Roy and Leah had taken the kids to the Nashville Zoo over the weekend and ran into Sheldon Shiraki. Sheldon invited them to come back during the week for kind of a backstage pass to the Zoo. So, yesterday Leah invited me to join her and Lily and Elijah for a zoo excursion. Since I have never been to the Nashville Zoo I was super excited.
Our first stop was the Savannah Loop which includes Lorikeet Landing. Rainbow Lorikeets are small birds with dazzling, plumage indigenous to Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia and its surrounding islands. What is great about this exhibit is that they let you take little cups of nectar into the holding area and the Lorikeets will land on your arm and drink the nectar from the cup. Although it’s amazing to be there surrounded by these beautiful birds it’s hard not to pause and let your mind wander to Alfred Hitchcock’s classic avian thriller, “The Birds”.
It was here that we met Sheldon and he escorted us past the elephant enclosure down a service road to the veterinary quarters where they were housing five baby Clouded Leopards. We had the honor and privilege to meet Droopy. He weighed 11 pounds and was very relaxed around strangers although we were reminded that they are wild animals and they could easily take a good plug out of you just being playful. Next we were allowed to see a baby tamandua otherwise known as an ant eater. He was five weeks old, could fit in the palm of your hand and was so darn cute. We were informed that they get to be pretty stinky emitting a skunk like musk to ward off predators.
Leaving the vet compound we walked to the Grassmere Farm which is part of the grounds of the historic Croft home. Here we saw a braying, Hank the mule, three adorable Cotswold lambs (Nigel, Otto and Bojangles), cows, goats and walking through the barn met two beautiful Clydesdale horses.
Next stop was Dinotrek, an animatronic exhibit featuring 14 life sized dinosaurs that move, growl and spit. Think Jurassic Park minus the mayhem and destruction.
We next proceeded to the Zoo Central were we saw all kinds of fun and interesting animals including meerkats and storks and then made our way to the Jungle Loop where we saw flamingos, tapirs, Red Pandas, cougars, tigers, Eurasian Lynx, Ring-Tailed Lemurs, African Crested Porcupines, full grown Clouded Leopards, alligators and Damara Zebras. And on our way out we saw two Gibbons swinging lazily through the trees.
It was an amazing afternoon outing although we were somewhat fatigued from the oppressive late afternoon heat that descended upon us. A great time was had by all and I would highly recommend spending a day at the Nashville Zoo.
