Day 5 – the Alaskan Zoo

Yesterday our immediate family split up a bit, first one way and then the other. In the morning, Mom, and us kids went to the Alaskan Zoo, while Dad stayed at the house and worked. As usual, I have photos and commentary… but a lot more today than before.

First, though, I'll share some of the history of the museum. In 1966, a newspaper promotion advertised that the winner of the contest could get $3,000 – or a baby elephant. Contrary to all expectation, the elephant was chosen. Then the newspaper company, who didn't have an elephant ready, had to go and find one. They were able to find an eighteen month old circus elephant that they could buy. The man who had recieved the elephant ended up giving her to another man, who was keeping her for him in a heated horse stall. When Annabelle outgrew the stall, four acres of land adjoining it were bought. Soon, Highway Patrol brought in a bear cub, which was accepted in the new zoo.

Alright, now for the pictures.

1. Coming out of Anchorage, the clouds had lifted and we could see the mountains around us.

2. A Harbour Seal!

3. River Otters!

4. A watchful wolf…

5. And a wolf looking quite peaceful and comfortable.

6. Some bear cubs. They were super cute as they played and wrestled together, but I couldn't persuade the camera to focus on them instead of the wire.

7. Oh no! A headless goshawk!

8. Or not… (The bird had its head tucked way down when I took the first photo) 🙂

1. A Bactrian Camel – with a flopped over hump and quite the mane and beard.

2. Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? I see some tourists looking at me.

3. A yak in the process of shedding its winter coat.

4. There was another bald eagle who was standing up on a stump, but I have never seen one do this before, so I used this photo.

5. A Dall Sheep – I love his expression.

6. A reindeer. Did you know that reindeer and caribou are actually the same species, but reindeer are domesticated and caribou are not? I didn't before. You can remember because Santa has tame, domesticated reindeer to pull his sleigh.

7. A mountain goat.

8. A mouse who was checking out the eagles' salmon, even though both big birds were quite close.

1. I liked this bear statue.

2. A baby moose. There was an adult moose too, but I don't think I will show pictures of it, as the pictures I got of a some moose a bit later were a lot better.

3. Some recently shaved alpacas. Don't their necks look long?

4. This is a moose viewing platform, but we were not able to see the moose very well from it.

5. A display about Annabelle the elephant, along with some artwork that she had done during her time at the zoo.

6. A polar bear!

7. A very relaxed Musk Ox.

8. Models of bear paws. The white one is a polar bear paw, the brown one a grizzly paw, the small one a black bear paw, and the hand Gregory's.

In the afternoon we went for a bike ride, which I will talk about in another post. 🙂

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