| The pygmy hippos look so peaceful sleeping together. Pure
contentment! |  |
 | The normal-sized hippos have a
large pool in which they spent most of the time we were there. It has a glass wall so you
can see them as they just stand on the bottom, raising only their nostrils
above the surface every 2-3 minutes. |
| The pool is actually full of fish which look quite vicious
although I don't think they are piranha. They keep the hippos free of
parasites and apparently eat the dung the hippos drop under water (almost
too much information!). |  |
 | The rhinoceros looks
a bit like the last descendant of the dinosaur. These really are strange-looking
animals with their very substantial leather armour plating. |
| There are several elephants of both the Indian variety
(seen here) and African (seen below). |  |
 | The African elephants
are larger and have bigger ears. |
| The zoo is very successful at breeding Masai giraffe. This is the
latest youngster and his mother. He has been named Hodari, which means “strong” in Swahili. As of
today, Hodari is 6’2” (1.8 meters) tall and he weighs 152 pounds (69
kilograms). He is obviously getting good care from his mother, Bahati, as he
has gained 5 pounds (2.2 kilograms) since his birth last week. Giraffe
are born with the mother standing up so the baby is dropped about six feet
(usually on its head), which is the equivalent of slapping a human baby on
the back to get its breathing started. Somewhat of a rude awakening! |  |
 | A stranger and much
rarer creature is the okapi. This is a relative of the giraffe but usually
lives in the deepest jungle. They weren't discovered until 1905. The zoo has
quite a herd so I suspect they are successfully breeding them. |
| These are Grevy's zebra, which have narrower stripes than most
varieties. Most of the time they were at the
feeding trough with only their backsides on view. So this was a rare moment. |  |
 | The most supercilious
creature is the bactrian camel. They can spit quite a distance so you keep
well away especially when they have young (or so the keepers say). |
| The zoo breeds many endangered species and has been particularly
successful at breeding the Sichuan takin from China |  |
 | Finally we have the
African forest buffalo. This is not related to the American buffalo which
is, more properly, a bison. |
|