Snippets from the San Diego Zoo

When you enter the world famous San Diego Zoo you come face to face with this bronze statue

    

This is Mbongo and I think he may have been the first animal that the SD Zoo got that really helped put them on the map. They got him in 1930 from the Congo. Mbongo died in 1942. Today his descendants live on

   

but their glass display was carefully designed to put an end to the long running gorilla game of poo flinging on the spectators (which I witnessed several times as a kid). They got pretty good at it. Anyone who thinks a gorilla can’t laugh has never seen a “score” in this game. I thought it was hilarious, but then I never got hit.

The zoo has a long tradition of vain show-offs

Backside

“Hey, was youse takin’ a pitcher of my shorts?”

The zoo has long had success breeding one my favorite birds.

Meet good ole #75

    

Flamingos make a mud nest

     

They aren’t the most careful parents and sometimes kick out an egg. Oops.

Like kids of all species, flamingo chicks run around in their pajamas.

The zoo has several walk-thru bird cages. One of their most famous is the hummingbird exhibit.

When they first opened it in the mid 60’s it was an awesome experience. There were hummingbirds all over the place. If you wore a bright fluffy sweater (not me) and stood still they would hover next to you and carefully pull fuzz out for nesting material (which made nest spotting easy).  Unfortunately, they had a terrible time keeping the hummingbirds alive. Finally it dawned on them that the cage, as big as it was, wasn’t big enough to hold the hummingbird egos. They were killing each other for territory. Today you see the winner of the fight (tuff guy pictured above), and no one else.

Oh what a night! My head is killing me.

Self-propelled feather duster

 

Short legs?

Nope.

 

Cousin It.

        

Who you callin' Cousin It?

 

Difficult to tell who’s watching who.

 

 

This is Jake.

Apparently Jake can read and takes his duties seriously

Don't know what it is, but they put it in my cage so I'll eat it

Nap time.

    

I'm awake. I'm awake.

Going bald can hit any species

This is one of the world's shyest animals

The Okapi wasn't known to the western world until 1900. They're closely related to the giraffe. "The okapi's tongue is also long enough for the animal to wash its eyelids and clean its ears (inside and out)."  yuck.