The Alaska Zoo

So it was my first visit to the Alaska Zoo.  I have not been to many zoos in my day.  Zoo programs do really important job in these days.  They provide safe haven to orphaned or injured animals that might otherwise have died in nature.  They participate in breeding programs for endangered species, and they aspire to educate the public about a parts of the world many of us may never venture too.  They endeavor to make keep wildlife in the collective consciousness, and to promote Conservation in these times where the human population takes more space and more resources than ever before.  Still, while I am sure all zoos want to give their animals the best habitat they can, I wished there was more space for many of them.

These seals seemed pretty content.  I think they were even hamming it up for the camera.  If you are a seal, you spend a great deal of time in life in the wild trying not to get eaten.  Polar bears above you, orcas below you, I don't imagine life is very relaxing for seals.  In the zoo, these two little fatties were laying out catching some rays, definitely relaxing, and I absolutely caught one smiling on camera.

Soon it was time for seal slumber again.  This involved a big sigh, closing ones eyes, and stretching out your flippers.

Here is the move in action...the stretch, a little flipper footsie with your best seal pal..

And then a final big yawn for naptime.

The polar bears were laid out sleeping too.  We definitely hit afternoon nap time.

This polar bear was awake, but wasn't showing us anything except his fuzzy polar bear butt.  He was watching the construction on the other side of the bars...they are expanding the enclosure.  Polar bears in the wild travel hundreds of miles...the few feet are not going to make up for that, but it's going to be roomier than it has been so I was happy to see that.

Tiger in Alaska?  Well, yes.  The natural range of tigers included Russia (Siberia), and there are still a few tigers in the mountains of Afghanistan (Caspian Tigers).  In fact, Siberian Tigers did roam Alaska 100,000 years ago according to the fossil record, and it may be true that they were still here thousands or tens of thousands of years more recently than that.  But for today, there is just these two Tigers in Alaska that i know of.

The zoo also is home to a couple of llamas.  If you ever saw the cartoon 'The Emporer's New Groove," you might think this sassy llama was characterized well in the film.

The Alaska zoo also has 3 brown bears.  This enclosure made me a bit sad -- one bear just paced back and forth...all the grass had been long overturned, and lush greenery and a small stream trickle by just outside of the bars.  I wish they could move the fences so the stream goes through it, and toss in a few salmon now in that stream.

That same stream is a good home to the swans though.

The zoo had a few mountain goats -- one shy little goat stayed up top...

...and one bold goat came down to have a little nibble.  When mountain goats nibble, their little mouths move across the ground with far more accuracy and consistency than the average lawn mower blade.  It was actually pretty cute to watch.

After getting his munchies is, he had time for a little chat.  I have no idea what he was saying, but he mumbled on in little goat talk for a while before going back to his munchies.

So that was the day at the zoo.  It isn't a big zoo on the scale of zoos, so we had time to go to my favorite sushi restaurant, Sushi Sushi before heading back to Eagle River to plan the next day!