8/17 Omaha Zoo

At the advice of a former VA co-worker, we had planned to visit the Omaha Zoo - the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium.  After spending almost six hours there, it was definitely worth it and has some interesting features.








Even from a distance you can see the geodesic dome that encloses their desert environment exhibits - the Desert Dome.






Within the desert dome, there are areas for Africa, Australia, and the US.


You can see meerkats and black mamba snakes from Africa,

Kookaburra birds from Australia,









and, javelina/peccary from the Sonoran desert.










Of course there are Sonoran cactus varieties, too.







In the rest of the zoo, we were interested primarily in species not present at the Philadelphia zoo or presented much differently.



In a swamp habitat, they had nutria.







They had alligators displayed so you could see the portions that were both above and below the water's surface from the enclosure glass.









There were both indoor and outdoor exhibits for both gorillas and orangutans.  The gorillas seem to be very aware of the visitors close to them.






There was a baby orangutan playing with its mother.









There was an interesting net covered outdoor aviary which had birds in trees which we had not seen since our trip to Louisiana.









There was an unusual black lemur.








They had a hoofed animal called bongos - striped.










Also, sable antelope.









A giraffe education area put the zoo keepers and visitors on a level with the giraffe's head for a feeding.








The elephant exhibit had a mud hole for them to enjoy in hot weather like this - especially the young elephant with its mother wallowing and splashing in the mud.






The giraffes were in the same habitat with ostriches and impalas.










There was a butterfly and insect area.  The butterfly enclosure had fruit out for them to eat - which this one was doing.








We saw  Madagascar hissing cockroaches there, too.









We could not recall seeing puffins in any other zoo or aquarium.








The penguin area allowed visitors to observe them swimming underwater as well as hopping on the simulated rock.  There was even what appeared to be an ice shower for them.









They had the walkway under some bigger fish - including sharks.







They also had other enclosures of rays and sharks.

There were a number of varieties of jellyfish.

We wondered how this turtle got into this position and how it would get out of this predicament.








While most of the big cats were sleeping in the heat, this tiger mom stayed attentive to her three sleeping cubs.







There were also some non-animal aspects that were interesting at the Doorly Zoo. 


There was a large mastodon likeness,







an ape family,







uniquely decorated bears,










and, butterfly chairs.









For the kids there was an Alaskan Adventure which provided water relief on hot days in an atmosphere of seal and whale replicas,










as well as a carousel with very unusual animals.






























Finally, there was some interesting décor in the African Lodge - a thankfully air conditioned building in which you could rest or eat snacks purchased just outside.

Tomorrow we will do some things around Omaha, including quilt shops, until the actual reunion activities start in the afternoon.

Marty