Fauna at the Detroit Zoo

And of course, I didn't let my enjoyment of the flora cut into the enjoyment of the fauna. Animals are simply way cooler than any flower. Sorry members of the plant kingdom, you may live longer than animals but until you start moving, you just aren't as cool.
This is the statue of the gazelles as you enter the park. It was cast out bronze by a mold from by Marshall Fredericks (a name you've seen a few times on this blog).

This is a condor, I believe. They are pretty cool looking birds.

I'll have to admit, this is probably one of my favorite sculptures in the Metro Detroit Area. It is part of the Horace Rackham Fountain. He was the first president of the Zoological Society and one of the earliest stockholders in Ford. The money he made from that enabled him to be a huge benefactor to the Detroit Area. If you will recall, you've seen his name mentioned several times on this blog.

This particular sculpture was created in 1939 by Frederick Schnaple after the death of Mr. Rackham. It is probably one of the more recognizable features of the zoo.

This is one of the anteaters.

I believe this is a fallow deer.

I have no idea what kind of bird this is, nor why I would have taken a picture of it. I'm kidding. I love eagles.

This is an elk taking a nap.

A prairie dog enjoying a meal.

Another prairie dog enjoying a meal.

A red kangaroo. Although I didn't go through the exhibit, this is one of the few exhibits where you can actually walk through it. It sometimes allows you to get fairly close to the animals.

For all of the times that I've been trying to get a picture of a wood duck. It figures that I would see one in one of the ponds that they have at the zoo. It is a pretty neat looking bird.

Another shot of the duck.

One of the bears taking a nap.

One of the peacocks not taking a nap.

This is another fairly neat exhibit they have at the zoo. It is a pretty large enclosure which is good for the animals but not so good for taking pictures unless you have a monster lens. Sometimes, they will let you feed the giraffes.

A zebra and her foal. The foal was born 3 weeks ago.

Another shot of the zebra.

The Detroit Zoo has the world's only two headed rhino. Again, I kid. The angle of the shot makes it look like one.

Another shot of the rhino.

Another animal that I like is the meerkat. I'm not keen on the exhibit at the Detroit Zoo though as it is in a building which means that I need to bump the film speed on my camera up. Sometimes that doesn't lend to nice shots.

Another one of the meerkats.

A Japanese Snow Monkey. This is actually a pretty nice exhibit. In the middle is a large hill for the monkeys to climb on. Although sometimes that means you have to walk around the exhibit to see them.

Another snow monkey.

Unfortunately, the Lion pen is being reconstructed. From the sketches, it looks like it is going to be pretty nice. About where you see this fence, there will be a glass wall that will let you get closer to the lions.

One of the gorillas. This is another nice exhibit.

And the tiger.

Another shot of the tiger. It's amazing how many similar characteristics they have to their smaller house cousins.

Sniffing for something.

I'll call this one keyboard Tiger because he looks like the keyboard cat at the end of the video.

Opening his mouth.

One of the chimps. I think that this enclosure is connected to the gorilla enclosure.

Probably the best exhibit at the zoo is the Artic Life Habitat. It is pretty large and parts of it look like the Artic. I am not sure how many animals they have, but there are quite a few. There is a tunnel that you walk through that goes under part of the water.

Here the polar bear is playing with something.

Here's another shot of the polar bear.

More shots of the eagle. I like that I can get closer to this one than the wild eagles but he doesn't have the same majesty about him. Plus the fact that I'll never see this one fly. Oh well, it is still cool.

Another shot of the eagle.

This eagle is a fairly new resident of the zoo. Apparently, he smacked into a power line. They were able to bring him back but he'll never fly again.

Another shot of that eagle.

Some flamingos.

The river otter is another nice exhibit.

At lot of people don't like the Detroit Zoo because many of the enclosures are quite spaceous. Sometimes that makes it harder to see the animals. I like it because it allows me to get better pictures of them because they look more natural.