, which you can see above and below water. Beside the little blue penguin in my collage is the orangutan. My thumbnail photo is the Komodo dragon, the largest species of lizard, endemic to the Indonesian islands, who was posing quite nicely for a while, his long forked tongue flicking in and out. Next on the lower row is the Lesser kudu male and I believe a young one born back in January. We saw a number of animals as well, but they’re my stars for today!
There’s a lot of construction going on at the zoo at present. They have been building a larger enclosure for the elephants, with a big pool for them to bathe in - that’s supposed to open in the Fall. Then they’re converting what used to be the polar bear enclosure - he died a few years ago - into Sea otter coast, and revamping the bear enclosure. They are also working on a new solar array over its secondary car park, providing shade for cars, and generating power for the zoo. The zoo has already enjoyed many days “off grid” since building its solar array over the main car park in 2011. Their goal is to be at Net Zero by 2025.
The Zoo’s full title is Cincinnati Zoo and botanical garden, and they always have beautiful floral displays, notably their tulip display in the Spring, but it’s beautiful in summer too, so I have put in an extra of some of the flowers and plantings.