NZ ZooLife

OK, arguably I am just putting off starting my entomology paper by posting this entry, but Scott and I decided to go to the Auckland Zoo today which is actually right down the road from us.

Many of you may know that at the Detroit Zoo, they have peacocks running around, well, at the AZ it was chickens.

They had some Hippopotomi named Snorkel, Faith, and Fudge. Not sure who this is.

This is a snake-necked turtle.

This orangutan is trying to get a treat out of a Kong.

If this seems to be at eye level with the meerkat, it is because it was taken through a plastic bubble inside their enclosure which was gotten to be crawling through tunnels underneath their enclosure.

This we suspect is "Willy", a Galapagos Island tortoise who had an unfortunate accident and had to have his...well an amputation of sorts.
This, as the sign clearly states, is a Zebra Finch.

This is also not the rare NZ tiger, but a Sumatran Tiger.

Interesting factoid for you, a group of tigers is called a stripe or an ambush.

This is a Tuatara. It is an ancient lizard species found only in NZ. They can live to be around 100 years old! They carry their eggs 9 months before laying them and then it takes 11-16 months for the eggs to hatch. They don't reach maturity until they are 15-20 years old and only mate once every 2 to 5 years. Wow! They also have a third eye on the top of their heads!

Unfortunately we aren't sure who this guy is, but he was trapped in a pen with a huge flock of lovebirds.

Wallabies or kangaroos? Not sure, but we think wallabies.

We spotted these Asian otters snuggling under a bush.
We had a lot of fun, but was a long day, and we were all tuckered out by the end.

Jen (and Scott)