Return to the Detroit Zoo

It has been a while since I have been to the Zoo.  I've been meaning to go there for a while and we finally had a warm enough day to head over there.  It was in the high 30's/low 40's today so I headed over to Royal Oak.

 So we start with the gazelle statue because this is pretty much the start of the zoo.

 Then we head over to the butterfly house with one of its monkey sentries.

 The Butterfly House was designed by Albert Kahn.  I'm not sure when it was built but it is a beautiful building.  It sort of reminds me of the Aquarium on Belle Isle.

 Some of the beautiful details on the building itself.

 I'm not sure how many different kinds of butterflies they have but I know there are a few.  This is one of them.

 And this is another.  I really liked this shot.

 The butterfly above from a different angle.

 Attached to the butterfly house is an aviary.  I don't think they have as many different kinds of birds as butterflies but there are a few.  It is actually kind of neat to be able to walk amongst the birds.

 A nice bright color for a dreary winter.

 Although it didn't look like it was quite ready yet, one of the additions they made is the beaver den.  So far it looks like they just have a river where you can see some of the trout.

 Some sort of vulture.

 One of their camels.

 Anyone who has followed this blog for any length of time knows that I like aluminum birds as well.  The Detroit Zoo is almost right on the approach path for Detroit Metro Airport, so I get a chance to get some plane pictures too.

 And of course, I was heading there to catch a wolverine picture of a different sort.  After taking quite a few pictures of the train, I needed to get a picture of a real wolverine.  Fortunately, he didn't disappoint me.

 He was eating a bone of some sort.

 Striking a pose.

 One more shot of him before leaving.

 The eagle is pretty cool too.  Although, I will admit that I've been spoiled being able to take pictures of the eagle they have at the Eastern Michigan football games.

 A squirrel.

 Another angle of the squirrel.

 A bison.

 Normally, I don't see the bear stirring about but I think since it was sunny today, he was doing what bears in the wild do.  Use the sun to do a little hunting or in his case just getting out an exercising a bit.

 Another plane.  I think this one is a DC-9 (or whatever they are calling them these days).

 Not a mere cat...but a meerkat.

 I am really liking the new lion exhibit.  Gives people a chance to be right in front of the lions.  Althoug the pictures aren't as great if the glass isn't clean.

 A lioness.  It's funny how similar the bigger cats are to the one that thinks he owns my apartment.

 Of course I had to stop by the tiger pen.  Since this particular tiger is a Siberian tiger, he feels at home in this kind of weather.

 Lazing about, much like his domestic cousins.

 A stop at the Detroit Zoo wouldn't be complete without a stop at the polar bear exhibit.  For a brief moment, I could be like a National Geographic photographer in the Artic.

 The Horace Rackham Fountain.

 I tried to get some pictures in the reptile building but my lens was fogging up too much to be useful.  Will have to try again when it is a little warmer.

 The river otter giving me a look.

And finishing off almost where we started, at the butterfly house.

I will have to make it a point to not be such a stranger to the zoo.

The Polar Bear Expedition

With the really cold weather outside, I decided to use this opportunity for some more macro photography.  If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you are aware that I have a fairly large collection of action figures.  While these are very similar to G.I. Joes, they are more like models because they are pretty detailed.  I have various figures that represent different eras of history.  Probably the bulk of my figures are repesentative of World War II, I do have a few from other eras.

Anyway, the cold weather got me thinking about a point in American history.  Many people are familiar with the Battle of the Marne, Meuse-Argonne and Belleau Wood but there seem to very few people that are familiar with US troops being used in Archangelsk and Vladivostok.

 This is one of two figures that I have that represent the World War I era.  The other is a British Lewis gunner.  This figure actually represents a subset of World War I for the Americans.  In 1918, the British and French governments requested United States troops to intervene in the Russian Revolution.  They would be fighting on the side of the White Government (The Czar) against the Reds (The Bolsheviks or Communists).  The men came from the 339th Infantry Regiment and were mostly from Michigan (out of 4,487 men, 500 came from Wisconsin...the rest from Michigan).  The unit was known as "Detroit's Own".

 Originally the unit was going to be sent to the battlefields of France but they were diverted to Arkhangelsk and arrived there on September 4th, 1918.  Originally the units were supposed to be used for defense of the Allied stockpiles in Russia with the British and French units to be used for offense but that changed upon their arrival in Russia.  However, they were split into two fronts and this became difficult to maintain.  In October, they were brought back to a defensive position.

 Eventually, it was realized that there weren't enough anti-Bolshevik forces for them to link up with, so they lost many of their gains from their initial offensive.  They retreated back to Archangelsk.  With the signing of the Armistice in Germany on November 11, 1918, there was a petition to return these men as well.  The morale of these men was low because they thought they would be returning with the rest of the American units.  There were several mutinies in the ranks of the men.

In May of 1919 (6 months after the end of the war), the soldiers were finally allowed to return home.  The campaign in Russia cost 110 men their lives.  Many of these bodies had to be repatriated well after the war.  By all accounts, the men fought bravely in a stupid cause.

One of the main differences between these soldiers and the soldiers in France was that they used the Mosin-Nagant rifles of the Russian Military.  It was easier to get ammunition for these.

There is a pretty neat memorial to these guys at the White Chapel Cemetary in Troy, Michigan.

The Polar Bear Expedition Memorial

So as I said in the last post, my main purpose for going to the cemetery was because they had a memorial dedicated to the Polar Bear Expedition.

In 1918, the United States was asked by Britain and France to help the Counter-Revolutionary Forces in Russia.  The United States obliged by sending a group of men to Archangel and another group to Vladivostok.  The group that was sent to Archangel was mostly composed of men from Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

In September of 1918, the American troops arrived in Russia and were placed under a British commander.  They were used to rescue stranded allied units among other things.  The offensive went well at first but then the lines were stretched and supplies became difficult, so they changed to a defensive posture.

After the signing of the Armistice with Germany, families of the men stuck in Russia started to petition for their return.  In the country, there were several mutinies.  They were finally withdrawn in August of 1919, after which almost 200 men were killed.  Several years after, the expedition was called a mistake.

Eventually, the bodies of the dead were repatriated with 56 of them buried here.  This sculpture was made by Leon Hermant.

The polar bear exhibit at the Detroit Zoo is also a memorial to these men.