Toronto Zoo!

Today we slowly (and unhappily) woke up after a late night last night! The hotel had a continental breakfast that we enjoyed around 8:45.  After breakfast we finished getting ready and headed to the zoo! We got a rad but lost (I think we turned the wrong direction on the first turn - oops) BUT we found our way and made it to the zoo around 11:00.  We got a 20% discount from our hotel - yay! so we paid less than we expected!  First bummer for RJ - no elephants. Boo hiss!!  We got a map and started making our way around the zoo.  We got to the zoo just in time to watch a birds of prey show.  It was so cool with big birds flying right over our heads!!

 

First stop in the zoo - seeing the polar bears being fed!  We learned that although they appear white their actual skin is black and they can adapt to different climates.  Such a neat experience!  First some fish then a frozen cantaloupe!  There was a video crew there taping the feeding for some show!

We checked out lots of animals including the zebras and hippos before then getting to watch the lions be fed and also learned some facts about them! 

We learned that white lions are close to extinction and they possess a recessive gene.  They are working on increasing their population in captivity with hopes to bring them back into their natural habitat.  Interesting to hear... the female lion does all the hunting but allows the male to eat first! Less selfish then me, lol!! It was funny to hear that the mating woman lion had cubs and has not lost her baby weight because she will hunt anything and everything that may enter her area and chomp to her hearts delight!  She was also the first (before the male) to come for her snack! 

Saw some more animals including turtles, exotic birds, and gorillas.  We stopped to see the giraffes get fed! We learned that they stay pregnant for 15 months, their babies are born around 6 feet tall and double their height within their first year of life.  So cool! Also, the tallest giraffe was documented as 19 feet tall and giraffes weigh approximately 1500-2000 pounds! 

We found the elephants... sad little boy for no REAL elephants... but happy to sit on a stone elephant!

The kids climbed around for almost an hour acting like gorillas!  They had a blast!  Right after they got off the gorilla ropes the peacock who was wandering the zoo grounds gave us a beautiful display!

We saw a tiger, a mountain lion, and a cheetah... all sleeping!

Wow cool was this?!

Feeding the fish!  Another neat experience!

Some more shots from the zoo...

 

I thought these hairy camels were great!

We also thought the sculptures were cool looking but kinda sad that they were all made from trash pulled out of the ocean!

We left the zoo around 6 and headed to supper. After eating a ‘do it yourself’ sundae came with the kids’ meals!  Yum!

After supper we headed back to the hotel to relax for a little while before hitting the hay.