After breakfast at the zoo, we were taken on a behind the scenes tour of many of the exhibits where we were able to listen to the caretakers for each area. One of the most interesting was visiting the place where they prepare all of the food that is given to the pets throughout the zoo. One of the zoo keepers was chopping up mixtures of fruits and vegetables and it was very interesting to see the variety of sizes into which the fruits and veggies were chopped. They ranged from almost whole to the tiniest of diced cubes, all depending on which animal was going to eat it! We were also shown the food for reptiles, like snakes and lizards, that eat rats and other rodents. We were shown everything from frozen pinky mice (really, really tiny) to frozen huge mice.
We also went behind the scenes into the giraffe enclosure where we were able to line up to feed them carrots! Giraffes are my all time favorite animals so this was a really big deal for me! I couldn’t believe that we were so close to them and could touch them and feed them! I did get a picture of Tony as he turned from feeding them but unfortunately, he wasn’t fast enough to get my picture as I fed the giraffes. I really would have loved to have that but it all happens very quickly and he was working with a digital SLR and had to focus and just didn’t get it in time!
They also held back the monkeys (chimpanzees) in the primate enclosure until we were there because that’s when they are most active so they didn’t release them until we were there. Then after all that, we got to go back into the education area where we were shown some other animals, up close and personal.
Below you’ll find some pictures. I will also be making a few more Australia posts with pictures that didn’t make it into these posts the first time around.
Emu and kangaroo
Tony and giraffes
Fruit bat
Echidna
Lions
Old elephant house
Above is the old elephant house. We were told that when the new elephant house was built, all the elephants were moved down to that enclosure, which is huge! However, the one male elephant was soon removed and taken back up the hill to the old elephant house because he “bothered” the female elephants too much!
Tents at Taronga Zoo
I found a picture of the tents we slept in at the Taronga Zoo for our sleepover (from yesterday’s post). This is our neighboring tent taken from the “porch” of our tent. Each tent has a queen sized bed and two nightstands in it, as well as a chair and lamps.
The Taronga Zoo is one of the nicest zoos I have visited. It’s huge, too! I’ve gone to many zoos but this one will remain a favorite.
Wasted Days And Wasted Nights 