Wednesday, May 30, 2012

The Honolulu Zoo

I love Zoos!  It was fun to take Little Mr. to the Zoo for the first time, and I think it was extra special because it was in Hawaii at the Honolulu Zoo.  I wasn't sure how interested he would be in the animals or how often he would be able to see them, but it turned out to be a really fun day for him.  He loved the animals and actually got fairly excited to see a few of them, including his favorite of all time—birds! 

I have to apologize ahead of time, this is going to be a very picture heavy post!


 
A Banyan Tree is a type of fig.  Its seeds drop down (or are deposited via bird droppings) into crevasses in its bark and germinate, sending down huge roots towards the ground.  Banyan trees can be found in many of the parks on Oahu.  Sometimes the new growth completely hides the original tree trunk and some of the roots coming down can get thick enough to look like they could be the original tree trunk themselves.   They are spectacular.


Daddy: "Smile!"

Little Mr., after turning and seeing the bronze baby elephant: "Ahhhhh!"  

Daddy comforting him. Awww.  None of the real animals scared him, but this bronze statue... very scary apparently!

Turtle


Orangutan.There were two of them in this hammock and one of them, Rusti, is actually from Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle!

Black Howler Monkeys.  If you've never heard them talk, watch this video on YouTube.  They have a very interesting sound!


Alligator. Do you know the differences between an alligator and a crocodile?

Galapagos Tortoise, which can grow up to 4 ft in length and 700 lbs.


 
A banana bloom, I think?  We saw one of these at Hanauma Bay too.





Hippopotamus.  I can't post a photo of a hippo and not link to this post, specifically this video of my niece talking about them.  To skip ahead to the part with the hippos, go to 1:35.









Klipspringer.  Klipspringers are tiny (about 22" high at the shoulder and 40lbs) and can leap, jump and climb almost as if they have suction cups for hooves.

Ostrich.  I never thought a bird could be so huge at nearly 8 feet tall and 140-230lbs.



We watched in anticipation as zoo workers spent a really long time getting this box strung up on a rope.  It was worth the wait to see this!  Amazing.

Little Mr. :)

Rhinoceros



This is a round tank of giant Koi fish that has tunnels going through it so kids can crawl through.  It must look pretty cool in there and I wish they would have made the tunnels just a bit bigger so I could have went in as well!  I think Little Mr. would have loved it.


At the gift shop.

We bought Little Mr. a baby giraffe from the gift shop to add to his collection.  It's fun building a collection that has so many memories attached to it.

6 comments:

  1. Sure enjoying the recap of your Hawaii trip! The 1st giraffe picture in your zoo pics is amazing!

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    1. The giraffe enclosure is really cool, it looks really natural and lets you get very close to the animals, the best I've seen! It makes for great photo and video opportunities!

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  2. Aww, I love Lil' Mr.'s sounds! What a fun day! Is that one of the very famous French rubber giraffe's? :)

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    1. Thank you! The giraffe is a Safari Ltd. brand, we started a tradition where we buy a plastic Schleich animal for Little Mr. on special trips, but they had Safari Ltd. brand at the Zoo and they are just as nice if not nicer. We do have a Sophie the Giraffe though, D&L gave it to us at one of Little Mr.'s baby showers, he loved that thing when he was little!

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  3. That's so cute how scared he got of the elephant statue :)

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  4. Sorry that all the links are broken in this post. The zoo changed their website and I am too busy to go through and fix all the broken links lol.

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