Joan's Favorite (NOT)-- The Zoo

We then went to the Sedgwick County Zoo which has been ranked among the best zoos in the USA, and we could see the reason why.  It contains more than 3000 animals of nearly 400 different species.  By the way, we did not physically count all the animals but instead are trusting their brochure.

First we rode on a tram to get the layout of the main attractions in the 247 acre plot.  Then we explored on our own on foot.

One of the first groups we came to was the giraffes and noticed that although quite tall, they moved so gracefully.

 
I pointed out to her that there was one male and 3 females and Joan wondered how I knew.  I explained that when they stand so far off the ground, it doesn't take much to tell the difference.  She got it.

We then saw rhinos, elephants and hippos (I did not know that they can stay under water for several minutes at a time before surfacing again.)

We continued with orangutans, kookaburras, gorillas, zebras, etc.

We also saw 2 lions but they were asleep and never woke up and 2 bengal tigers which are huge.  We saw the female being fed by a handler:

The big male named Ivan refused to come to the handler for feeding.  And when he saw me trying to take his picture, he toyed with me.  He would walk up to the glass staring right at me but as soon as I pointed the camera at him, he would immediately turn his head and walk away.  After this happened about 4 times, I gave up and got the best picture I could.  This, in Joan's opinion, is the best picture of the entire blog: