Mandarin Duck in Philadelphia Zoo

Chinese people love Mandarin Duck (Yuan-Yang in Chinese) for a long time. In tradition Chinese lore, Mandarin Duck symbolizes wedded bliss and fidelity. We have known Yuan-Yang for years. However, we had never been able to see a live and close-up one until 22nd March 2008 when we visited the Philadelphia Zoo. They have a few of them in about 10 feet away from us. Also, we had the telephoto lens, 70-300mm, with us. The result was that we were able to have perfect views of these beautiful ducks.

Swan Boat in Philadelphia Zoo

On 22nd March 2008, our good friends, Yudong and Yue took us to the famous Philadelphia Zoo in Philadelphia. They have purchased a family yearly membership pass and therefore they visit there very often. Every time they visited the zoo, their son, Ethan, always liked to take the swan boat ride. Since Ethan weigh only 10% of what his dad was, the swan boat was tilted.

When we were there, there were about 20 swan boats in the small lake. All the boats looked the same, white body, long neck, and black nose. Because of the tilting, we had no problem at all to spot which boat Ethan was in.

Giraffe in North Carolina Zoo

Giraffe is probably one of the most popular animals to be seen in zoos. On 20th July 2008, we visited the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro, North Carolina. Two of the giraffes came out and hid themselves in the shade. It was a hot day and therefore it was understandably they did that.

Giraffe is the tallest of all land-living animal species. Males can be from 4.8 to 5.5 meters (16 to 18 feet) tall and weight about 1700 kilograms (3800 pounds). Females are usually slightly shorter and weigh less then the males do.

The design of the North Carolina Zoo is quite nice that giraffes are able to run around in a large piece of land. The only drawback we think is that people will have to walk a long way to see them. Once we find a good spot, they may walk away from our eye sights. After we visit the North Carolina Zoo several times, we learn the trick. Whenever we see a bunch of people crowded in a spot, we will rush over there as fast as we can. The chance is that we will be able to see some animals in good viewing angles.

African Ant Bear in North Carolina Zoo

On 20th July 2008, we spent a few hours in the North Carolina Zoo. It was a hot day and we did not want to run around to see everything in the zoo. So, we took it easy and then we saw things we usually would not pay attention to such as this sculpture. This bronze sculpture was created by Chris Gabriel in 2007. It is Aardvark or African ant bear.

African ant bears eat ants and and termites. They have the skill to locate ground-dwelling insects. They use their claws to tear insect mounds apart and take advantage of their long snouts and sticky tongues to pick up their food.

We have been in many zoos before but we have not seen a live African ant bear. If not this sculpture, we would not know anything about that wonderful creature.