We left our B&B after a great breakfast of toast, eggs, fried tomatoes, bacon and a cappuccino.
On our way back home, we stopped at the Monarto Zoological Garden. This is associated with the Adelaide Zoo, and is mainly concerned with breeding and conservation of endangered animals. It's a large site, 10 square km, that's 23 times larger than the Vatican State, for those of you into trivia facts. More animals, fewer cardinals.
It's a great experience.
There are several viewing platforms, where staff feed the animals and give short talks. Buses, with guides, take you around, and you can get on and off whenever you want. We were extremely lucky, because we hit three of the talks and feeding time for giraffes, white rhino, African wild dogs and lions. There are only two talks per day, and one feeding time.
The animals have lots of room, but you could get very close to a lot of the animals, because of the feedings.
There is a large chimp area, about half the size of a football field, and also in indoor area, the size and height of a two story house. I was surprised at the size of the chimps. In the movies they are small enough to be held, something like a three year child. In reality, a grown chimp is almost 1.5 m tall, and 45 kg; the highlight was a new born chimp. Chimps only give birth every 5-6 years, and a mother will look after a baby for 4-5 years.
Next we visited the giraffes. There is a herd of 9 at the park, and they come quite close for feeding. They spend 16-20 hours a day grazing, and, according to our guide, never sleep. They are big, up to 6 meters high, and 1500 kg. When a baby giraffe is born it is 2 m tall and weighs 70 kg. It is born with the mother standing up, so the baby drops 2 m to the ground, as its initiation to the world.
The next stop was my favorite, the White Rhino. It came right up to the fence to be fed, and we could touch and "pet" it for about 15 minutes, while the keeper talked about it. I don't think it felt much; its skin is 1.5 cm thick. But it is huge, the second largest land animal. The male we were meeting weighed 2500 kg, and his shoulders were over my head. It is strictly a grazer, no meat. Just goes to show that you don't have to eat meat to get big and strong. They are surprisingly agile, and can reach speeds of 50 km/h. That's a lot of momentum!
We also timed our visit to see the feeding of the African wild dogs, a very colorful creature, and the lions.
Our visit lasted over 4 hours, and it was great.
The down side was that we left the zoo at 2 in the afternoon; we faced a 600 km drive back home.
More about that tomorrow,
Ralf
On our way back home, we stopped at the Monarto Zoological Garden. This is associated with the Adelaide Zoo, and is mainly concerned with breeding and conservation of endangered animals. It's a large site, 10 square km, that's 23 times larger than the Vatican State, for those of you into trivia facts. More animals, fewer cardinals.
It's a great experience.
There are several viewing platforms, where staff feed the animals and give short talks. Buses, with guides, take you around, and you can get on and off whenever you want. We were extremely lucky, because we hit three of the talks and feeding time for giraffes, white rhino, African wild dogs and lions. There are only two talks per day, and one feeding time.
The animals have lots of room, but you could get very close to a lot of the animals, because of the feedings.
There is a large chimp area, about half the size of a football field, and also in indoor area, the size and height of a two story house. I was surprised at the size of the chimps. In the movies they are small enough to be held, something like a three year child. In reality, a grown chimp is almost 1.5 m tall, and 45 kg; the highlight was a new born chimp. Chimps only give birth every 5-6 years, and a mother will look after a baby for 4-5 years.
Next we visited the giraffes. There is a herd of 9 at the park, and they come quite close for feeding. They spend 16-20 hours a day grazing, and, according to our guide, never sleep. They are big, up to 6 meters high, and 1500 kg. When a baby giraffe is born it is 2 m tall and weighs 70 kg. It is born with the mother standing up, so the baby drops 2 m to the ground, as its initiation to the world.
The next stop was my favorite, the White Rhino. It came right up to the fence to be fed, and we could touch and "pet" it for about 15 minutes, while the keeper talked about it. I don't think it felt much; its skin is 1.5 cm thick. But it is huge, the second largest land animal. The male we were meeting weighed 2500 kg, and his shoulders were over my head. It is strictly a grazer, no meat. Just goes to show that you don't have to eat meat to get big and strong. They are surprisingly agile, and can reach speeds of 50 km/h. That's a lot of momentum!
We also timed our visit to see the feeding of the African wild dogs, a very colorful creature, and the lions.
Our visit lasted over 4 hours, and it was great.
The down side was that we left the zoo at 2 in the afternoon; we faced a 600 km drive back home.
More about that tomorrow,
Ralf
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