Bart Bear's Blog

 

The Canberra weather has been cold and wet so we haven't been at the zoo for a while, but yesterday we made a special visit to see and photograph two of the new baby animals. My favourite critters are giraffes and zebras and new ones of both were born in the last month. The new giraffe, called Mkali (Swahili for Bright) is already standing proud and acting like she owns the enclosure. The parents are keeping a close eye on her. The zebra herd also has a new member, Ndefu (Long) just three weeks old. Mother zebra is keeping him close and not letting other members of the herd get close enough to bother him. If you look closely at the last image you will spot the latest member of the herd, yes, visiting small bears can join.

Labels: animals, Canberra, zoo

Two of my favourite animals are Giraffe and Zebra. As it happens, there are patterns for card models of both of these on the Canon Creative site so Dad and I just had to make them. The models are fairly large and took us many sessions with scissors, craft knife and glue. The results are great. Our zoo has many life-size statues along the paths and these are good climbing places for small bears. We have just started the cold part of winter here. The trees were at the prettiest stage of leaf colour during our last zoo visit and I collected a few samples of the big pretty ones, just an excuse to climb more trees.
 

Labels: animals, card making, zoo

We go to the zoo often, now that we are all Members. I sometimes cheat and ride in the front of Mum's walker instead of walking. The only downside of that is that I am sometimes lower than the railings and glass. Last trip we had better luck seeing some of the animals. I hadn't seen a tree kangaroo before but this time one was cleaning itself in a clear patch where the Oldies could get photos. I think Rhinos are great; a combination of strength, ugliness and laziness. This one spent most of the time dozing.The tigers had just been fed their lunch and were exercising by walking around their enclosure. One was evidently feeling the heat and had a cool-off in the pool.  Penguins are always fun to watch. I love the way they all run down to the water, then dither around waiting for one to take the plunge then all dive in. Most people think that penguins only live in Antarctica but there are colonies of these Little Penguins in some places all along our southern and south-eastern coast. Dad has snorkeled with these little guys and they are much faster swimmers than he is. At the Penguin Parade on Phillip Island you can watch the penguins coming ashore for the night and heading back to their nest burrows. They waddle uphill much faster than Mum can walk, she was overtaken by streams of penguins. There is lots more zoo to explore, I love it.
 

Labels: animals, zoo

The great thing about having zoo membership is that you don't have to see all of it in one visit. That's important when you are there with two Oldies in tow, they usually run out of energy fairly quickly. However, on our second visit last week they managed to do the longest trail in the zoo, round past the large African animals, some smaller cuties and some big cats. We saw one of the keepers cuddling a Cheetah, getting it ready to meet some visitors. The Tigers were always just moving away from where we were trying to photograph them, so this one going back into his den is the best one we could get. Zebras were moving around, but the White Rhinos were dozing. The best "horns" of the day were definitely the antlers on this Wapiti. Lemurs were hunting food and Meerkats, as usual, had sentries on duty while the rest of their family were busy digging and feeding. My favourites are the Giraffes. There was a new baby in the enclosure, but it never turned around to a good spot for a photo. The male was different, he came right up to the fence to see me. There are several places around the zoo where you can rest for a while in pretty picnic spots, very useful when the Oldies need a break.

Labels: animals, Canberra, zoo

Two weeks ago Dad had his 80th birthday. It is extremely difficult to think of a present for somebody who actually doesn't want anything special, but after much searching and discussion Mum and I had a bright idea - give him membership of the National Zoo and Aquarium right here in Canberra. Naturally we weren't letting him go by himself, so yesterday we also got membership. Now we can visit the zoo any time we like over the next year, just swipe our cards and enter from any of 4 gates. That's great because the zoo is fairly large and the Oldies are fairly slow so we don't have to see everything in just one visit. Yesterday we only saw about a sixth of the total. The zoo is well setup for visitors, the paths are mostly boardwalks and the landscaping provides the right amount of shady trees and open areas for both animals and people.These Squirrel Monkeys are right next to the main entry and cafe, great entertainment while you are downing coffee and ice cream. The zoo has two adult white lions and a small pride of ordinary ones. As usual on hot days the big cats were all either sun baking or snoozing in the shade. One of the Sun Bears was having his daily exercise climbing on the network of logs in the enclosure, his partner was sleeping in their den. The Otters were their usual busy selves, swimming in their pool (usually with the current) and running around their enclosure to find where food may be hidden. This one found a stash in a bamboo container, it was fun watching him trying to get it out and eventually eating the lot of it. There are some gates with signs like in the last image. Naturally, I had to see why. Dad caught me just before I got over the gate. Just as well because that is one of the places they feed the lions from. We will be back to the zoo often.
 

Labels: animals, climbing, family, zoo

At the Canberra zoo there is an area where you can walk in among some of the animals. Not the bitey ones of course, just cute and gentle ones like these swamp wallabies. You can find these little guys all along the eastern and south-eastern coast and ranges of Australia. I think they are the prettiest type of wallaby. They grow to about 75cm and eat just about any sort of plant, including some that are poisonous to most animals. They prefer grazing on shrubs rather than grass. The one on the right is a mother and has a little joey in her pouch. The joey was peeping out when we first noticed him. He came right out of the pouch, but quickly dived back in before Mum could photograph him. Most of the wallabies were just lazing in the sunshine, not at all bothered by people walking through. If you want to get close to critters like these, visit our zoo.

Labels: animals, Canberra, zoo

Probably my favouritest animals of all are meerkats.They are really cute. I love the way that they always have one on guard while the rest of the group are busy finding food or just enjoying themselves. You will always find the guard sitting up on the highest thing around, with his head swivelling around to watch everything in the area and above it. Their enclosure at Canberra Zoo has large glass sides so that it is easy to watch them, and for them to watch us. I sat down at one of these windows and within seconds several of the group had spotted me. They all ran over to check me out. I guess they wondered what sort of critter I am. It looks like the one in the photo is asking the Oldies "What is this strange thing, and why have you brought it here?" He tapped on the glass a few times to see if I would move, then wandered off to do other meerkat things.

Remember, to see bigger images, just click on the photo.

Labels: animals, Canberra, zoo

Yesterday was the first nice, warm, sunny day we have had for ages. It was also Fathers' Day. What do you do with your Dad on Fathers' Day? Well, I took mine to the zoo. The fact that I wanted to see some of my favourite critters had nothing to do with it :) The first thing you need when you go to the zoo is a map. The Canberra Zoo is being upgraded and things have moved and much improved since we were there last, so Dad and I planned our path for the afternoon. First stop, naturally enough, was the BEARS! The big European Brown Bear was cooling off in his pool. He looked really happy and I pointed out to Mum that bears really do swim. She was completely unmoved in her determination to keep me dry; I guess I will never be allowed to swim. The Malaysian Sun Bears were making the most of the warmth. One of them was exercising on the logs in the sun. The other one was stretched out on another log, fast asleep. That looked like a good idea so I took a short snooze on Dad's arm, Son Bear imitating Sun Bear. The zoo bears now have great enclosures to live in and they are well looked after, but I reckon small bears with Oldies like mine have the best possible life.

Labels: animals, Canberra, zoo

Last Monday we decided to go for a drive down to Mogo Zoo. Mogo is an old gold mining town just south of Bateman's Bay on the south coast. It is only a 2-hour drive from home. The town is full of interesting shops, including one of the best craft shops Mum and I have found so far. The best thing there is the zoo. It is a small zoo that specializes in breeding endangered species of animals. They have most of the usual stuff like tigers and giraffes, but they also have a breeding pride of white lions and families of rare monkeys. These little guys are my favourites. They are pygmy marmosets and their natural habitat is the tropical forests of South America. The family of marmosets at Mogo have had lots of babies that have been sent to other zoos, so although the forests are being destroyed in lots of places the marmosets will survive. They are very curious little guys and always come to the front of their cage to chatter away at me when I sit near the cage window. Actually, their cage is quite big for such small critters and it has heaters in it to keep the temperature in there more tropical. Monday was a very cold day and the marmosets were at lot warmer than us visitors. Do visit Mogo Zoo if you are traveling in southern New South Wales. You will see lots of cute critters and help save them from extinction.

Labels: animals, craft, New South Wales, south coast, zoo

No doubt about it, zoo animals have it easy. I mean, just look at this Sunbear. He lives at the National Zoo in Canberra and he has everything a bear could want. Not just the obvious things like three meals a day and a big enclosure to live in. He has this great glass box up on a pole, his own sunroom where he can laze away in the warmth anytime he likes. He has this great climbing frame to play on as well. I was so impressed by his enclosure that I climbed over the fence and was well on my way over to visit him when the inevitable happened. That's right, Mum grabbed me again and read the riot act, the section about crossing safety fences. She says that the big bear would probably damage me, but I think he looks too cute and lazy to be much of a problem for me. After all, I have been taught how to run by the Flash!

Labels: animals, Canberra, climbing, zoo

I met some big members of the bear family when we visited the National Zoo. They are European brown bears and I watched them being fed. I decided that I would not join them for dinner. They are big and rough. Mum says that these are the sort of bears in the Goldilocks story, and in fact there were three of them in the enclosure. I couldn't see Goldilocks anywhere and just hope that wasn't her they were gnawing on. Dad confused me by saying that these were my forebears, but no matter how hard I looked I could only see three of them.

Labels: animals, Canberra, zoo

This is a real tough tiger. He lives at the National Zoo in Canberra. I took Dad there for his birthday so that I could show him what the helicopter is named after. This is a mean-looking critter, just like the chopper, but I have no desire whatever to try and have fun with him (the tiger that is, Dad is fun most of the time). There is a big walkway out over the tiger enclosure so that you don't have to look through a fence to see the tigers. For once, Mum didn't have to stop me climbing. No way was I going to take any chance of falling in with this guy and his cobbers.

Labels: animals, Canberra, zoo

Dad has been reading me Tarzan stories. They sound a bit sus to me. Anyhow, I have just had the chance to "do a Tarzan" myself. While we were at Sydney Wildlife World we saw lots of snakes and lizards as well as cute furries. Some of them, like the big harmless pythons, we were allowed to hold. Over near one wall there was the biggest snake I ever saw. He was curled around a tree trunk just waiting to pounce on Mum. No Tarzan around, so it was Bart to the rescue. You can see how he was huge, much bigger than me. But with a stranglehold on him I looked him firmly in the eye, said my magic words, and turned him into a statue. When you visit Wildlife World he will still be there, just like this except that I will be gone by then.

Labels: animals, New South Wales, Sydney, zoo

We often visit the Mogo Zoo, on the south coast of NSW. These cute little guys are a pair of white lions that had just been put on public display. I wanted to pat them but my mean Dad would't let me get any closer.

Labels: animals, New South Wales, zoo