MN Zoo

Collin's daycare was closed on Friday (teacher conference), so I took the day off & we went to the MN Zoo. Got there right when they opened and it was SWEET! We were the only ones in the Tropics Trail for a long time, so could take our time and actually see things. The gibbons were (according to the zookeeper we spoke to) doing their morning territorial call to get all the other animals/birds riled up. The black one did a sort of keening call and then the white one would join in with a very nasty-sounding snarl & bark, showing all her teeth. Yes, I said SHE. Apparently, it's the male who sounds all sweet and high-pitched and the female who dares the other animals to intrude.

The early AM is also an excellent time to hit the MN trail - all the animals (except the raccoons and who really cares if they move about?) are up and moving and easily viewable. We saw the coyotes up close, one of the wolves and I didn't even know there were two wolverines there. They are usually snoozing by the time we get there. About 10am, the buses arrived and schoolchildren began to swarm - so we went to take a ride on the monorail and left about 11:30am.

Collin does love the train.

Turtle - Tortoise?

I think of this as his "You lookin' at me?" face.