On December 30th, we made our way over to the San Diego Zoo... along with thousands of other people with the same idea. Automatically, we were re-routed to an 'additional' parking area where a free shuttle would be waiting for us. Anyways, it wasn't all bad... everything moved smoothly and we got to the zoo in short order. It is always fun to go on a bus anyways. :)
Once we arrived, we agreed that the top priority was seeing the Pandas! So, off we went in search of those cuties. There was quite a line up just to view them, but it moved at a steady clip, so again it was no skin off our noses. As we waited in line we learned a few things about the Pandas.
-The female panda is only fertile for 2 days out of the whole year!
-There are only about 1600 pandas left in the world.
-Pandas have been considered a 'bear' since 1996 when scientists were able to use DNA testing to verify this.
-The San Diego Zoo grows around 64 different types of bamboo for the Pandas and they also feed them apples, carrots and yams for variety in their diet.
-Their fur is not smooth, it is rough.
-Pandas get stressed by new sounds, therefore zoo visitors had to be very quiet while viewing them.
-Pandas are not aggressive, but if a human was confronted with one, the human would lose.
When we were there, we saw three pandas. Two were eating and one was snoozing on a tree branch! Sooooo adorable!
Other highlights were the underwater hippo, the Komodo Dragon, the blue frog, monkeys, gorillas, snakes, all the baby animals and a variety of beautifully winged birds.
Thank you again to our family, Nan and Great, Grandma and Grandpa Caines, Uncle Rick and Aunt Lynne for gifting us money to allow us to visit such a wonderful place! The kids have cup souvenirs; Josh bought a wallet and Lucas and Matt have new baby stuffed animals to remember their day.
