If I could walk with the animals, talk with the animals

My mom and I took my nephew to the L.A. Zoo on Monday.

It was a rather short stay.
My nephew, who is just shy of 2 years old,
fell asleep about 90 minutes into it.

Luckily we were there on a prepaid season pass.
So really, it was not like we were out anything.

So here is my thing with the zoo:

I love seeing the animals. All of them.
But I do have qualms about seeing them confined.

Of course at L.A. they have a pretty good life.
Free food, no hunting, no worries from predators.

But still, they are confined even though the habitats
do seem to be pretty nice and not too cramped.

Anyway... Here we go, talking to the animals.

The lions are always a favorite. And on this day the big dude
was trying to be tolerant while she was in a playful mood.
At one point she walked right up to him and smacked him
on the head trying to entice him to play, too.

When that didn't work she decided to try and catch her tail.
Since she was being so frisky, I switched to video
mode and got a little snippet of her.
So cute!

The highlight for my nephew was seeing the gorillas,
which get fed at certain posted times.

We were able to get a pretty good look at some of them.
They come right up to the glass wall.

This one, again through the glass, shows one of the younger gorillas.
I am not sure what he is eating. A burrito?

The big silverback posed only for so long out in the open part.
He would not venture to the glass.

He decides he has had enough and moves on.

Please. No pictures.

This really is one hungry, hungry hippo.

These are nubian ibex. They were a bit far away.
But I loved how they were all lined up at the top of their little mountain.

One of the nice things about the L.A. Zoo is that it is very nicely landscaped.
There is lush vegetation and tons of trees to provide a lot of shade.
And there is a lot of color brought in through various flowers.

I am a desert girl, so I always love the giant tortoises.
I saw many of them growing up in Joshua Tree. None quite this large though.

Zebras, so fashionable in their stripes.

For me the alligator was all about the texture.
This guy was huge, too. I think he was at least 8 feet long.

I dig the giraffes. Maybe it is because I am tall.
Maybe it is because they are just so freaking cool with those markings.

I don't know. But I dig 'em. Especially the bony legs.