Zoo News

DJ and I love the zoo. We have been to the Denver Zoo, the San Francisco Zoo, the Rio Grande Zoo, and now the Knoxville Zoo. We now know, although we had somewhat of an idea while we lived there, that we were spoiled with our Albuquerque zoo. The Rio Grande Zoo was fantastic. Depending on what you value most in a zoo, your opinion may differ. However, for us, we value good exhibits of exotic animals like lions, tigers, and the large primates, a reasonable entrance fee, and a good variety of animals that you wouldn't normally see in your local neighborhoods. A lot of you would probably agree with these criteria. So you would also probably agree that the Knoxville zoo is a one-time visit only. Now, if you have kids, which we do not and thus not a part of our criteria as mentioned above, you might disagree, because there are some cool exhibits and kids probably love it but as adults we have more (*nose in air*) sophisticated interests. (Please read all the following comments with a sophisticated stuffiness in the voice.) Such sophistications as observing animals' grazing habits,

Intriguing how he (he?) carefully munches the food with his head positioned close to the ground most likely for easier digestion.


their social interactions with other animals,
Notice the angle by which the lighter color giraffe and thus less dominant breed of giraffus maximus approaches the darker, more masculine breed of giraffus maximus.

their scavenging techniques,

I really like how the far left prairie canine is allowing the other prairie canines to do the work for him. Most likely he is the male and the others are females, thus following the instinctive tradition of gender stereotypes (what???). The prairie creature, back right, has obviously given up his desire to live.

and learning about all those educational tidbits they write on all those signs.

So interesting.

We also took a picture for Maia's benefit.

I am sometimes concerned that our poor Maia is having an identity crisis because we treat her like our child -- talking to her, cuddling her, introducing her to people -- so we thought it important for her to know who her relatives are and were she came from. I don't think she quite understood when I tried to discuss the advantages of knowing her family line.

But the most important thing of all is to understand the habits of the offspring. I believe this little chimp is learning how to associate with other chimps when interacting with this round sphere. It was very apparent. You'll just have to trust me.

It was an informational time had by all. And we did enjoy ourselves. But we won't be going back simply because it was $17/person, there were not near as many animals as there should be for that price (they don't even have polar bears or hippos, gosh) and their largest exhibit was for the black bear. Woo. Hoo. You could barely even see the more exotic animals. You had to squint through thick foliage to sort of make out the shape of lion-like figures. A bit disappointing to say the least.

But I will say this for the Knoxville Zoo. It is beautiful. Long windy paths flanked by flowers, vines and tall bamboo stalks and some of the less interesting animals like the turtles had huge grand spaces that were pretty impressive. You could get up close and personal with the reptiles. If you know me, this is the least favorite part of any zoo for me. In fact, I often skip it entirely. But this little guy is cute.

They also have a very nice Red Panda exhibit.

So I guess if you really love Red Pandas and turtles, then it is so worth the $17/person. Totally go for it.