TX Zoo Pics - sunny and 84 degrees here today!

[KristaTX]

DH and I had never been to the Fort Worth Zoo, so since it was such a beautiful day we went today . I never knew so many Disney celebrities (many of them sleepyheads) lived here. Anyway - here are a few pictures to warm up you animal lovers and cold-place dwellers . My favorite one is the fox .

Rafiki:

Timon:

Pumba:

A cheetah (looking EXACTLY like the ones at AK):

A smiley elephant:

Tigger:

And his cousin:

A Rottweiler??

Nala:

Simba:

Simba's Pride:

Tod:

One of 2 very hungry-looking jaguars, just itching to get out from behind that chain link :

Charlie the Lonesome Cougar:

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Great pictures! I love the baby elephant and the cubs! The tigers are GORGEOUS!

 

[willis37862]

Nice pics!

 

[KayTX]

Hi Krista, glad you and Todd had such a nice day at the Fort Worth Zoo, and thanks for sharing your photos!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Very, very nice, Krista. That cougar is so neat looking. 84º???? I thought we were unseasonal at 42. Thanks.

Hi Kay.

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

Those are great pics,Krista. And trust me, now that you have visited the Ft.Worth zoo, you will never want to go back to that deathole..scuse..zoo..in Dallas again.

 

[KristaTX]

That cougar is so neat looking. 84º???? I thought we were unseasonal at 42.

Yes - 84. It feels more like late May than January 3rd, which is fine by me . I know it won't last forever, though. It's only supposed to be a chilly 68 tomorrow . And the big cats are my favorite animals . That cougar was up batting a ball around a few minutes before I took that shot.

TOV - I never even went to the Dallas Zoo when we lived in Dallas County, but I've always heard that Fort Worth's is much much better.

Here's a picture I forgot to post earlier. Have you ever seen such a head of hair on an elephant?? It looks like he's wearing a toupe.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

From a person who works in a zoo, I have one word for those pictures......NICE!!!!!!!!!!!

The tiger ones are EXCELLENT!! And the jag one.....WOW!

 

[rascalmom]

That's not a Rottweiler - that's Big Al from the Country Bear Jamboree!

Thanks for sharing the pics - it has been incredibly warm here too. DD's go back to school tomorrow & I don't think they will even need jackets.

We'll have to visit the Ft. Worth Zoo sometime - I've heard it is nice. Someday (when my leg is better) I'll have to post some pics of the OKC zoo - it is very nice too.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Awwww, these are such pretty pics!! Thanks for sharing.

 

[KristaTX]

Glad you posted, Tiggerlover91. Even though I only know you from the DIS, I thought of you today while we were at the zoo, and about how excited you were when you got that job. For some reason I had it in my head that you didn't work there anymore.

The jaguars, fox, cougar, and eagle were all in a really nice newer area of the zoo dedicated to animals of Texas. The 2 jaguars (a species I didn't know lived in Texas ) were pacing bigtime in their decent-sized cage area. I've never seen big caged cats moving like that. Usually the big cats in zoos (tigers, lions, cheetahs) are just lying around somewhat motionless, but these "kitties" were in constant motion. It was very hard to get a picture they were moving so quickly. One of them wanted to eat the coyotes that were caged next to them, I think. He just kept looking through the fence at them. Needless to say, those coyotes were staying WAY over on the other side of their pen.

 

[KristaTX]

We'll have to visit the Ft. Worth Zoo sometime - I've heard it is nice. Someday (when my leg is better) I'll have to post some pics of the OKC zoo - it is very nice too.

That is the zoo of my childhood. My husband and I were just talking today about the OKC Zoo and how much we liked it when we were kids, and we wondered how it would seem to us if we were to visit now. My 33 year old brother still regularly visits the OKC Zoo. Do they still have those water fountains that make it look like you are putting your head in a lion's mouth when you get a drink??

 

[rascalmom]

Lol - I forgot about those fountains. Not sure if they are still there - I'll have to remember to look for them.

The OKC zoo has undergone so many improvements in the last few years, that it really looks like a different place. The Great EscAPE is wonderful, as is the big cat area. They still have the little train - that was a MUST DO for us on every trip.

Do you remember the monkey island? That was so funny!

 

[Aimeedyan]

Gosh, it is hot here lately! I really would rather it be in the low 70s =)

Since moving to Ft Worth, we still haven't had time to hit the zoo! We've been so swamped with my work activities on the weekends and decorating the house. I have been many times in the past, as has DH, but we haven't gone in probably 6 years or so. Ft Worth Zoo puts the Dallas zoo to shame

 

[Planogirl]

They were pacing? I read that pacing often means nervous energy and that zoos are trying to figure out way to keep the cats busy and stimulated so that the pacing decreases. I wonder if it's working.

Those pictures are just super. I can't believe how warm it is and I'm so glad! (Well, except for the wildfires but that's another subject.)

 

[KristaTX]

Rascalmom - I am slowly digging out from my brain some weird memory of a thing that monkeys crawled out of and around on. Like a big concrete pit sort of thing?? Maybe I'm making that up. What was the monkey island exactly? Is it still there?

They were pacing? I read that pacing often means nervous energy and that zoos are trying to figure out way to keep the cats busy and stimulated so that the pacing decreases. I wonder if it's working.

To me the jaguars didn't look very happy . They looked like they needed more room to prowl around and something to hunt or scavenge. Or at least some sort of big cat toys. I tried to make me and my husband feel better by making up a story that maybe they were somehow hurt or orphaned when they were babies, had to be raised by humans, and could never be released because they couldn't survive in the wild or were to comfortable around humans and could be dangerous. And that's why they are in the zoo. The stories I can come up with to ease my mind . I have no idea, but I can only hope that in this day and age we know better than to catch healthy wild animals and cage them just for people to gawk at .

 

[rascalmom]

It was a big concrete pit with a "shipwreck" in the center. The monkeys would periodically escape when they got to swinging on the ropes & go right over the surrounding fence. They weren't big monkeys - but I'm sure that was pretty exciting for the handlers when that happened!

 

[Planogirl]

To me the jaguars didn't look very happy . They looked like they needed more room to prowl around and something to hunt or scavenge. Or at least some sort of big cat toys. I tried to make me and my husband feel better by making up a story that maybe they were somehow hurt or orphaned when they were babies, had to be raised by humans, and could never be released because they couldn't survive in the wild or were to comfortable around humans and could be dangerous. And that's why they are in the zoo. The stories I can come up with to ease my mind . I have no idea, but I can only hope that in this day and age we know better than to catch healthy wild animals and cage them just for people to gawk at .

I look at it this way.

Most zoos are attempting to breed endangered animals with the long-term goal being release of young offspring into the wild. Jaguars are extremely endangered with their chances of existing much longer doubtful except in zoos and other captive habitats. I'm hopeful that someday a healthy population can be established safely in a wild area once again but until then every "free" animal is in danger.

It is sad but there's nothing else that can be done right now. That's how I justify it.

As for the pacing, even those raised in captive breeding programs tend to pace from what I understand. They need stimulation and something to do besides lay around. The meat frozen in ice, hiding treats in their enclosures and so on have had some success.

 

[bettyann29]

Thanks for sharing!! I took tomorrow off of work and we are headed to the FortWorth Zoo tomorrow.. Wont be quite as warm, but still a nice day..

 

[catsrule]

Great pictures, Krista. Simba is as handsome as ever.