Christmas Vacation

I decided to take a week off of work for Christmas vacation. We asked the kids where they wanted to go and they all three said "We want to go to the Zoo". My wife and I told them that is something we could do. So on December 21st we loaded up the car and drove down to the Philadelphia Zoo. And by the way they are open all year round. We arrived and paid for the tickets, and then went inside. Now there are a lot of exibits to see, but be warned that some of them are moved inside because they are only out during the warm weather. There are lots of buildings to go into and you can see all of the birds, reptiles, and animals that are housed there. We saw all sorts of snakes, gators, turtles, and frogs. I could not believe how big some of these snakes and turtles were. They seemed to be able to come right through the glass and BITE you.

                                          King Cobra

                                         Rattle Snake

                                          Crockodile

Then there are the larger animals both inside and outside. We saw some large gorillas who really do not like to be stared at. They tell you not to look them in the eyes or they become very aggressive. It's amazing how big these gorillas really are. I would not want to tangle with any of them.

We moved on to the large cats that are outside. They have tigers, lions, lynx and many others.  It was neat watching the cheatah walking around showing off his muscles. These guys just walk around or perhaps run a bit, and the cold weather doesn't even bother them.  Even though they look so tame they are really not to be played with. As we stood there looking at the Cheatahs you could actually hear them purring like a kitten, but I would not want to be on the other side of the fence with one of these guys.

                                         Bengal Tiger

                                         Cheatah

We were also able to see some Vampire bats. What is neat is that we saw them at feeding time. They feed them real cows blood. They put it into large bowls and then put the bowls in the cage. The bats fly around for a while and when they think it is safe they fly down to the bowl and begin drinking. It was really neat seeing them do this. Their cage is inside and it is in a totally dark room. They have lots of black lights there so you can see them. You can take pictures of them, but no flashes of any sort are allowed. I was able to get some pictures of them, but you just can't make them out so I did not post them. You'll have to go there and see them for yourself.

We then went outside again to see the birds of prey. They have two eagles that have been injured and cannot be released back into the wild. They were very beautiful. My son was able to immitate a high pitched sound which really got them squaking. We saw a variety of birds flying around and then we went into a big building where they have birds flying all around you. They had parrots, doves, and all sorts of birds of many colors. Here are some pictures of them.

If you have never been to the Philadelphia Zoo I highly recommend that you take your family and go see it. If you go during the off season, such as the winter, there are a lot, lot, lot, fewer people there. And you get to save some money too because the tickets are a little cheapr. And if you go during the warm weather you can take a ride in their Hot Air Balloon. So go have some fun, and while your there hit a few caches in the area.