Safari_Louie (2025)

22/06/2025

Ladies & Gentle, I would like to introduce you to Phase 1 of the new North America Trek which officially opened on June 20th, the new enclosures replaced the former Swan, Wolf, Bison/pronghorn & prairie dog enclosures to make new & better homes for a couple of residents, when I walked through the very first time, I was amazed, All the new enclosures are gorgeous and some are the best i’ve ever seen especially the Mexican Wolf, River Otter & Black Bear enclosures and I would recommend you add this on your musty list when you visit the Columbus Zoo.

: Please note that there is a Aviary in phase 1 that is not done yet but will be completed later this summer and the zoo is starting to make the rendering designs on the new enclosures for phase 2!!

17/06/2025

While having some family from Texas paying a visit, they wanted to take at the zoo and after words, take a dip in Zoombezi Bay!!

08/06/2025

Photo Tours #6, Polar Frontier-Columbus Zoo & Aquarium. In 2010, Columbus Zoo opened to a extension to the former North America Region ( Now Called North America Trek & Opening in Late June, 2025 ) today this 5 Acre Grassy & Forested Tundra is home to 3 Species, When you enter the Abandoned Mining Town you walk and past the Chicken Coop ( really delicious chicken, I recommended lol ) you will take a left to and go inside the Ice Bear Outpost, where people can either go to the Gift shop, multiple interactive stations about Polar Bears, look at a microscope station to look at Fur, broken claws and much more but most importantly learned about climate change which tells us what’s happening to not only glaciers around the world but also the disappearing ice from the north. Viewing from both inside and outside you find a small shed shack in its home to the Arctic Foxes, whether they are in their winter or their summer coats and yes they are really cute, we are leaving the ice bear outpost to see the main event, which is the main viewing of the Polar Bears ( Male-Lee & Female-Aurora ) you can see the Polar Bears from Underwater & above water as well seeing one of the biggest and natural looking Polar Bear enclosures in the Nation, Next the Ice Bears, your next and last resident is the massive enclosure for Brothers, Brutus & Buckeye, The Rescue Alaskan Brown Bears, They were rescued in 2004 when their mom didn’t make it, so Alaskan Fish & Game was called and brought the brothers to the Alaska Zoo first and then brought to Columbus in 2004 and they were in the Former Black Bear enclosure when they were 6 months old ( The Black Bear was moved to it’s new enclosure in North America Trek & it’s former space is now home to a Wolverine ) In 2010 the Brothers were moved to their massive home and yes like the Ice Bears, you can see them underwater ( sort of ) and see them sleeping in their cave, This area has to be my all time favorite Northern Ice World Themed areas and if you do make it to Columbus, I can assure you, it is a must see.

01/06/2025

Photos from another long busy and wet week, including photos of cute Critically Endangered Axolotls.

31/05/2025

Photo Tours #5, The Rainforest-Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, In 1992, with drawing 1.5 million people in the first it opened, The Rainforest has been the most popular attraction at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, one of the most unique things of this rainforest, is that it’s not in the main zoo, The Rainforest will be located on the right of the ticket and across the main entrance, once you enter the glass building you will be mesmerized by a tall waterfall falling off ancient temple ruins and in those ruins contains some small species of new world monkeys including Marmosets & Tamarins, after the monkeys you will walk through the medicine trail to see the jewels of the lower level forest which is mainly containing reptiles, amphibians insects and small mammals including Poison Frogs, Pythons, Chameleons, Turtles, Flying Foxes, Leaf-Cutter Ants, Tarantulas, Porcupines, Dwarf Crocodiles & The Critically Endangered Indian Gharial, at the same time in the lower level you will find how animals would do to survive in the rainforest and at the porcupine enclosure every so often it becomes a real rainforest with small thunderstorm showers and dense fog covering the enclosure, then go back to entrance of the lower forest to take the stairs to the upper forest and once you enter through a research station the very first species you find in the upper forest would be their Bearcat, next it will be a couple enclosures for animals from South America including prehensile-tailed porcupines, Brazilian Agoutis and Capybaras with a Anteater, in that same room you are technically in a walk-through Avery witch is Home to birds from multiple continents including Spoonbills, Ducks, Turacos, Ibis’s and Aracari’s, next step is something called the carnivore corner which is the territory of medium-sized felines like the Fishing Cat, Ocelot and the Clouded Leopard, the rest of the journey takes you to Asia where you find squirrels, Bail Mynas, Langur Monkeys, and The Rainforest concludes with Orangutans and Otters. Next week we are taking a journey from the rainforest to the snowy north.

25/05/2025

Photo Tours #4, Museum of Science-Toledo Zoo & Aquarium, Opened originally in May 1938 during the Great Depression and then renovated and reopened in 2018, The Museum of Science has to be the best exhibit at the Toledo Zoo with so many reasons, when you first enter the museum, your first will be the tropics room and being a walkthrough exhibit for Doves/Pigeons Hummingbirds, Butterflies, Day Geckos & Poison Dart Frogs, the atrium exit is the portal of the past, you walk into the Ice Age and see creatures like the Giant Sloth, Stag Moose and a Woolly Mammoth taking on a Sabre Tooth Cat, next you shrink to the size of a Ant and see sculptures of those animals that eat them both on the wall & in small enclosures, as well as the tropics room, I do have to mention their butterfly room and have species from the great plains like the Monarch Butterfly, you are drawn back inside to the Great Lakes & see swimming critters like Multiple Salamanders, Hellbenders, Lake Sturgeons, Turtles, BullFrog & Lake Erie Water Snakes, that brings us the level 2’s Arthropod room which is home for multiple invertebrates like Cockroaches, Ants, Wasps, Tarantulas & the very rare Coconut Crab, after leaving the room you should check out the hall of venom which is home to a display of how a venomous bit or sting will do to the human body and it’s also the home for Vine Snakes, Mangrove Snakes, False Water Cobras, Gila Monsters, Komodo Dragons & even a Blue-Banded Sea Krait at one point, next to our final room there’s a little hallway for some aquatic animals including LionFish, More Salamanders & Stone Fish, In out final room is the lair of Venomous Snakes and it Contains the King Cobra, Mangshan Viper, Rattlesnakes, More Species of Vipers including Russell’s, European Long-Nosed & White-Lipped Island Pit Viper and our last snakes for today is the Bushmaster, Puff Adder and West African Green Mambas, That will finally conclude today’s tour and believe me, if you do make a visit to the Toledo Zoo I highly recommend the Museum and pretty soon, we will be going into the Jungle.

17/05/2025

Photo Tours #3, African Journey-Fort Wayne Zoo, Residents of Fort Wayne Indiana we’re welcomed to walk around the Serengeti in 2009, Covering 15 of the zoo’s 40 acres, making this Indiana’s Largest Zoo Exhibit. When you enter the zoo and go under Sherman Blvd you will find the Sky Safari ( Highly Recommended ) a sky tram that takes you 38 Ft off the ground and gives riders a 2,000 Ft long aerial view of the Serengeti View. Now when you first enter the Safari Trail you will find the Aquatic Antelope called the Sitatunga, Moving forward you find some Monkey Business with Spotted-Nosed Guenon & Allen’s Swamp Monkeys, next to abandon land rover, you will find the Red-Billed Hornbill and next to them will be the Oasis for the Great White Pelicans, Coming up is one of Africa’s coolest Environments called the Kopje which is a Rock Formation in the Serengeti and is home for White Storks, Bat-Eared Foxes, Cape Porcupines, Servals, Radiated Tortoises, Banded Mongooses, Spotted Hyenas & African Lions, Continue on the Safari Trail to enter the African Village which represents the Rainforests and home tor Sliver-Cheeked Hornbills, Debrazzas & Black & White Colobus Monkeys, African Grey Parrots with Buff-Crested Bustards, Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl & Amur Leopards ( Representing African Leopards cause Amur’s are critically endangered and the AZA is recommending keeping Amur’s for Population Increase ) up next is the very popular spot for people to see Reticulated Giraffes, after exiting the Village & the Giraffe Viewing, you will come across the 3.5 Acre Savanna which is the largest zoo exhibit in the entire state of Indiana and roaming the Plains is the Blue Wildebeest, Grant’s Zebras, Ostriches & Ruppell’s Griffon Vultures & to conclude the African Journey is the Forests & Wetland Home for the Marabou Storks & Wattled Cranes, This has to be one of my favorite African Related regions in any AZA Zoo, containing animals that we don’t see everyday. Next Week we are going to a historic building which is home to many creatures including creatures from the Ice Age.

14/05/2025

Indian Elephant-Johnson wanted to take a shower in the rain😂.

14/05/2025

It was a really wet day after getting school groups in but apparently some animals even wanted to take a bath in the rain😂.

14/05/2025

We are back at Fryer Park Zoo ( Planet Zoo ) with a quick update, recently we have participated in breeding programs for endangered species including the Amur Leopard and so far our breeding program has been a success, Amur Leopard cub Wyatt seems to enjoy playing with his dads tail!!

11/05/2025

Photo Tours #2, Night Hunters-Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, This Building formally known as the Small Mammal & Histrionic Cat House has been know to display small creatures from all over the world. In 2010 The Cincinnati Zoo decided to close their Former Cat & Nocturnal House as part of a new project which leads to Night Hunters Opening in May 2011 which was Phase 1 of the Cat Canyon Project which that completed in June 2012. When you adjust your eyes to the darkness, the first enclosure you will find Owls or Frogmouths, next you will the Himalayas to see the Pallas’s Cat which was the very first place to successfully breed them with artificial insemination, in the next enclosure you will find the Aardwolf which is the only place to find them in a American Zoo, The next enclosures you will find animals from the tropics from the Eastern Parts of the world including the Binturong ( Bearcat ) & Pottos, you will next come across a cave & open forest for Vampire Bats, Next to the Pottos, you will find the Serengeti Plains of Africa containing the Aardvarks, Galagos ( Bushbaby ) & Flying Foxes, Next you will find a rainforest temple guarded by Ocelots & Clouded Leopards, you travel back to Africa to find Black-Footed & Sand Cats, down the final hallway you find the rotunda which is the location of the former small mammal house and a circle of our final stops which is home to Ringtails, Large-Spotted Genets, Fennec Foxes & Fishing Cats, when you go back outside and let your eyes adjust again you come face-to-face which the Eurasian Eagle-Owls, Mountain Lions, Snow Leopards & Malayan Tigers at Cat Canyon. The Night Hunters is one of the countries few nocturnal houses and home to many rarities in I do must say this has to be my favorite nocturnal house of all time for the moment at least, anyways I hope you enjoy this tour and be ready for a special tour next week.

04/05/2025

Photo Tours #1, Asia Quest-Columbus Zoo & Aquarium. Opened in 2 Phases in 2006, replacing the old herbivore & carnivore exhibits, this wonderful area makes you feel like you trekked through the rainforests, temperate forests & Mountains of the world’s largest continent. Once you walkthrough the Stone Tiger Arch Way and find water fall enclosures & the Tufted Deer Enclosures, further up the path you find the Quest For Enlightenment Interpretive Centre which is the home for Flying Foxes, Python, Monitor Lizard with an outdoor/indoor home for Langur Monkeys & Sloth Bears, As soon as you got back to the main path, you will also find the Indoor & Outdoor homes for the Indian Elephants, past the Sloth Bear enclosure, you enter the temperate forests of china to find the Red Pandas, The Aviary, from China the path take us to the Himalayas to find the Markhor & Pallas’s Cat and finally past the cats you find the Boreal Forests of the Russian Far-East to find the Amur Tigers which has one of the best Tiger Enclosures in the Nation. That Will Conclude our first Photo Tour, Please let me know how you think of this idea and this is something i’ll do for now on as well as the regular animal posts but I hope you enjoyed our first tour.

Safari_Louie

22/06/2025

17/06/2025

08/06/2025

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31/05/2025

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