Chattanooga Zoo

Yesterday we toured the Chattanooga Zoo.  It is a small, but well done, zoo.  They had several kinds of monkeys, including chimpanzees:

The cages were small, so you could almost always see the animals well.  There were a lot more educational, descriptive signs than the bigger zoos I have visited.

 Each of the sections had fun architectural elements to differentiate it.

 I love turtles:

And snakes (in cages):

Sabrina loved this lizard because it stood right next to the window and stared at her.  When I let them take pictures with my iPhone, Sabrina ran right back to this lizard to photograph it:

 The Desert building had lots of lizards, including a gigantic Komodo Dragon.

I can't remember what animal this was:

 Some desert foxes (with enormous ears):

Probably our favorite animal was the sloth.  He hung upside down the whole time and moves along the branches in slow motion:

 This green snake balanced itself on a branch:

 Poison dart frogs:

 A wallabe in the Administrative Building, which is used for the educational classes.

 The landscaping and sculptures were beautiful:

 The girls loved the little kids' section, where they had a simulated field station:

 There were several large cats, all of which were sleeping while we were there:

 The two coyotes were very active and noisy, but seemed completely emaciated:

The entrance to the Himalayan section:  The girls recognized the Japanese architecture and the Tibetan prayer flags.

 Sitting on a replica from the Chinese Terra Cotta Warriors:

 A red panda:

There was a fairly extensive Marco Polo exhibit, which is a bit odd for a zoo.  But, it was a great refresher for the Far East and the Silk Road.

 The camels were neat.  We wanted to take camel rides, but they do not offer them on Mondays.

 My Dad petting a goat:

 Sabrina petting and brushing a goat.  She loved the petting zoo!

 A Shetland cow.

 A peacock, which hopped from the sidewalk to the fence in one jump.

 One of the more unusual plants:

 The carousel was fun and had some unique animals.  They were so tickled by the frog and panda:

I made them choose animals which moved for the second carousel ride, so they chose a dolphin and a giraffe:

The Chattanooga Zoo was well kept and pretty, but small.  It took us about two hours to tour the entire zoo, then we re-visited the animals the girls liked the best.  It was part of a day trip to Chattanooga for us.