The flamingos were not social distancing. (David Taffet/Dallas Voice)
The Dallas Zoo opens Friday, May 29 with one-way paths and social distancing in place. Tickets are advance sale online and a number of exhibits are closed. All zoo employees and most of the people who were there today previewing the opening were wearing masks not just in restrooms and enclose quarters as required but throughout the zoo.
Even if some of the animals are off exhibit, a trip to the zoo is a great way to get out and, hey, we’ve got TWO critically endangered baby western lowland gorillas. They were born last year. You may never get to see that again. Zoos with one baby are lucky. We have two.
And here’s the exhausted mother of one of them who was watching over both while the other mom too a quick nap:
Her expression says it all. And how is this male helping out? Well, of course he’s not. Actually, the two moms and their kids are kept separately. He was busy elsewhere welcoming people back by doing bodybuilder poses:
Over at the hippo exhibit, Boipelo is being a great mom. In 2017, she was very shy about getting in the water until she saw her new mate Adhama. She fell in love and didn’t leave his side until he suddenly passed away. But she was pregnant and since the birth of Adanna a year ago has spent all of her time being a great mom. While I was there, she was nursing underwater and this is the only good picture I got of them out of the water.
Meerkats are normally inquisitive. This guy looked like he didn’t remember what people look like. Or maybe he was just glad to have people to look at.
Bahati is one of the Dallas Zoo’s stars. And she seems to know it. When Disney needed a model for the remake of The Lion King, they came to Dallas used baby Bahati as a model. She’s all grown up now and here she is:
She’s all grown up and Kijani was moved to Dallas to mate with her. They’ve mated but zookeepers aren’t sure if she’s pregnant yet. What is sure is she knows she’s the Lion King. So when Kijani roared, calling her from across the exhibit, she roared back as if to say, “No you come to me, bitch.” They were both stubborn and each laid there waiting for the other to make a move. They got tired of that and stopped. Then Kijani began roaring again and Bahati roared back indicating she wasn’t going to move. This is Kijani:
Another Dallas Zoo baby is Kendi. He’s 24 days old here and just taking it easy:
And some of the other giraffes:
This African painted dog looks like a breed of house dog that I’m glad was behind glass. Another man who was there tapped on the glass and the dog tried to take a bite. This dog is beautiful but isn’t domesticated:
All eight elephants were out on exhibit. That’s not something we usually get to see. (They weren’t all together so I don’t have a picture of all of them).
Three of the tortoises
And no trip to Dallas Zoo is complete without a visit with the penguins:
OK, so is it odd I know the animals at the zoo by name?
Tickets will not be sold at the Zoo’s entry. For tickets and more information about your visit, go to DallasZoo.com.
— David Taffet