Educating Risa

Jim took the boys to the zoo last Sunday morning, giving me (and my ankle) a chance to rest. This was our first visit to the zoo since our decision last year not to renew our memberships, something we decided to revisit in light of the zoo’s recent decision to invite an independent inquiry into the many recent animal deaths. The prehistoric park (dinosaurs!) section of the zoo has been updated, with several new animatronic dinosaurs added. Here’s the boys under the new entry sign:

There were some of the original dino statues (with new paint jobs), some animatronic ones that you could control, and some that roared suddenly when someone walked past. Gareth is looking nervous by the centrosaurus with all the roaring sounds around:

Here’s an interactive dilophosaurus. It moved its tail, arm, head, etc. depending on which button you pushed. Jim tells me the boys spent a lot of time at exhibits like this:

And here’s a parasaurolophus, one of the many hadrosaurs (also called “duck-billed dinosaurs”) whose fossils are commonly found in Alberta, and one of my favourite dinosaurs:

After this Gareth got a bit too scared of all the noise and sudden movement by these life-sized beasts, and wanted to hold Jim’s hand, so Jim wasn’t able to get any more dino pics. From the boys’ reports the area is quite extensive and impressive, with 29 different species represented, including 20 animatronic dinos). After a quick snack, they headed off to areas more commonly associated with zoos, like the African area:

Tropical areas, in search of chameleons and tortoises:

The Australia exhibit near the playground:

The updated conservatory and butterfly room (no butterflies were out yet; a sign said the first of them would be emerging in March):

And lastly, the Canadian Wilds area. This is an area that we seldom visit, to be honest, but is very popular in summertime as tourists who come here want to see animals native to our area, rather than the lions and elephants that can be seen at most zoos:

The boys tell me they we given some duck food by a friendly girl in the area, and they fed the mallards near here, before heading into the owl aviary. Daegan saw a Barred Owl (the one with the “who cooks for you, who cooks for you, all” call), a Great Grey, as well as this Snowy:

And then they came home and watched Canada win Olympic gold in ice hockey. Pretty much a perfect Sunday for two Canadian kids!