Zoo life

I was visiting my sister last week and had limited Internet access, so didn't spend much time online. Had a fun Christmas with her and enjoyed the strange yellow orb in the sky that seemed to keep things warm. I haven't seen it in a while, but I think it's called the sun.

We spent two days at the Phoenix Zoo (one day seeing the animals and one evening seeing ZooLights). Here are some photos (you can click on them for see a larger image).

My favorite animal at the Phoenix Zoo has always been the Arabian Oryx - I couldn't get a good photo of them this time, but my sister took this picture of me next to a model of one.

We were astonished to see one of the big horn sheep up close and personal - they are usually on the far side of the mountains in their pen and can't be seen at all. This one was down by the fence. Later we saw one silhouetted on the mountain.



The meerkats and the prairie dogs were both spending a lot of time surveying the horizon.




The new monkey exhibit is nice - I got this photo of a mother and baby that were running around. They seemed to be enjoying the nice weather, too. We spent a long time watching them.

We also spent a long time watching the mandrills - we first saw this fellow warning off one of the youngsters who was walking too close to him, then he spent some time playing with himself before putting a foot down on his privates.