Acy Goes to the Zoo #1

Your favorite Twitter thread classic, now re-imagined as a blog post.

Posted Feb. 23, 2025, 5:12 p.m.

One of my favorite things to do is go to the zoo! Usually I go to my local zoo, Reid Park Zoo, but I also like visiting them when I travel. I haven't been in a while, and the weather was nice, so I decided to go the other day!

I thought Friday would be a good day since it's a school day so it might be less busy, but I forgot about Rodeo Break (yes, that's a thing in Tucson) so it ended up being pretty busy. It was also Navy Day or something so there was a navy band playing? Tbh it kinda sounded like there was a Persona 4 soundtrack to my zoo visit.

I also forgot to charge my camera the night before, so I only had my cellphone to take pictures with, so sorry for the low quality!

Right at the entrance are the African wild dogs.

Three African wild dogs, trotting along in a zoo enclousure. — The dogs playing follow the leader.

One of my favorite animals! They're a pretty recent addition to the zoo, and this enclosure used to house the tigers. I was so happy when we got them, I love watching them running around as a pack.

Family tradition is that we go right first, which are the South American animals. The Andean bear was visible, and totally conked out. Very cute

An Andean bar laying belly up in a hammock covered in hay. — Sleepy guy.

An anteater passing by a metal gate. — The snootful anteater. Also the mascot of the Reid Park Zoo.

A common squirrel monkey sitting on a rope. — The common squirrel monkey

I used to not really care for monkeys and other primates, but after taking a biological anthropology class that had a large portion dedicated to non-human primates, I've come to really appreciate them!

After the South American animals, we get into the African animals. Like giraffes! Another favorite! (I have a lot of favorite animals.)

Three girrafes at a zoo. One is stretching out its neck to reach for a tree branch. — I liked seeing this guy reach for our native Arizona trees to munch on. I think this is a mesquite but come to think of it, we have acacia in Arizona too, so maybe it's one of those?

There's a little indoor area called the conservation center or something like that which houses some reptiles and amphibians and other critters.

Two bearded dragons laying on a branch in a glass enclousure. — Beardies! In case you couldn't tell, I love lizards.

A green tree python coiled up on a branch. — The green tree python.

Two golden poison frogs. — Golden poison frogs. Fun fact, poison dart frogs in captivity lose their toxcity because they can't sythesize the toxin from commercially bred feeder insects.

Of course, the star of the show that everyone came to see is the baby elephant. Her name is Meru and she was born in March of last year. She's nearly a year old now, but still very much a baby. The keepers say she loves playing in the pool.

Two African elephants. An adult and a baby. The baby is scratching its ears against a log.

Now for the rest of the African animals.

A side view of a white rhino. — The majestic southern white rhino. Yebonga, the rhino at Reid Park Zoo, is over 50 years old!

Two zebras facing opposite directions. — A pair of zebras.

An ostrich with one leg slightly lifted. — Another favorite animal! The ostrich!

Okay, last animal! And another favorite!

An alligator laying in green grass, next to a pool. — The american alligator.

If you are interested in seeing some of these animals live, the Reid Park Zoo has animal cams to you can watch here!

Acy Goes to the Zoo #1

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