My husband and I, went to The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium specifically to see the new Africa exhibit a few weeks ago. This exhibit just opened in May and is roughly 43 acres. The area includes a watering hole, camel rides and an area to feed giraffes and more. The keepers move different savannah dwelling animals in and out of the watering hole area throughout the day and they have cheetah runs twice a day. Keepers thread a string around some well placed round wheels on the ground and the winch pulls a grocery bag covered tennis ball around the large circular area which the cheetahs love to chase. Think lure chasing with big cats.
We also saw ostrich and zebra at the watering hole in the morning as well as some gray crowned cranes off in the savannah area. Next to the watering hole, is the giraffe feeding area. You can pay $3.00 and you get to feed the giraffe getting up close and personal with their sweet little noses and big dark eyes for you to see.
Just before the watering hole area, are camel rides, which we didn't do but its awesome for the kids. We also love the polar bear exhibit which was added about 2 years ago. The bears, both polar and non-polar, have a much larger area to explore and swim in. Keepers were giving a presentation and tossing in peanut butter covered toys for the polar bears to enjoy.
The zoo is getting really large now with all of the improvements and we got there around 9:30am and left around 2:30pm. My pedometer said I had walked over 12,000 steps or roughly 8 miles! Seriously. My feet hurt. Anyway, of course a lot of animals were hunkered down in the shade, hidey hole, tree stump or where ever they could stuff their furry little butts to stay cool and we didn't get to see them or see them well anyway. At least the bobcat was out.
I think its strange that I have to go to the zoo in order to see some common songbirds. I've always wanted to see a Cedar Waxwing, Blue Bunting, Eastern Bluebird and a Scarlet Tanager but I never have. Maybe I'm just not leaving my house often enough? Anyway, I finally got to see all but the Tanager. If he was in the aviary, I couldn't find it. Seriously? How does a red and black colored bird hide in green trees? There was no missing the blue bunting. That little guy was very, very bright blue.
The other more wild birds we saw were the flamingos and the lorikeets, a parrot type bird from Australia. The lorikeets exhibit has been around for a while and for a small fee you can feed them some kind of sugar water/milk like solution. They are pretty and seem friendly when they land on you to get to the little bucket you're holding but don't be fooled. They bite and they will steal your bucket.
All in all a great trip to the zoo. We had great weather to enjoy and got a lot of exercise in the process. If you haven't been to the zoo in a few years you'll enjoy the various upgrades but it is getting really big so you might have to go several times in order to see everything.
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