Houston Zoo

Ungawa!

Being a long time Houston resident I have visited the Zoo here several times over the years.  Back in the day it was free to get in but at the same time it was depressing.   Last time we had visited was several years back and there was construction on progress and they were starging to make some changes.   One of the things that used to be depressing was how the chimps were kept in small concrete cages with bars and they seemed to be miserable.  You could tell they were sick of seeing people walk by.

The exibits now are much more focused on being a better place for the animals to live.   The chimps now live in a big open area and are allowed to interact with each other.  We were obseving them from an indoor area with glass windows and then when we went outside there was a large group of school children screaming and running towards us.  At first I though the kids just didn't know how to act but one of the kids told me that one of the chimps had just thrown some poo at them.   It really seemed like the kids got a kick out of it.  A guy from the zoo came by not too long after that and was talking into his walkie-talkie about the chimps throwing "baseballs" again.  I spoke to him and he told me that it is something happens when the zoo is crowded and he mentioned spring break.  I guess the chimps don't like the large crowds.

When we first arrived, we came upon a group of zoo-keepers walking a binturong which is pictured below:

The binturong's name is "Hanna" and she was pretty amazing to see.  She had pretty good sized claws and they wouldn't let anybody get close to her but the zoo employees were very friendly and didn't mind sharing information about Hanna.  


Here are a couple of other photos I took also:

The Houston Zoo has really become a first class operation.  The animals all appeared to be well cared for and in excellent health.   The cost for adults is $13 and it is well worth the investment.   If you live in Houston and haven't been for a number of years then I would highly recommend it. 

The primate section is really well laid out but I didn't know how to turn the flash off in the camera so I didn't want to be taking pictures in shaded areas.   The aquarium and reptile buildings are great also.  The elephant area is much improved and enlarged also.  There was a lady there who is a volenteer docent and she gave us some interesting background on the individual elephants and thier antics. All of  the elephants looked to be in good spirits a good health.  You can also see the Komodo Dragon which has his own display area but the windows were fogged up since it was kind of cool the day we visited last week.   Basically, I am saying that the pictures I did take don't really do the experience justice and if you like animals, then you will not be disappointed.