Cincinnati Zoo

One of my favorite stops on our trip to Ohio was the Cincinnati Zoo. Nothing compares to the North Carolina Zoo with it's large, open spaces and natural habitats, but I still enjoy checking out new zoos to see different animals and zoo philosophies.

My favorites at the zoo included the lemurs and red pandas. I once wanted to be a zoologist and study lemurs on Madagascar . . . or the Duke Primate Center, either one. And I remembered reading about red pandas when I was a girl. They're related to the giant panda, though they look a lot like raccoons. Aren't they cute? They're nocturnal so are mostly active at dusk.

Sleepy red panda (All photos by Christopher Brooke. Please do not use without permission.)

Here's some more zoo residents we met during our visit.

A spectacled bear

Chris remembers feeding the elephants when he was a boy. It doesn't look like you're able to feed them now.

But you can feed giraffes.

I think this was the first time I've ever seen orangutans in person. So that was a treat. They're larger than I expected. This one was sleeping.

A zoo keeper had this fella (or gal) out and talked with kids about barn owls.

There were also lots of colorful birds, including these parrots. I need to tell my mom about the lorikeets and the areas where you can feed them. She, as a Quaker parrot and parakeet owner, would have loved that. I'm scared of them, so I didn't get too close.