Monday, October 13, 2008

3 Monkeys at the Zoo

or is it 5?
School was out last week (yeah!) and Dan only had to work Monday and Tuesday (yeah yeah!), so we decided to take our little wild animals to visit some of more exotic variety at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. The kids were every bit as excited as we hoped they might be, and we especially enjoyed the animals we got to see up close. Parker loved feeding the lorakeets, Reagan and the antelope developed a special bond, and Alyssa kept her usual distance but was intrigued by the African grey parrot - especially once we convinced her that the jokes were coming from the bird, not the trainer. This "zoo" hosts a wide range of animals but is known for it's more natural setting and the way the less aggressive varieties are allowed to roam around together. My favorites - the big cats - naturally must be segregated, but even their enclosures are a far cry from the typical cage and are situated to put them in view of their natural prey. One of the cheetahs was allowed out to visit the public, so this photo was taken from up close and personal. Of course even the best of zoos can't compare with the wild, (Dan continually remarked about how different it is when the fear factor is gone) but the animals were amazing nonetheless. The more we learned about each individual species, the more I marvelled at the wisdom and creativity of their Maker. The zookeepers repeatedly instructed us about the remarkable "adaptations" of each animal to its environment, but we know it's due to the remarkable design of the Designer. What a God! What fun!

3 comments:

Leigh said...

Great pictures...looks like your family had a super day!

Dania Efird said...

That is so cool that you posted about this! We're headed to San Diego on Wednesday to see my brother graduate from Marine bootcamp! We're going to go to the zoo, b/c I went there as a little kid when we lived there! One question, we're just going to the zoo part, can we do this in a day? My dad doesn't think so, BUT I'm pretty confident that we can!

By the Brook said...

GREAT pictures! The cheetah is amazing. So when you visit us in Africa :) we'll have to go to South Luangwa in Zambia where the medical team went for their debrief. Just awesome and yes, undoubtedly all the works of our Majestic Creator.