A Visit to the Zoo

A few weeks ago we went to the Los Angeles Zoo and saw many animals such as seals, alligators, deer, reptiles, giraffes, gorillas and chimpanzees.We also visited a reptile exhibit. It was recently built, and it was our first time seeing it. The exhibit had all types of reptiles such as poisonous snakes, turtles, and lizards. I took photos of some of my favorite animals.

 The American alligator is found in fresh and slightly salty waters in the Southeastern United States.   They eat almost anything found in the water, such as crabs, fish, frogs, snakes, birds, and small mammals such as raccoons. This alligator's teeth were huge and scary.

The American black bears lives in numerous forests throughout North America and is found in 41 of the 50 United States.They eat grasses, fruits, berries, nuts, insects, human foods, and occasionally small animals. They weigh approximately 150-600 pounds. This bear was just sleeping at the opening of it's cave.

If a Meerkat gets bitten by a scorpion or snake it doesn't get affected. Their burrow can  have multiple levels, which can be as deep as ten feet with up to 90 entrances. These animals were very active and look like people standing on two feet. They were putting a show for the crowd.

Flamingos usually stand on just one leg, even while sleeping, with the other up close to their body. These birds eat small shrimp, worms, insect, and plants. They receive their pink color from the natural things they find in the foods they eat. When we came to the exhibit, it smelled terribly, so we just took the photo and moved on to a different exhibit.

This turtle’s other common name is pig nosed because of its nostrils. I've seen many turtles laying on a rocks on The Big Island in Hawaii. This turtle is a different specie from the ones we saw in Hawaii.

Gorillas are the strongest and largest of the great apes. All gorillas in U.S. zoos are western lowland gorillas. They eat various parts of plants including leaves, bark, vines,stalks, bamboo, and wild celery. They weigh 350 pounds, and have long sharp teeth. This gorilla was laying around his large home.

This is a Grevy Zebra. It's most important adaptation for its survival is its stripes because they confuse predators. The Grevy is the largest of all the zebras. The males are five feet tall and weigh as much as 900 pounds. This zebra was very active throwing dust all over the place!

three Grevy Zebras

Orangutans are the only surviving great apes in Asia.  They act like humans in there behavior. Orangutans spend most of there time looking through trees for fruit. They also eat flowers, young leaves, bark, and eggs. In the Malay language, the word orang means person and utan means forest. This Orangutang was very furry and had two largefront teeth. He was orange/brown and had chubby cheeks.

A tiger’s tracks are called “pug marks.” Tigers get up at dusk,and may travel more than twenty miles to find food. These tigers were only sleeping and were very boring to look at, so we took the photo and moved on to the next animal.

Do you ever visit the zoo?
What is your favorite animal and why?
What interesting facts do you know about your favorite animal?