Gone to the Animals

  As vacation is dwindling and the weather is waning, decided to go and see the 2 little baby Sumatran Tigers that were being talked about on the news at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.

  Upon entering of course I have to go see some of my favorites, always the Asian Elephants.  I feel sorry for them though, as the space is just never large enough for these huge sweet-faced animals.  There is only the 2 females and they are both seemingly bored.  They don't have all the usual things elephants like, like mud, they were pulling dust up and spraying themselves and had large water bodies to play in, but no mud.  Hmm, old Washington weather should be able to supply that one soon enough though I think.
  So we wound through the Asia animals exhibit we went for the main attraction, the 2 Sumatran Tiger babies.  They were sleeping at this time so we missed out on the frolic I was hoping for from them, but hey, I'm just there to watch them, they aren't there to do tricks for me, so I just watch them snuggle with their mother in awe of how beautiful they are.

  Can you give me a big "awwww" aren't they the sweetest, ya I know they could kill an antelope in a mighty swipe of their paws in not to distant future, but for now, "awwwwww."
  The Mere Cats and the Lemur's  are always a favorite, even though we must of came at siesta time for everyone.  The lemurs were sleeping in a tightly packed lemur ball all snuggled together with one at the top keeping of the ball keeping his eye out on things.  The Mere Cats were busy doing what they do best, scurrying, looking about to see what kinda action they could find.  How many nights had I watched them on Discovery channel and tickled by how smart they are and their antics.

Before leaving the tiger house we stopped and saw the snow leopards, they too were napping way up high in a very lazy cat ball and didn't bother to even look down for us., oh well, they were still pretty amazing to see.

 We ended up seeing Red Wolves, which now only exist in zoos, as they've been hunted to extinction everywhere. There were 3 of them and they were kept in separate enclosures which they rotate to keep them from too much boredom.

From there we went into the aquariums, we saw all the different see inhabitants by area.  From the San Juans to Whidbey Island.  It was pretty cool how they had it all labeled for your understanding of how things differ.     The seahorses are always a favorite of mine and there is also a large exhibit of them but they said no flash photography, and I'm sorry to say, I couldn't think of how to turn my flash off. No pics this time.  

Continuing to the shark exhibit, we viewed the nurse sharks, dog fish, and some other sharks I'd not like to encounter while out for a swim personally.  They may be small but their teeth look ferociously sharp and knife like.  No thanks.

nurse shark

After leaving the aquariums it was time to go see the walrus and seal exhibits.  The walrus really put on a show, she heaved her huge body up onto the rocks to look face to face with us.  You'd of thought you could smell her fish breath as she came up to have a peak at everyone.  She really had all of us in Awe! Such a big girl.

The seals too had their charms but they were more concerned who got the best overlook at the enclosure.  A gray seal kept trying to entice the lone white one to move so he could take over...it was pretty funny.

 If you were a kid in the Pierce County end of town you can remember when the poor Polar Bear just had a tiny area right when you entered the park, the area they have now, although so much better really still makes you wish there were more space for animals and maybe a few less concession stands.  Remembering watching the movie "Polar Tale" you can really sympathize as they are such huge wanderers. 

 Here are just a few of the other stars of the day.

All in all, not to bad a day at Point Defiance, and I will likely be going back, when though, who knows....I always say sooner than later....but you know how time goes.