As soon as we walk in the gates, we are amused and drawn to the numerous cute little “kanga-rabbits” that are just roaming around the zoo grounds. (Could not figure out their real names… if you know, please leave a comment!) Right away, we could sense that this would be a different spin on the zoos we are used to at home. They sell bags of food pellets that you can use to feed the various animals around the zoo.
We were quite entertained watching this hungry, hungry hippo opening his mouth so people launch food into his mouth!
Another South America native, the Coypu, would also wander around the zoo grounds looking for hand-outs:
Giant tortoises
White tigers
The chimpanzees were all charged up by a couple of patrons tossing bananas and apples from over the gates. Probably not proper zoo protocol but amusing nonetheless.
It’s interesting to us to see how much south americans love their mate… a kind of herbal tea. (Pronounced “mah-tay”). All through south america we see people carrying small hallowed out gords filled with mate and sipping the drink through metal straws. It’s quite a common sight to see someone carrying a thermos of water for mate breaks throughout the day… on buses, parks, even the beach! At public places like the zoo there is always a place to buy more hot water for mate!
In preparation for our upcoming visit to the Amazon, we visited the insect exhibit. This is the way I like spiders and other ginormous bugs… dead and behind glass. :- )
Hi Scott and Jen--I thought at first your unidentified animals were agoutis, but my dictionary pictorial shows a much shorter-eared animal. Wikipedia suggested it might be a paca, but that looks fairly short-eared also. So...I'm not sure. I hope this helps. Jen, I,m not particularly afraid of spiders and big bugs, but I definitely agree that I would rather see THOSE specimens dead and behind glass! L/Y, Dad.
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