What Do Penguins Eat?
With apologies to Monty Python.
We went to Woodland Park Zoo again last Friday – because the keeper at the penguin chat the last time we visited told us that they do a live trout feed on Fridays at 11 am.
Since it was the last Friday before the kids start school, I had the Webmaster take the day off, and we went to the zoo. Got good parking, went in, and headed straight for the penguin habitat.
We were not disappointed.
The trout are about 4 to 6 inches long – perfect penguin food. I love that they do this – it lets us see the penguins in action, and it gives the kids a proper idea of what the term “food chain” means.
All the kids in attendance, in fact, were cheering each time a penguin gulped a fish. It was very exciting.
Rerun was confused about all the squealing by the kids, but was his usual observant self.
After a while, the few remaining trout were just hiding by the bottom, and the penguins were full, even though the kids were finding the fish and trying to yell to the penguins where they were.
The weather was cool, but the sun had just begun to break out from behind the clouds. It was a pleasant day to be outside.
Our other goal at the zoo was to see areas that we hadn’t gotten to yet. So we headed up to the Northern Trail end of the zoo, which was really shaded and quiet. And then we saw… BEARS.
There is a fantastic bear viewing area, and a couple of brown bears were out for all to see, gnawing on the remains of their lunch bones. The viewing area is built right in front of a simulated river and pool, which has live trout swimming in it, just in case the bears get hungry and decide to have a snack.
This bear saw his brother (these two were twin brothers, according to the zookeepers) drop what was left of his bone in the water, so he decided to go in after it.
He found it.
We also saw bald eagles up on the Northern Trail.
One of the fun things about Woodland Park Zoo is that they have little statues of animals at their exhibits – statues that you can pose with, and even climb on.
We managed to find a few more of these statues and take some pictures this time.
And the kids found the tapir – and thanks to our many visits to the zoo over the summer, they know what a tapir is.
Ane thought having a pet tapir would be fun – they are vegetarians and could eat the grass on our lawn – but wasn’t enchanted with the idea of cleaning up after it.
We have so enjoyed the zoo this summer. The pass was a fantastic Christmas gift from my aunt and uncle, and we have had wonderful experiences and made great memories.
And we get to keep coming back and having fun, even though summer is drawing to a close. It’s a gift we plan on taking full advantage of for as long as we can!
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